Save Timber
School House

Next year should be a year of celebration in the Conejo Valley. The city of Thousand Oaks will have its 40th anniversary. That may not sound very old, but a lot has changed in 40 years.

There is another anniversary next year that we may not be able to celebrate—the 80th anniversary of the "New" Timber Schoolhouse, now called Conejo Valley High or the Continuation School. This building on the corner of Newbury and Kelly Road is twice as old as the city of T.O. But, instead of preserving the site for future generations, the Redevelopment Agency (the T.O. Council) and the school district have made plans for a decade to demolish the school.

The city would actually give the school district $700,000 to level the entire site and prepare the soil for development. That’s 10 years of agreement without public comment to demolish a site that will celebrate the 115th anniversary of the first wooden Timber Schoolhouse next year.

The Timber Schoolhouse is the oldest community building still standing in the Conejo Valley. At the time it opened, kids would have been thrilled to drive up in a new Model-T, but most would have arrived for classes on foot, horseback, or wagon.

So, how will we celebrate Timber School’s 80th year? Will we place a plaque on the corner so the folks going to the new hotel or Kohl’s can remember what used to be there before we "modernized" our community? I hope that we can begin to envision a community that honors the effort of the pioneers that founded it.

We should restore Timber School so that the students that are required to study history in their school district will know that it is actually valued by their school board.

May 2004 be a year of celebration for what our city has both accomplished and preserved.

William Maple

Newbury Park