Board votes to sell LeBard

Leases for two private Christian schools are headed for renegotiation, but another school site up for sale still has its fate in question.

The Huntington Beach City School District board of trustees voted unanimously Tuesday on a plan for all four school sites that would: renegotiate leases for the schools leasing the closed Gisler and Burke Elementary sites; sell off the closed LeBard Elementary School, which now holds the district offices; and hold off on dealing with the Kettler Elementary School site to explore options.

When the vote came in, some residents clapped for the leases, while others booed the move to sell off one school site.

“I’m horrified,” said Crystal Kerins, president of local government watchdog group Huntington Beach Tomorrow, which has opposed termination of leases and the selling of school sites to developers. “They’ve left too many things unanswered about issues like their district offices.”

Board members have said they plan to explore options on a new district office in coming months.

District staff will now begin negotiations with Huntington Christian School and Brethren Christian Junior/Senior High School to sign new leases. The negotiations will be tough-minded but aimed at success, member Shirley Carey said.

“We are as anxious as they are to renegotiate the leases and come to hopefully an agreeable situation,” she said.

Multiple board members said they strongly preferred the city buy the LeBard site, which includes baseball fields next to LeBard Park, but the vote didn’t force a sale only to the city.

It’s up to the city to buy the site for a fair price, member Brian Rechsteiner said.

Residents who packed board meeting after board meeting to fight a feared sell-off to developers need to start pressuring the City Council now to buy the property.

“It doesn’t really work for me if they [the city] don’t step up to the plate,” he said. “If this is passed and we do get in a conversation with the city, I would look to folks out here to help us with the city. Get them to step up and make this purchase so we can keep this site as a park.”

Kerins said her group intended do to just that, despite some disappointment with the vote.

“It’s time to move on and start bringing pressure to bear on the city,” she said.