Regarding “Another charter school approved” in the Feb. 18 Thousand Oaks Acorn , it’s exciting to hear that Conejo Valley Unified School District is bolstering its successful open classroom magnet with Stephen Covey’s “The Leader In Me” framework. The open classroom magnet has been a popular choice for 16 years. In fact, some parents liked it so much that they decided to run a version of it themselves, calling it the Bridges Charter School.

As a magnet school, open classroom benefits from its affiliation with Conejo Elementary School and CVUSD. These affiliations provide access to robust programs, such as special education, that might overwhelm or be of secondary concern to a standalone school.

In addition to improving open classroom, CVUSD is installing several programs at the University center to provide better services to the many thousands of students and families in CVUSD.

Far from being an unused campus, the former University Elementary School is now home to district child care, preschool, the Waverly program, special education classrooms, a presentation center and the Family Resource Center. These projects demonstrate that CVUSD is innovating and planning for the future.

Perhaps the most important service that CVUSD provides is community cohesion. The school district is a live demonstration in civics, working with parents, teachers and residents to provide all students in the community with a high-quality education.

Its students and families get to choose from a wide range of programs, and schools benefit from pooling resources.

We would be better off if our state government worked as well as our school district.
Chris Habecker
Thousand Oaks