Westmont could become home for club

Andrew Edwards

The Ocean View School District is in early talks with the local

chapter of the Boys and Girls Club to build a new club at Westmont

Elementary School.

The basics of the possible deal would involve the Boys and Girls

Clubs of Huntington Valley building permanent preschool classrooms at

the Westmont campus in exchange for the right to build a club there,

officials said. The club has also offered to front the costs of

upgrading the electrical system at Westmont.

“They will build seven classrooms and electricity to those seven

classrooms at no cost to the district,” school board President

Barbara Boskovich said. “We’re talking about millions of dollars.”

Under the current proposal, Westmont students and teachers would

have access to the club’s building during school hours, said Mary Lou

Beckman, the district’s chief financial officer. District officials

plan to move preschool services from the Pleasant View campus to

Westmont.

The district has access to state bond revenues to upgrade

Westmont’s facilities, but is not allowed to use state funds to build

new classrooms.

“When the state provides funds for modernization, they don’t allow

you to expand,” Beckman said.

The club provides before- and after-school activities to children,

many of whom would be unsupervised outside of school when their

parents are at work. Locally, the club maintains locations in

Fountain Valley and south Huntington Beach, placing its services out

of the way for families with children in the Ocean View district’s

schools, said Tanya Hoxsie, the chief executive officer for the Boys

and Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley.

“Our club has been trying to build a facility in that north area

of Huntington Beach so we could serve the schools in that area,”

Hoxsie said. “We believe that there are too many kids going home

alone after school.”

Before any deal can be finalized, a significant amount of planning

remains to be completed. The school board has yet to take any action

on the idea, and both the district and the club plan to hold town

hall meetings to collect the public’s input before completing an

agreement.

“We just want to make sure that we do it right for the neighbors,”

Hoxsie said. “Somebody might have some better ideas that we can

integrate.”

If a deal is completed, it could be two years before children can

spend time there, Beckman said. Officials said they anticipate

planning will take one year, and construction one more.