By Ian Hanigan
Daily Breeze

Voters in the Wiseburn School District won't get the chance to add a high school to their K-8 system in the March election.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe granted a temporary injunction Friday that postpones the election until after a lawsuit filed by the Centinela Valley Union High School District plays out in court.

Though another election could be scheduled for April or June, it will all depend on how long it takes to resolve that legal dispute -- as well as a second lawsuit that has its own injunction hearing scheduled for Monday.

But even if the vote is delayed until November, secessionists say they would still be on track to transform the 2,000-student Wiseburn system into a full-service K-12 district by July 2006, as was originally planned.

John Peterson, a leader in the unification campaign, said he was not discouraged by the setback. In fact, he agreed it was "in the best interest" of everyone to sort through the legal morass before proceeding. And he predicted the election would take place by June.

"We've waited four years," he said. "I don't think three months is going to deter anything."

Peterson and other residents in the communities of Del Aire, west Hawthorne and Wiseburn have pushed for years to establish a high-performing and crime-free high school in Wiseburn as an alternative to Centinela's three comprehensive sites.

But Centinela has opposed the unification of Wiseburn, one of its four feeder districts, on the grounds that it would take 3.5 percent of CVUHSD's students and half of its property tax base. The latter figure is key if Centinela tries to pass another facilities bond measure down the road.

Lawyers for CVUHSD also say a Wiseburn split would siphon away a disproportionate number of white and high-achieving students.

The lawsuit at the center of Friday's hearing doesn't have anything to do with property taxes or diversity, however. It accuses the state Board of Education, which approved the election on Sept. 9, of failing to look at the impacts of adding a Wiseburn high school under the California Environmental Quality Act.

While Wiseburn and the local petitioners are not named in the suit, the state Board of Education is. So is Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny B. McCormack, who oversees elections.

Lawyers for both did not oppose the injunction in court.

"Essentially, the state has conceded that it's best for everyone to wait until these cases play out," said Centinela attorney Daniel Wright.

Attorneys for the state board could not be reached for comment. Judy Whitehurst, who represents McCormack, said her client doesn't have a stake in whether the election goes forward or not. McCormack's concern, according to Whitehurst, is that "the issue has to be resolved prior to her printing the ballots."

One man who does have a stake in the matter is Wiseburn Superintendent Don Brann, though he's not named in any of the suits.

"I'm disappointed by the delay," Brann said Friday. "Our focus has always been on the students, whereas Centinela is occupied with the money. And this just delays the will of the community for a longer period of time."

In rendering his decision, Judge Yaffe scheduled a hearing for March 30 along with several deadlines for filing briefs. He also reaffirmed that another lawsuit filed by Centinela Valley should be handled separately.

The second suit claims the California Board of Education had no authority to cut an agreement with Wiseburn that limited the scope of the now-delayed election to Wiseburn residents rather than all of the Centinela Valley district, which includes the rest of Hawthorne as well as Lawndale and Lennox.

In exchange for that deal, Wiseburn's property owners must agree to keep paying their portion of a $59 million bond measure that Centinela voters passed in 2000.

An injunction hearing on that suit, which targets the state board, the county's Committee on School District Organization and other agencies, is scheduled for Monday in Judge Dzintra Janavs' courtroom.

Coincidently, Friday also marked the filing deadline for those who wished to become trustees of the new Wiseburn Unified School District. All five of Wiseburn's current board members submitted paperwork to run in the now-dormant race.