New faces, places for students as school starts
Rancho Rosal, Los Primeros are developing magnet programs
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

The Pleasant Valley School District is awash in changes as students prepare to head back to class next Wednesday.

Following a tumultuous year that saw the closure of two schools and the restructuring of two more, Ken Moffett, the district's interim superintendent, abruptly resigned in May- a month before classes ended.

The district has hired Luis Villegas, former head of the Santa Paula Elementary School District, as the interim superintendent.

Last year's districtwide restructuring plan included the closure of Los Senderos Open School and the campus of Los Primeros Structured School- both kindergartenthrougheighth-grade programs.

The closures freed an annual $1.5 million to raise teachers' salaries and improve their benefits, said district officials.

Los Primeros makes the move

The school board also voted to move the now renamed Los Primeros Magnet program to the Los Senderos site and open enrollment to neighborhood children.

Esther Winkelman, Los Primeros' principal, said the move to the new campus went smoothly as teachers now start to prep their classrooms.

"The move went very, very well," Winkelman said. "I think it will be very positive."

Winkelman, who will add a kindergarten class, as well as first- and secondgrade classes to her campus, said an advisory team made up of parents and teachers is still developing the focus of the school's magnet program.

"As a magnet school, we are charged with the idea of identifying ourselves with a particular focus," Winkelman said. "We are still in the process of doing that."

The process, she said, includes using a survey sent out to parents over the summer to find out what type of programs interest the school's community. The team also will help name the school.

Rancho Rosal's new mission

Los Senderos students can now attend Rancho Rosal Elementary, which will also become an open magnet school.

Sue Sigler, Rancho Rosal's principal, said she hosted a retreat over the summer for parents to discuss the new openschool philosophy and is working with her staff to develop the school's magnet program.

"We are working and redoing our mission statement and our vision together in celebration of the new school year," Sigler said.

As principal of the twoyearold school, Sigler must also create a program that takes advantage of the magnet school title and attracts students from outside the district to Rancho Rosal.

Sigler said the staff is in the midst of developing their magnet program and said the newly built school's state-of-the-art computer lab and wireless network may be the cornerstone of a technology program.

New charter school nearly ready

Since its charter was approved in June, organizers with the Camarillo Academy for Progressive Education moved quickly to ensure classes will start at the kindergarten-through-eighth grade school on Sept. 5.

Janet Kanongata'a, the academy's principal and superintendent, said parents and staff are optimistic about the coming year.

"With the amount of dedication and hard work that these people have put in, there's no way this school could ever fail," Kanongata'a said. Academy officials expect the school's enrollment to reach more than 330 students in its first year.

Personnel changes

Kanongata'a is one of the longtime Pleasant Valley employees who left the district since last year.

After 28 years with the district, Sue Eastman, former principal at Los Altos Middle School, retired after the middle school closed due to declining enrollment.

Cathrine Cartwright, the district's director of pupil services, also retired after nearly 40 years with Pleasant Valley. She is replaced by Carol Bjordahl, the former principal at Camarillo Heights Elementary School and a 19-year veteran of the local school district.

Robert Bassett was named the new principal at Camarillo Heights.

A former teacher and administrator for over 10 years at McFarland Unified School District in Kern County, Bassett started his first day at Camarillo Heights earlier this week working as an administrator at both elementary and high schools.

"I am excited to be part of the Cam Height's team, and I am looking forward to working with staff and parent to educate the Cam Height's family of students," Bassett said in a recent e-mail.

Dean May, former assistant principal of Monte Vista Middle School, left to work for Simi Valley Unified School District.

District officials are still searching for a replacement for May, who was employed with the district for two years.