Inglewood Unified committee weighs reuse and revenue options for Highland, Kelso and Morningside campuses

The Inglewood Unified School District asset management committee held a public meeting Oct. 21 to review feedback from recent site tours of the former Highland and Kelso campuses and to discuss reuse options for the larger Morningside campus.

Chair Cheryl Matthews opened the meeting and asked staff to summarize what committee members had learned during weekend tours. Dr. James Morris announced that appointee Chandana Holmes had resigned before attending her first meeting and that applications to fill the vacancy are open through Nov. 3. The committee then approved the Sept. 25 minutes by roll call.

Committee members who toured Highland described large, contiguous grounds and generally good building maintenance for the campus’s age; the district noted Highland’s approximate acreage (about 5.78 acres) and that the parcel is zoned for residential multifamily. Several members said Highland’s size and layout could support educational or multiuse programming, while others cautioned that the land’s scale complicates housing-only development.

Kelso (the Warren Lane site) drew sharper concern. Multiple members described interior mold and deterioration and characterized Kelso as in “very bad shape,” citing health and safety concerns. The committee recorded the property’s approximate size (about 3.63 acres) and noted R3/C2 zoning for the parcel. Some members urged preserving portions of the structure for community-oriented education such as trade or extension programs; others noted substantial renovation costs that could make non-educational reuse more practical.

District staff explained the fiscal trade-offs for each reuse pathway. Raphael Guzman told the committee that proceeds from a sale generally must be used in the district’s facilities fund and are not fungible with the general fund, while lease revenue can, depending on how leases are structured, be available to support general operations. Staff and members discussed the district’s current budget pressures and the potential for lease or partnership revenue to shore up salaries and services. Committee members also expressed concern about local parcel-tax structures and revenue inequities with neighboring districts, and they urged clearer public education about those funding mechanisms.

Discussion of the Morningside campus focused on scale and programmatic opportunity. Committee members offered estimates of available acreage (participants said figures ranging up to about 30 acres) and proposed a large health‑science or higher‑education campus in partnership with postsecondary institutions. Legal counsel Serene Abrahamian and staff described the required steps for partnerships: site surveys, entitlement and SQA reviews where applicable, and an open request‑for‑proposals (RFP) process that assesses proposers’ programmatic fit and the reliability of their funding sources. Abrahamian emphasized that an RFP should include a scoring matrix, interviews and a requirement that proposers document secure funding to prevent partially built projects.

Abrahamian also reviewed the draft asset‑management report template prepared for the committee, noting that it draws on the committee’s statutory mandate under Education Code section 17390 and that the draft includes placeholders for site‑specific fiscal, demographic and property data. She said the committee may present preliminary recommendations and hold public hearings before forwarding final recommendations to the district board.

The committee agreed by consensus to prioritize review of sections 1–3 of the draft report at the next meeting to allow more time for site tours and for staff to develop survey questions and outreach plans. Staff committed to return with a draft survey for committee review and to consider verification measures (for example, address or location checks) to limit outside influence on online input.

During the public‑comment period, multiple speakers urged that the former campuses remain in educational use where feasible. Dr. John Carroll and Allison Corey, affiliated with Jabali Academy, said their K–8, Afrocentric independent school stands ready to partner with the district and indicated Highland as a candidate site. Other speakers urged preservation of historic campuses such as Morningside and cautioned against selling property without clear community benefit.

Next steps: the committee set meetings for Nov. 19 and Dec. 16, 2025; members were asked to review sections 1–3 of the draft report before the next meeting. The committee also flagged the need for more precise site surveys, clear RFP criteria that test proposers’ funding reliability, and further public engagement prior to final recommendations to the board.