Trustees vote to close two schools
Rise in elementary enrollment could bring a reprieve
By Joann Groff  joann@theacorn.com

As a result of severely declining enrollment in the district, the Conejo Valley Unified School District board voted Tuesday night to close two elementary schools in fall 2009.

Initially, board member Dorothy Beaubien made the motion to wait until fall 2008 to decide whether to close schools the following year. But in a surprising turn, board member Pat Phelps recommended making an immediate decision to close the schools in an effort to give parents more notice.

"I'm concerned if we defer any consideration of this, we are going to be caught off guard," Phelps said. "We're all geared up now. Of course it sounds good to me to push it off, but I think that would be a big mistake."

In the end, all of the board's members but Mike Dunn were convinced, and the 4-1 vote to close the schools passed.

The decision included a provision that if "enrollment improved or the budget increased" the vote could be revisited.

"No one wants to close a school," said board President Dolores Didio. "But this is with the understanding that if there is a quick change we can look at that. There's nothing that says we can't go back."

In the next month, said Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent of business services, CVUSD staff will put together criteria on how the two schools will be selected.

By January or February, they will be named. Then parents will have about 18 months' notice if their neighborhood school will shut down the following year, rather than just seven or eight months if the decision had been delayed until fall.

However, when new enrollment projections become available in April, the staff will look for any positive changes--for example, a spike in kindergarten enrollment. An increase could mean reconsidering the closures.

"I don't want to be a pessimist," Baarstad said, "but I don't think the numbers are going to change."

The vote came after the board voted against closing any schools next year. Beaubien moved to defer judgment on 2009 closures, but many parents then spoke out on the subject.

Although public comments were heavily against school closures at the last hearing, this week's public comment was nearly split.

Of about 12 speakers, five supported the staff's recommendation that the board close schools.

"If not school closures, where will the money come from?" asked Dianne McKay.

Parent Sue Wells encouraged her peers to think smart.

"Sometimes you have to take the emotional part out of the decision," she said. As a real estate agent, Wells added, "If we close schools, it won't affect our property values. What will affect our property values is the quality of the education."

Virginia Owens urged the board to keep looking into other options such as increasing both interdistrict transfers and attendance.

Dunn asked fellow board members several times to explain the rush, but he ended up voting against his peers.

Phelps emphasized that nothing was set in stone. "We aren't tied in to this," she said.