Hermosa school district to lease new office space for $1
The Hermosa Beach City School District will move its offices from Hermosa Valley School to classrooms at South Park this fall.
Photo by Ryah Cooley, staff.
The Hermosa Beach City School District will lease classrooms for its offices at South Park from the city for $1 starting this fall.
The district is moving its offices from Hermosa Valley School to classrooms at South Park in order to help ease overcrowding at the campus. While 1,430 students attended six schools in Hermosa Beach in 1950, the district now packs roughly the same number of students into two schools. Portable buildings and the multipurpose room have been used to help with overcrowding at Hermosa Valley School, which accommodates the third through eighth grades.
The City Council unanimously approved the lease Tuesday, which allows the district to use three classrooms at South Park for $1 per year. Previously, that classroom space has been used for the district’s afterschool program, which will now be moved to Hermosa View School this fall. The move will save the city the $41,000 a year it previously spent in transporting students from school to the district after school program at South Park.
Mayor Pro Tem Peter Tucker commended the district for making the moving from Hermosa Valley School to South Park.
“I think it’s admirable that the superintendent and staff have decided they can move to this facility and free up more space at Hermosa Valley,” Tucker said. “It really is all about the children in this community.”
Superintendent Patricia Escalante said the move will not affect the work the district does and it will free up space at Hermosa Valley School that could be used for things like a computer lab, a a science lab or the school’s office.
“It’s going to be a change of course,” Escalante said. “But it’s a change for the right reasons.”
Escalante said the district hopes to be in the classrooms at South Park before the school year begins on September 3.