MAYWOOD — City officials are hoping for a big turnout in a special advisory election Nov. 3 on the location of a proposed high school here.

The city wants to send the Los Angeles Unified School District a message that it doesn’t want South Regional High School No. 8 located on 9.4 acres of land on the northeast corner of Slauson and King avenues.

The district was facing an Oct. 27 deadline to seek $22 million in state funding for the school, but that time limit has been extended to fall 2010.

The new school would relieve crowded conditions at Bell High School, which now has students attending classes for 163 days instead of the state-required 180.

Maywood officials say the proposed site would displace more than 400 residents in the 10 single-family homes and 112 apartment units on the site, along with a Veterans of Foreign Wars post that is reportedly the oldest in the state. The site also includes seven commercial buildings and a vacant lot.

City officials say the school district’s decision to select the site lacks a proper historical and cultural analysis, public involvement and proper notification of residents.

“We have been talking to representatives of the LAUSD,” Mayor Pro Tem Ana Rosa Rizo said. “They said they would consider [our] wishes if possible. Maywood appreciates the need for schools. We want our children to have a good education. We would be happy to work with the district.

“There is a lack of transparency. They are disregarding the community’s suggestions,” she added.

Those suggestions include four other proposed locations.

Site 26 in Vernon would result in no displacements or relocations, officials said. It is on the north side of Fruitland Avenue (Maywood’s northern boundary) between Everett and Loma Vista avenues.

Site 25 is on the north side of Fruitland between Everett and Maywood avenues, just west of site 26.

There is also the so-called Thermadore site, on the north side of East 52nd Street, south of District Avenue and east of Atlantic Boulevard.

The fourth option is south of Slauson, north of East 60th Street and west of Maywood Avenue.

“It is not clear to us why [the district wants the contested site] and not the four other possible locations,” Rizo said. “They say they are concerned about the gas separating plant [at] 5555 District Ave., (which manufactures chemicals) to the north in Vernon, but site number 18 is just as close and there is a new grade school in the area.”

“[The district has] hired consultants and follows their advice,” City Councilman Felipe Aguirre said. “The consultants are making the decisions, not the people. They have been giving the district pretty bad advice. They decided on the site before they described it to the public.”

“The city attorney is looking at different aspects of appropriate legal action. We may do so at the appropriate time,” Rizo added.

One legal argument might be the school district’s request to vacate part of 58th Street as it runs through their preferred site.

“You can’t use eminent domain to vacate a street,” Aguirre said.

Concerning the fourth option, Aguirre said the district maintains that 85 percent of that site is in Huntington Park and that city has already lost a lot of land for schools.

“We are much smaller than Huntington Park,” he said. “Maywood has already given four sites for grade schools and a large site for the Maywood Learning Academy. It’s built to hold 1,200 students, which would take care of Maywood’s needs. But [the LAUSD] made it a regional magnet school, and few [of the students] are from Maywood.”

“It is important that the children’s needs are met, but [the LAUSD doesn’t] have to be in specific city boundaries,” Rizo said, explaining why she would not object to a school straddling city boundaries. “More than anything, we want respect and transparency and for the community’s voice to be respected. That has been lacking.”

“If the district would [build a smaller school] and pay attention to what citizens want, a compromise might be worked out,” Aguirre said. “The community is behind us.”

“Size is not necessarily important. I attended a school made up of four temporary buildings in Carson and most of us graduated and went on to college. We want substantial change to keep the kids in schools. Those nine acres won’t make it happen,” Rizo said.