Many Campuses Are New or Improved

Thousands of Ventura County students will start their school year in spruced-up classrooms or on new campuses, thanks to developer fees and school bonds.

School districts in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley plan to open new elementary schools within the next two weeks. Ventura Unified just broke ground on one to open in September 1999.

Early next year, Moorpark expects to open its first magnet school, specializing in performing arts. And Fillmore hopes to have a new middle school completed by January.

“Every year I feel good about opening the schools and kids coming back, but I’ve got an additional reason for being happy,” Ventura Unified School District Supt. Joseph Spirito said recently.

With the passage last year of an $81-million school bond--the largest in county history--the district is undertaking unprecedented campus renovation. Just last week, it broke ground for its first new school in 30 years.

A $7.9-million project, Citrus Glen Elementary will serve about 500 students. The Darling Road campus is intended to ease classroom crowding on the city’s east side.

Lang Ranch, Thousand Oaks’ first elementary school in 20 years, opens when school starts Wednesday.

The $6.6 million for the campus came mainly from fees levied on developers. The Conejo Valley Unified School District failed twice in the last year to pass a $97-million school bond--$900,000 of which would have contributed to the new school. The district is considering scaling down to an $88-million proposal and trying again in November.

Lang Ranch is the city’s largest elementary school. Unlike some of the city’s others, it goes only through fifth grade; sixth-graders will attend middle school.

Simi Valley Unified is primed to open its first elementary school in 15 years. Initially proposed in 1982, the $9-million Wood Ranch Elementary School will open next week for about 600 students.

Two other districts plan to open their new campuses by January.

The Moorpark Unified hoped to open Walnut Canyon school, the first Ventura County magnet elementary school for the performing arts, this fall but was set back by construction delays. Until the new campus is ready, students will be bused to the district’s other elementary schools.

The Fillmore Unified also plans to open its middle school in January. The school will account for most of a $12-million bond passed two years ago; remaining money will be used to renovate other campuses.

The Oxnard Elementary School District reopened Haydock Intermediate earlier this month. It was closed in 1994 for refurbishment.

Gwen Gross, superintendent of the Ojai Unified School District, is looking forward to her students’ arrival at the renovated schools made possible by the passage of a $15-million school bond last November.

The district spent $2 million this summer on Nordhoff High School. Crews have shored up buildings susceptible to flooding, replaced damaged tiles and repainted dingy walls.

“I can’t wait to see their reaction,” Gross said. “I really can’t. It’s really saying to the kids, ‘We value you.’ ”