School district expects to hold onto closed campuses in CVUSD
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

While parents and students wait to find out what two schools in Conejo Valley Unified School District will be closing their doors in 2009, many are wondering what will happen to those neighborhood schools after they're shuttered. According to district officials, they fully intend to hold onto those facilities.

In September 2007, the school board voted to close two schools in 2009 in response to declining enrollment. A committee has recommended University and Meadows elementary schools to close, with Parks Oaks and Aspen as alternatives to University, and Glenwood as an alternative to Meadows. The board is expected to make a decision at its Tues., March 18 meeting.

Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent, said the district has no intention of selling the school sites.

"We are hopeful that the housing prices may go down and enrollment numbers will go up, and we will hopefully be able to reopen the schools within the next 10 years," Baarstad said.

Once the two schools are identified, the first order for Baarstad will be to make the sites available for lease to nonprofit organizations or public agencies.

If none are interested, the sites will only then be open to approved private interests.

"We would only consider something that would be compatible with a residential location," Baarstad said. "We aren't going to take a school and turn it into a factory," he said.

Baarstad used examples like a private preschool or the Easter Seal Society.

"If nobody wants to use them, there are other things we could do," Baarstad said, a specially funded preschool program, for example. "It would have to be something that is funded with different funds. It doesn't make sense to use money from the budget we're trying to save."

Baarstad said he's had "very basic" conversations with the parks and recreation department regarding its interest in using a site for a community center.

"If we can't get a goodpaying lease, or no one is interested in giving us much money for them, we've talked about using them for community resources."

Baarstad also emphasized that when the district estimated the costs associated with closures, it didn't calculate any savings in ground maintenance.

"We're going to continue with 100 percent of that maintenance," Baarstad said.

"We also only estimated 50 percent of building maintenance expenditures. We want people to know that we aren't going to put a fence around a school and let the weeds grow."