Pleasant Valley won't close schools next year
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Pleasant Valley School District does not plan to close Camarillo Heights or any other school next year, district officials said earlier this week.

"I don't see us discussing that in the near future," Superintendent Luis Villegas said.

Due to declining enrollment, Pleasant Valley closed two schools last year and left open the possibility of closing a third- Camarillo Heights.

The question of whether the K5 school would close has lingered in the minds of parents ever since, prompting some to leave the school and others the district, said Camarillo Heights parent Sharon Mitchell.

Mitchell said she knows of two families who placed their children in other Pleasant Valley schools last year because they were uncertain about the fate of Camarillo Heights. Another family left the district altogether and enrolled their child in the new charter school, she said.

Enrollment at Camarillo Heights stands at 392 students, down from 408 last year and 456 in 2006. Enrollment is down in school districts throughout the county and state. The Conejo Valley Unified School District plans to close two schools in 2009 because of declining enrollment and the threat of state cutbacks.

In January, after the school year was well underway, a handful of Camarillo Heights parents learned from Villegas at an informal meeting with the principal, known as the "principal's coffee," that the school would not close for the 2008-09 school year.

"Nobody knows anything for certain anymore; that's why it was nice to hear it from the superintendent," Mitchell said. "I felt like I was valued as a parent to be given that information."

Other parents wondered why the superintendent or trustees didn't settle the matter earlier by announcing at school board meetings that Camarillo Heights would not close.

"There are so many rumors going around," said Marsha Tryforos, who was at the January meeting.

Board President Jennifer Miller said the reason could be that the district wants the community to heal from the upset caused by school closures last year and didn't want to make a promise it would later have to break.

She confirmed Camarillo Heights is safe next year but not necessarily beyond that. The district wants to explore other options, such as eliminating summer programs, before shutting down more schools, she said.

"We want to avoid closing schools if we possibly can," Miller said.