LOS ALAMITOS : Oak Middle School Status Hearing Set

The Los Alamitos Unified School District will hold a public hearing Tuesday to consider the reopening of Oak Middle School, which has been closed since 1986.

School district officials also will consider ways to finance the reopening of the school, including possible sale of district properties that are not being used, such as Weaver Elementary School in Rossmoor.

Residents can present their ideas during the public hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at Los Alamitos High School, officials said.

The cost to renovate the 23-acre Oak Middle School is estimated at $3.3 million, according to school district officials. In addition, there will be expenses for administrators, new teachers, school employees, and school maintenance.

Selling the Weaver Elementary School site would pay for the renovation, school district officials said, although they would not say if there is a ready buyer nor what the price would be.

Last year, the school district also considered selling or leasing Oak Middle School to pay for planned improvements to other schools in the district. But a group of parents persuaded the school board to keep the school site.

The school district serves about 7,300 students from Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and Seal Beach. McAuliffe Middle School, the only school for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, has currently more than 1,600 students.

School district officials now say that a second middle school would be needed for the anticipated 250 more middle grade students in the next two years.

Part of the Oak Middle School campus is being used by the Orange County High School of the Arts.