PLACENTIA : Rumors Concerning School Are Denied

Parents of students at Brookhaven Elementary School have not had a peaceful summer.

Since the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees decided in May to reduce the school’s attendance area, rumors about the school’s fate have been circulating among parents and teachers.

After denying that the district planned to close the school or convert it to a continuation high school, as was claimed by some parents earlier this summer, district officials once again were confronted with rumors, this time that the school was up for sale.

Reading from a letter written by fellow Brookhaven parent Dana McKenna, Mindy Glatstein at a board meeting Tuesday said parents have reported hearing that the district is considering offers from a nearby Christian school and the Catholic Diocese of Orange to buy the school.

The rumors “even include an amount--$290,000,” said Glatstein.

In her letter, McKenna said the school’s principal said “no one was supposed to know” about the plan to sell the school.

But both board President Bill Kielty and Supt. James O. Fleming said there was no truth to the rumors.

“It takes at least two years to (sell school property) and we haven’t started the process,” Kielty told Glatstein. “You’ll be the first to know if we do.”

Fleming’s denial was more emphatic.

“We haven’t talked about, been approached or even thought about selling Brookhaven,” he said. “There is absolutely, unconditionally no truth to that rumor.”

Brookhaven Principal Phillip Hergenreder said he does not recall making the remark Glatstein and McKenna attributed to him.

“I have no recollection of making any statement like that,” Hergenreder said. “I had not heard that rumor until (Wednesday).”

Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird said the Diocese of Orange has not made any inquiries into purchasing Brookhaven or any other district property, and in fact the diocese does not need another school in the area.

“There are openings at St. Joseph Catholic School in Placentia,” Baird said.

David Schoen, principal at Eastside Christian School, said officials there have made no offers for any property and are not in a position to buy the Brookhaven site.

Glatstein said a number of Brookhaven parents have voiced concern to her and McKenna about the future of the school.