MOORPARK : District Calls for Bids on New School

Trustees of the Moorpark Unified School District have moved to seek bids on a new elementary school planned for the city’s growing West Village.

The school, estimated to cost $4 million, would cover 36,346 square feet and house 526 children.

But district officials Tuesday acknowledged that the school, needed to relieve overcrowding, will not be built unless voters approve a statewide proposition in June that provides money for school construction and renovation.

The West Village school project was approved by the state in 1989, but no money was available then, Supt. Tom Duffy said.

“If there had been money at that time, they would have given us money to build the school,” Duffy said.

The call for bids means the board has completed planning the school. Bids are due by May 24.

The board also considered a proposal by a Los Angeles firm Tuesday to develop Moorpark Memorial High School, which closed in 1988. The board met in closed session to discuss the proposal.

Since its closure, the old high school has been used by the Moorpark continuation school. The Moorpark Boys and Girls Club is trying to purchase the Memorial school gym. Negotiations over the past year with a development firm that was interested in the Casey Road property have fallen apart, Duffy said, and the district is reconsidering a proposal that it previously rejected.