Sixth-grade students in Conejo Valley schools will still attend Outdoor School this year, but the residential environmental education program has been cut in half due to budget cutbacks.

Conejo Valley Unified School District’s Board of Education voted unanimously to reduce the typically weeklong camp to 2½ days.

But Jeff Baarstad, deputy superintendent of business services, couldn’t confirm that the cost of even the shortened camp would pay for itself.

“There’s no guarantee that it will be cost neutral,” he said. “But it’s not the end of the world if we have to subsidize it slightly.”

Last year, the trip cost the district more than $70,000 when a change of location was needed after a bat-related rabies scare at the program’s Camp Bloomfield site. Additional staff and security also needed to be hired.

The previous year the program cost the district only $14,000, an amount that is typical for the several years prior.

To break even, it would cost about $315 per student to attend a five-day experience at Camp Bloomfield. The 2½-day camp reduces that per-student cost to $158, plus $9 to help out kids who need scholarships to attend.

Janet Cosaro, assistant superintendent, instructional services, said that 60 students needed scholarships to the camp last year, and they are predicting 84 will need them this year.

In the past, parent-teacher associations and school instructional budgets covered additional monies needed for scholarships for kids at their schools.

“Now that it’s becoming more money, PTAs don’t want to be responsible for that,” Baarstad said. “And the instructional budgets simply don’t have it.”

At a previous meeting where preliminary thoughts were shared, board member Betsy Connolly recommended asking the parents who could afford it to pay more and keep it a fiveday program.

“It’s not going to be an extra $20 that’s going to put them over the edge. People who can’t afford it can’t as is—they can’t pay for groceries,” Connolly said. “But the majority of people in the community are still working and still earning.

“I would hate to abandon a hands-on, alternative program that’s still valuable, especially to people who may not excel in the classroom. I’d hate to not ask everybody to pitch in before we make reductions. I worry going to a 2½-day program will be the beginning of losing the program. To do it without a fight, I just feel like it’s a mistake.”

Other board members were wary of cutting the program and asked how it would affect the students and teachers.

“The trip is near and dear to the students’ and the families’ hearts—it’s something they say they’ve dreamt of since they first entered our schools,” Cosaro said. “But the administration and the teachers, they feel five days away, with the rigor of the sixthgrade program, it’s a lot to be away from the classroom. The loss of instruction time with the accountability pressure they’re under is difficult.”

Outdoor School is typically held at Camp Bloomfield, a 40acre camp 2.5 miles inland from Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu. Last year it was moved to King Gillette Ranch.

Cosaro said middle school principals spoke with sixth-grade teachers recently to discuss the two camps.

Cosaro said the teachers like the rustic feel of Camp Bloomfield and the fact that it can accommodate large numbers. However, she said, there are concerns about the state of the facility, which is “run down and at times very dirty.” Teachers have also expressed concern about the level of instruction—apparently the naturalists could be challenging students more.

The teachers like the fact that King Gillette Ranch employs full-time knowledgeable naturalists but lament the fact it doesn’t have “that out-in-the-wilderness feeling,” Cosaro said. It’s also hard to accommodate a great number of students there.

King Gillette Ranch, said Cosaro, costs about $30 more per student and an extra $35,000 overall for meals and other expenses.

“The teachers feel they like both experiences at both camps,” Cosaro said. “There are pros and cons to both.”

City staff is working on a recommendation for which camp the students should attend.