Committee recommends 3 schools for closure
Report targets Camarillo Heights, Los Altos and Los Primeros
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

A citizens committee said earlier this week that the Pleasant Valley School District should close three schools.

Despite passionate pleas from parents not to close their neighborhood schools, the socalled 7-11 Committee voted 6-3 Tuesday to recommend the board of trustees close Camarillo Heights Elementary, Los Altos Middle and kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Los Primeros Structured School.

The committee's recommendation was expected to go before the school board last night.

If the board acts on the committee's recommendation, the district could see a net savings of $1.5 million, officials said. The figure includes savings from eliminating several teaching positions and the expense of adding portable classrooms to school campuses.

Bob Burrow, Angie Churchill and Greg Glover cast the dissenting votes. Marsha Hively and Felipa Valdivia were absent from the meeting.

Churchill said she felt they were being asked not to evaluate facilities but choose one school's program over another's and she didn't feel qualified to do that.

Burrow urged his fellow committee members not to be shortsighted by recommending closures. He said the city must add as many as 400 housing units every year.

"I think there's some value in having a neighborhood school, as a city planner," Burrow said.

Despite population growth in Camarillo over the last few years, the number of students in Pleasant Valley hasn't increased but steadily declined, following a county and statewide trend, district officials have said.

About 100 people attended the final meeting of the 11-member committee appointed by Superintendent Ken Moffett in January. The committee was charged with the responsibility of evaluating the facilities of the district's 13 schools and advising the school board on whether it should close schools.

Judging from the round of applause after he spoke, Richard Christensen seemed to echo the feelings of many parents present when he said the community would lose its sense of cohesiveness if a neighborhood school were to close. He said parents are more involved and families feel more connected when children attend a school close by. They can walk to school and to after-school programs at a nearby youth club, he said.

"We moved to the city because we liked the small schools," he said.

Christensen added that because Moffett is an interim superintendent, he's not invested in the community and doesn't have to live with the consequences of school closures. The district hired Moffett in September. He plans to leave the district in June.

A group of parents may start a recall of trustees if they decide to close schools, Christensen said.

"If they're not going to listen to us as a community they shouldn't be on the board," he said after the meeting. "I know everyone's heart is in the right place but they're rushing this too fast."

Other parents agreed the district is hurrying the committee to make a decision. Some said they doubted the committee could make the right decision under the circumstances

The committee has met seven times since January.

In making the recommendation, the committee rated the schools based on their age and the ease of expanding facilities to accommodate more students. Las Colinas and Monte Vista middle schools, La Mariposa, Tierra Linda and Rancho Rosal elementary schools were not included in the evaluation and therefore not considered for closure because they are newer schools with the capacity to expand or already have the optimum student enrollment.

In a series of meetings with parents over the last few weeks, Moffett has recommended the district close at least three campuses- two elementary and one middle school- by fall. The move would free up money to raise teachers' salaries, which are 9 percent below the county average.

He said that for their first few years at Pleasant Valley, new teachers receive a salary comparable to other districts. But somewhere around their third year in the classroom, teachers' pay at those other districts jumps considerably, luring instructors away.

And that's after Pleasant Valley has invested in their training and hasn't had time to reap the benefits, he said. The situation may not be obvious to parents, because the district simply hires new teachers to replace them, he said, adding that the district once lost 26 teachers during a relatively short time frame.

Pleasant Valley is preparing for contract negotiations with two employee unions.