Magnet school approved

To attract more students to Conejo Valley Unified School District and to offer parents a choice in alternate teaching styles, the CVUSD Board of Education approved creation of a science and technology magnet school in Newbury Park in 2009.

At their meeting Tuesday night, trustees voted unanimously to open the Environmental Academy for Research Technology and earth Sciences (EARTHS) at Manzanita Elementary School.

The kindergartenthroughfifthgrade school will use handson and experimental teaching methods, multisensory teaching and community and environmental-based learning. Another focus will be lessons that prepare students for the rigor of Advanced Placement classes.

"We are focused on giving parents a choice," said Manzanita Principal Jennifer Boone. "We know the race for quality has no end."

Manzanita is the best site choice because it's in close proximity to the area's science community and has the ability to house nearly 600 students, Boone said. With that capacity available, the committee has discussed expanding to a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school. As of June, only 400 students attended the school.

When asked if the kids currently attending Manzanita would have priority, Boone said that would defeat the purpose.

"The point of a magnet is to lift the school and dissolve all boundaries," she said, adding that the student body would be chosen through some type of lottery after all applications were submitted.

But Superintendent Mario Contini said the district hasn't finalized the process and a certain amount of spaces may be reserved for different priorities, including socioeconomically disadvantaged kids or Englishlanguage learners.

Contini said the committee recently had an informational meeting for Manzanita parents.

"Parents are very excited," Contini said. "They were almost pressuring us to guarantee that they'll be able to stay. We're going to come up with a plan to possibly reserve seats for people in the area and for a number of people outside of the district so we can have a nice cross section."

Contini and other district representatives, as well as parents and Conejo Foundation members comprise a committee that's been working on developing a magnet school for many months.

Innovative programs include a school garden, the science fair and sciencerelated field trips and a recycling program, Boone said.

"This is so innovative," said trustee Tim Stephens. "I think it's going to be wonderful. This is an example of people really working to grow our enrollment."

The school is slated to open for the 2009-10 school year. Boone said applications will be available as early as October.

A parentled group is also trying to open an arts and technology charter school and is seeking district authorization, which they can also get from the state. CVUSD is slated to decide whether to be the charter's authorizer at its Aug. 19 meeting.