City school district to lease Gisler, Burke sites

Angelique Flores

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The Huntington Beach City School Board of Trustees

put to rest an issue that has for years divided the board members.

The board opted to lease two of its closed school sites instead of

sell them.

“This is what the community has wanted for six years,” Trustee Shirley

Carey said. “This is a major victory for the community.”

The district has been leasing the Gisler site to Greater Long Beach

Christian Schools, better known to the community as Brethren Christian

High School, since June 1998. The school can now renew its lease for July

1 through June 30, 2005, with the option to renew it for three

consecutive three-year periods.

The rent will increase from an annual $300,000, maxing out at $450,000

annually. The additional lease income will be placed in a reserve fund

for facility needs.

“More money is wonderful for the schools,” Carey said.

The board also unanimously approved to receive bids for the lease of

Burke School at an annual rent of $250,000 for a two-year term, with

three two-year options to renew.

The French American School of Orange County has already expressed

interest. This private school has been housed at the closed Fountain

Valley School site. The lease ends in June to make for the property to be

turned into a senior housing and a senior center.Two years ago, the

district set up a committee to examine how to use the three closed school

sites at Burke School, at 9700 Levee Drive, Gisler School, at 21141

Strathmoor Lane and LeBard School, at 20451 Craimer Lane.

The committee recommended the district seek long-term leases of the

Gisler and Burke campuses and retain the LeBard site as the district

headquarters.

The district considered selling the Gisler and Burke sites to obtain

the much-needed state modernization funds to repair its schools. However,

Carey and Trustee Robert Mann have long opposed the sale of the site, an

action which requires a 4-0 vote by the board.

“This is long overdue,” Mann said.

Talk of selling the Gisler site upset residents last year, who said it

could leave the Gisler neighborhood in a bind if there is an unexpected

increase in student population.

Still, this wasn’t the first time discussion of the closed sites came

up. In 1995, a similar committee recommended the board sell the Gisler

site, but the board did not follow-up on the recommendation, with the

primary support to keep the sites stemming from Carey and Mann.

“As long as we’re not going to sell them, it makes sense to get us

much money out of them as possible,” said Trustee Brian Garland.