High Cost, Budget Woes May Doom Middle-School Plan

The concept of a middle school in the Beverly Hills Unified School District is breathing what could be its last breath.

District officials, citing budget problems and the middle school’s higher-than-expected cost, say that the only chance of gathering sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders under one roof lies in state grants.

Assistant Supt. Don Fox said that the district is trying to grab a share of a state education bond passed in June that makes $400 million available for modernizing school buildings more than 30 years old. Beverly Vista Elementary School, the facility to be converted into a middle school under the proposal, was built in the 1920s.

Fox said the district staff is working with architects and consultants to determine what parts of the conversion might be eligible for the grant and to “jump the hoops” in the application process.

“It’s just a matter of getting in line,” Fox said.

If state funding is not available, the middle school proposal may be laid to rest, school board member AJ Willmer said.

“Absent any other state monies that we could become eligible for,” he said, “we cannot consolidate a middle school at this time.”

Supt. Sol Levine surprised school board members last month with an estimate that the conversion would cost $1.25 million. Previous studies had put the cost at $200,000.

Such an expense would be “imprudent,” Levine wrote in a memo, which recommended shelving the concept until the district’s economic outlook improved.

But board members narrowly voted to keep the door open.

“The academic benefits of a middle school are too strong for us to put it totally to bed right now,” Willmer said.

Board member Phil Harris suggested that a state grant might provide the momentum needed to pass a local bond measure to cover the rest of the middle-school costs.

School district bond issues need a two-thirds majority from voters for approval. The money can be used for capital improvements only.

Board member Lillian Raffel, who along with Richard Stone voted to kill the plan, said a mediocre middle school, which is all the district could hope to afford, would not be worth the disruption it would cause. She said the board needs to concentrate on other matters.

“I thought it would raise false hopes . . . and waste staff time,” she said.

The middle-school concept has held the attention of many Beverly Hills educators for a decade. In 1991, a task force of teachers and administrators was formed to study viability of a middle school and hold public hearings.

The district’s 1,000 middle-school-aged students now attend the district’s four elementary schools. Advocates of the middle school say such a facility could offer a stronger curriculum and a wider variety of elective and honors classes. It could offer a social and academic setting that better focuses on the age group.