School’s Out at Claremont Academy Campus

Claremont High School, a 22-year-old academy catering to college-bound students, has moved out of its ivy-draped campus here and may be departing Orange County entirely.

Among 59 private schools offering high-school-level courses in the county, Claremont has been one of only two nonsectarian academies with more than 100 students. The other, according to county Department of Education records, is Fairmont Private School of Anaheim.

On Wednesday, the two-story building at McFadden Avenue and Springdale Street that had been Claremont’s home for the past five years stood empty. A real estate sign seeking prospective tenants overshadowed another proclaiming Claremont “the private school of the future” and welcoming “all students with positive attitudes.”

Donna Connelly, Claremont’s founder, said in a telephone interview that she is attempting to reopen the school in a reorganized form using space leased from a church in Long Beach near the San Diego Freeway. The longtime director of the school in its previous incarnation, Connelly also would head the new academy.

Connelly said Claremont has had financial troubles recently, with high rents and pressing needs for building upgrades, and was forced to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors. An attempt to purchase the building fell through, she said.

A notice posted at the school’s door advertised that it would reopen Monday in Long Beach, but Connelly said she is not sure she will be able to meet that goal.

Still, the 63-year-old educator said she has not given up hope.

“I feel excited,” she said. “I’m an entrepreneur. I’m an adventuring-type person. I like change. I want to see this school go on.”

Claremont, with annual tuition and fees of $8,000, had enrollment of about 170 students in grades seven through 12 during its last session, Connelly said. All of its 1997 graduates won admission to two- or four-year colleges or universities.

Before moving to Huntington Beach, the school had rented a series of sites in Garden Grove and Anaheim.