Residents continue with concerns over construction of Boys and Girls Club facility
By Heather Milo
Acorn Staff Writer

Residents flocked to Tuesday night’s Conejo Valley Unified School District board meeting to air concerns as to whether Boys and Girls Club should be allowed to construct a facility on the Los Cerritos Middle School campus

Commander Keith Parks, Thousand Oaks police chief, said law enforcement supports the Boys and Girls Clubs. Parks said that the club provides good supervision for kids at a time in their lives when they are most likely to get into trouble. The peak time when the police station gets the most calls overlaps with the time that children are out of school, before parents return home from work. "There is no coincidence," he said.

Questions from concerned citizens included inquiring whether a needs assessment has been done.

Mario Diaz said, "A costly needs assessment has not been done, but the questions have been asked." He cited information gleaned from the city’s Development of Youth Master Plan, which was compiled from the results of 2,000 surveys completed throughout Thousand Oaks. All four of the district’s middle schools were part of that survey, said Diaz, and many of their concerns are addressed by the types of activities held by the Boys and Girls Clubs, especially those of transportation.

A PowerPoint presentation by Gary Mortimer, CVUSD assistant superintendent of business services, touched on location specifics, insurance and indemnity during construction and afterward, and terms of the agreement between club representatives and the school district.

The club’s contributions include facility use by the district four hours per day. The Boys and Girls Club would own and maintain the facility, which would be no larger than 10,100 square feet in size. Should the agreement break down, three remedies are provided: the district has the option to purchase the building, the club has the option to remove it, or the club may choose to donate the building to the district. Such a decision would have to be made within 60 days of termination of operation.

Los Cerritos teacher Lori Cord said that when she leaves work at 5 p.m., she sees students waiting for rides. "I’d like to see them have a place where they could go," she said.

Alliance for the Arts vice president of development Ed Lewis said that if he had not had access to a Boys Club when he was growing up, then he would not be where he is today.

Some residents of Woodlands Townhomes, across the street from Los Cerritos, expressed concerns. They said they are already having challenges with student trespass, and in the words of one resident, standing in groups outside homes and smoking cigarettes and marijuana. "You can’t begin to know what your students do once they get out of school," she said.

Another neighbor from an Avenida de Los Flores complex, who is also a Los Cerritos teacher, expressed the opinion that the club might help eliminate the trespassing problem she shared with the Woodlands residents, since the club would mainly be open to Los Cerritos students. "It’s certainly not going to increase (the number of kids in the area)," she said. "Because it’s not going to increase our enrollment."

Meta Davidson said that there was already a YMCA program provided at Los Cerritos, and that that program was not full. "There’s room there for all your kids," she said.

Colina Middle School Principal Mike Waters attempted to refute rumors that the other schools in the area turned down Boys and Girls Clubs on their own campuses. "We are in line," he said. "We’re jealous of (Los Cerritos Principal) Ellie Love and the Los Cerritos community."

Boardmember Mary Jo Del Campo said that the city faced similar challenges from concerned area residents during the planning stages for the Alex Fiore Thousand Oaks Teen Center. The evening’s discussion was informational; no vote took place.