LOS ALAMITOS : District OKs Boundary for 2 Middle Schools

A major thoroughfare that connects Los Alamitos and Seal Beach will serve as the boundary for the two middle schools in the Los Alamitos Unified School District.

Students living east of Los Alamitos Boulevard will attend McAuliffe Middle School, and those on the west will go to Oak Middle School, which is scheduled to open in the fall.

Los Alamitos Boulevard becomes Seal Beach Boulevard when it reaches the Seal Beach city limits.

The Los Alamitos Unified School District serves Los Alamitos, Seal Beach and Rossmoor.

A 21-member citizen panel created last year to study the attendance boundaries for the two middle schools recommended several options, but the Board of Education this week chose Los Alamitos-Seal Beach boulevards as the most practical boundary.

Assistant Supt. David Hatton said that current sixth- and seventh-grade students at McAuliffe will have the choice of which school to attend in September.

About 600 students are expected to enroll at Oak, which will be reopened for the first time since 1986, Hatton said.

A new principal is expected to be named in June, he said.

Earlier this month, district officials announced that Oak will reopen in September, with the estimated $3-million cost of renovating the school to be financed by selling district properties.

District trustees decided to sell the vacant Weaver Elementary School in Rossmoor for $8 million but reconsidered when residents opposed the sale, saying that the school may be needed as enrollment grows.

The district is now trying to sell Laurel Park to Los Alamitos for about $3 million.

If the sale falls through, district officials said, they will go back to the original plan to sell Weaver.

Several developers have already shown interest in buying the 9.1-acre property, officials said.