SIMI VALLEY : Wood Ranch School Plans to Be Shown

Plans for a new $5.5-million elementary school in Wood Ranch are scheduled to be presented tonight to the Simi Valley school board.

The proposed facility is being touted as a model school, complete with built-in television monitors and videotape machines in every classroom and several common areas.

Plans for the 34,000-square-foot school, designed by the Blurock Partnership in Newport Beach, recently won an honor award from the Orange County American Institute of Architects.

Board member Ken Ashton said that, although the district has four closed elementary schools, it would be less expensive to open a new school because the entire cost will be paid by the developer of Wood Ranch.

A model of the school will be presented tonight to Simi Valley Unified School District board members, who will vote on the design drawings. Officials approved the schematic design in May.

The public portion of tonight’s meeting, to be held at district headquarters, will begin about 8 p.m. after school board members get out of a closed session, officials said.

The developer of Wood Ranch, Olympia-Roberts Corp., has agreed to build and outfit the new elementary school, district officials said. The cost is estimated at $5.5 million, including $250,000 for computer and technical equipment, project designer Jim Kisel said.

The 18-classroom school, to be built on Circle Knoll Drive near Grass Valley Street, will accommodate 500 students.

The classrooms will be wired so that newer technology can be installed as it becomes available. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 1991 with an opening date in the fall of 1992, officials said.