CEDU School Sold for $4.3 Million

Friday, August 19, 2005
Last modified Thursday, August 18, 2005 8:46 AM PDT





CEDU School Sold for $4.3 Million

By Joan Moseley

Chabad of Los Angeles, a Jewish organization, has purchased the acreage and buildings which once housed CEDU School in Running Springs. The Aug. 10 auction was held in Philadelphia with Chabad paying $4.3 million for the local property.

Following last week's sale, bankruptcy attorney George Miller told The Mountain News the organization plans to open non-sectarian middle and upper grade schools similar to what was offered at CEDU.

Reached by telephone on Monday, Chabad spokesperson Rabbi Boruch Cunin said CEDU's closing was a tragedy but he and his organization feel fortunate they were able to purchase the property.

"Chabad has 40 years of service to the community, " the rabbi said, adding that the school will remain in public service. Chabad is a Jewish acronym for "Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge."

Chabad is a non-profit organization serving not only the Jewish community but the larger "community of ma n" through several different programs.

During World War II Chabad-Lubavitch was actively involved in rescuing Jews from Europe. In 1945, it established a relief office for refugees in Paris and initiated efforts to improve the welfare of Jewish farmers in rural America. Today the organization offers counseling services, shelters and assistance for the needy as well as many other programs for the disadvantaged.

Famous director Walter Huston first developed the property and during its "hey-dey" it was a popular spot for the Hollywood crowd, which would party between the big estate and the adjoining one, owned by Myron Selznick, the brother of producer-director David O. Selznick.

In 1967, CEDU founder Mel Wasserman secured the property, which is located in what is now called Rimwood Ranch in Running Springs. The acreage offered a secluded site for the school. The school offered high school and middle school programs. Once the site became CEDU it helped thousands of teens and pre-teens and their families deal with their development issues but was always controversial throughout the mountain community.

In 1997, CEDU "joined" the Brown Schools, but many issues, including a wide variety of legal problems, tapped their financial resources and on March 25, CEDU Education announced it was closing all its locations and was filing chapter 7 bankruptcy. Staff and students had no advance warning of the closures. CEDU Education operated seven schools and programs in California, Idaho and Vermont and they had over 500 employees who were suddenly without jobs and maybe out their pensions. Students and parents were shocked and left scrambling to make other arrangements within hours or at the most, a couple of days.

In 2003, CEDU and about 30 other property owners annexed into the Running Springs Water District so they could receive water service. The area had been operating on wells for several years and when the drought hit and the wells weren't producing as much water residents in the Rimwood Ranch area deiced they needed a more "secure" source of water so they approached the water district to consider annexing into the district and paying the expenses of adding water pipes and other needed infrastructure to the affected parcels.

When CEDU filed bankruptcy the water district was concerned the thousands of dollars school owners were paying on their water assessments would be "down the drain" but that has not happened.

Running Springs Water District General Manager Ed Brittain told The Mountain News the district will soon receive a check, for about $72,000, from the proceeds of the sale which will bring the school's account to a current status. "The water district or its customers won't be harmed by the bankruptcy," said Brittain, who breathed a giant sigh of relief.

With the new owners, Chabad will offer the site a new beginning and Brittain is excited about meeting and working with the new school owners.