Just a year and a half after Conejo Valley Unified School District voted to close two of its schools, a third elementary school is being considered for closure.

CVUSD administrators met with Park Oaks Elementary staff and parents the night of Nov. 10 to explain that a district subcommittee was considering a recommendation to the school board that Park Oaks be closed next fall“The parent reaction was predictable,” said Superintendent Mario Contini. “They were very gracious. On the one hand, they were understanding, and on the other hand they were very, very concerned about the loss of their school. And we are, too.”

Meadows and University didn’t open their doors this fall after the board voted in March 2008 to shut them.

The decision was made because of continued declining enrollment and budget woes.

Meadows is now the home of MATES Charter School, and University houses the district’s Early Childhood Development Center. MATES is an acronym for Meadows Arts and Technology Elementary School.

The CVUSD facilities committee’s recommendation to close Park Oaks was expected to be issued yesterday at the budget committee meeting.

Closing one school saves the district more than $600,000.

“The facilities committee was looking at data and at school enrollment,” Contini said. “There’s been no formal decision made— it’s not at that level. Our concern was that we didn’t want staff or parents to hear anything secondhand. We just wanted them to know that it was maybe going to be considered as a possible costsavings measure.”

There are 250 students who attend Park Oaks, and the district is predicting a loss of 50 next year.

“It’s a Title 1 school, and they all tend to experience declining enrollment in excess of others,” Contini said. “There are probably other factors—some kids went to EARTHS” (Environmental Academy for Research Technology and Earth Sciences).

EARTHS is a new magnet school which opened this fall in Newbury Park, replacing Manzanita Elementary School.

Contini said that the board will need to make a decision by early next year because school choice deadlines, for parents who don’t want their children to attend the assigned neighborhood school, are in February and March. That deadline will affect dislocated students, like those who attend Park Oaks, if the school is closed.

Ana Alvarez, Park Oaks’ outreach coordinator, said the parents are “devastated.”

“Park Oaks is a very special school,” Alvarez said. “It’s a small community school, where most of the parents walk with their kids. It makes for a good environment, to get parents into the classroom and integrate them into school plans. We’ve worked so hard to build this. The parents want to expand on what we’ve done, but time is running out.”

Alvarez said that arranging transportation will be difficult if the school closes.

“Because most everyone walks, it’s going to be an issue,” she said. “The kids will get there somehow, but we won’t get the parents. We will lose that community feeling. School involvement on the parents’ part is very important in the development of a child.”

Contini did say that the district is addressing the possible school closure differently than last year. The nearly yearlong process of determining the closure of Meadows and University in 2007 and 2008 drew much criticism from the community.

“It’s already being handled significantly differently,” Contini said.

“Last time we went through a real methodical process with a lot of emotion involved,” he said. “This time we’ve simply looked at enrollment, and it’s pretty straightforward. Now we’ll just have to look at where they’ll go to take care of their needs, all the other issues that have to be addressed.”

Janet Cosaro, assistant superintendent, instructional services; Tim Carpenter, assistant superintendent, personnel services; Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent, business services; Bob Iezza, director of elementary education; and Contini were among the staff members who attended the meeting. Park Oaks is at 1335 Calle Bouganvilla in Thousand Oaks.