Long Beach : School Expansions Proceed

The Long Beach Board of Education is proceeding with plans to add land to the Wilson High School campus but has decided against buying property around Jordan High School because it is too expensive.

New science buildings are to be added to all five of the district’s high schools, but Wilson, Jordan and Poly, the three smallest schools, need additional acreage for the new buildings.

Poly is near a vacant, city-owned parcel and school and city officials are negotiating a sale. The parcel near Jordan, however, has three houses and a gasoline station on it and preliminary cost estimates, school officials said, are too high for the district.

Business Manager Leon Taylor said the district is proceeding with its state application for construction of a science building at Jordan, though the land question is still unsettled.

At Wilson, school officials have their eyes on a 4-acre site but property owners are upset over possible condemnation of their land. After voting Monday to proceed with expansion plans, the school board assured owners that the vote was not one for condemnation.

“We will be arranging for appraisals of the properties and contacting the residents to determine if they’re interested in selling,” Taylor said.