School district sets 4 criteria to determine which schools to close
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

The Conejo Valley Unified School District board has officially approved four criteria that will be used in choosing which two elementary schools will shut their doors after the 2008-09 school year.

Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent of business services, presented the list to the public for the second time at a school board meeting to allow for feedback.

The criteria that will be used in determining school closures are: the number of resident students that will be displaced, the distance displaced students will have to travel, the ability of adjacent schools to absorb displaced students and the relative quality of the schools' facilities.

The board voted unanimously to approve these criteria despite some other ideas from parents. Many, for example, said they thought test scores should be considered.

"School performance and parent satisfaction should be taken into account," said Louise Kiesel. "Scores are what parents use to decide where they are going to move."

Lilly Dollenmayer has three children at Manzanita, a Title I school, and rejected the notion that test scores should be considered because high scores mean better schools.

"Test scores are not an indication of teachers' skills," Dollenmayer said. "We have a wonderful parent group, a growing PTA . . . and exactly the same things that many other schools do except we have disadvantaged students.

"It is extremely cruel to sit and judge. My children will adapt to any change. I will be the one to resist. But this is about what is best for the children, not what is convenient for me."

Jo-Anne Guerriere agreed.

"It bothers me that correlations continue to be made between test scores and the belief that if they are low the teachers are substandard," Guerriere said. "We don't have 200 involved parents- we have 50 because our parents don't have the luxury or the choice to decide whether they'd like to work.

"I want my teachers to know they have my support. And they need to know they have your support."

Scott Cabelli recommended an independent auditor be used to score the schools, and others agreed that the blind scoring system will not work.

Baarstad agreed that some schools would be identifiable.

"I'll know Sycamore Canyon, Meadows and Wildwood because they're small," said Baarstad, who also admitted that knowing how far from the freeway some schools are could be telling. "But I think there's enough integrity in the committee. They are committed to being unbiased."

And Superintendent Mario Contini pointed out the objectivity of the process.

"Numbers are numbers," he said. "They can't be fudged, so I think that should eliminate some of the concern."

Some parents continued to use the public hearings to chastise the board for voting to close two schools in 2009 unless enrollment takes an unexpected jump.

"I am adamantly opposed to any school closures," Walter Knee said. "It rips at the moral fibers and robs children of part of their childhood. To allow this school closure process is to fail our children."

Lara Pace couldn't hold back tears while she informed the crowd that her family had moved a year ago and chose the Conejo Valley because of the neighborhood schools.

"I live three houses away from Walnut Elementary, and my kids love going to school," Pace said. "It's wonderful, and the teachers are great, and we paid a lot of money for our house because we felt it was worth everything to give our children a neighborhood. This is a tragedy."

Board Vice President Dorothy Beaubien spoke strongly against those who advocated keeping schools open at the cost of cutting programs.

"I don't know how many of you have been in schools where programs have been cut, but if you devastate a program, you devastate a school," she said. "You want the best education you can get.

"It's hard, but I think you'd rather your kids go to a good school with good programs than a so-so school (nearby). I know that's what I'd want for my kids."