San Diego

The San Diego County Grand Jury praised the city school district Tuesday for recent efforts to eliminate the eyesore of Dana Junior High School on Point Loma. The school, shuttered since 1983 because of declining enrollment, has been heavily vandalized while the school board wrestled with what to do with the site.

In September, trustees agreed to move forward with a plan to rehabilitate the 13-acre site and consolidate there the offices of counselors, health workers and other administrators now spread throughout the city. The school’s massive auditorium would be made available for community use, and its sprawling playground would be graded and seeded to provide new baseball fields for nearby, cramped Point Loma High School.

The grand jury, in a brief report Tuesday, said the district should move ahead as quickly as possible with the estimated $6-million renovation, which has the backing of a large segment of the Point Loma community.