TUSTIN : Schools’ Surplus Sites the Focus of Hearing

A public hearing will be held tonight to help determine how Tustin Unified School District should handle properties that have been identified as surplus by a citizens advisory panel.

Residents may advise the trustees on whether the five properties, including three school sites, should be sold, leased or spared. The hearing is at 7 p.m. at district headquarters.

In an April report to the school board, the citizens panel identified Red Hill and Guinn Foss elementary schools as surplus. Both have been closed for several years.

In addition, the 11-member panel also declared surplus part of Lambert Elementary School, the district administration center and the maintenance and operations center.

Several residents oppose selling or leasing the properties, saying they will be needed to handle the district’s growing student population.

They also fear investors might turn the properties into multifamily dwellings, which would result in lower property values.

“Even if the (school) board declares a property surplus, it does not mean the property will be sold,” Supt. David L. Andrews said.

He said the district’s maintenance and operations facility may be taken off the list, along with a portion of the Lambert school.

That leaves the nine-acre Guinn Foss school, the 10-acre Red Hill school and the two-acre district administration center for possible lease or sale, Andrews said.

Guinn Foss was closed as an elementary school 15 years ago, but a portion of it is used for staff offices, the adult education program and other community uses, officials said.

Red Hill, closed 11 years ago, was declared surplus five years ago, district records show. Some of the classrooms are being leased to a private school.