THOUSAND OAKS : Developer to Donate 10 Acres for School

A developer has agreed to donated 10 acres for a future elementary school to the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

A new school will be needed to accommodate children from the planned 2,350-unit Dos Vientos Ranch development in southwest Thousand Oaks, district officials said Thursday.

Courtly Homes of Los Angeles will donate the land to the district, which will determine when to build the school, according to the agreement.

“We don’t want to build it before it’s needed because otherwise we would lose having to staff a school that is not full,” school board member Dick Newman said.

The agreement also calls for Courtly Homes and Operating Engineers Pension Fund in Pasadena, another landowner in the area, to contribute fees that will be used to build the school. Both landowners have already signed the contract, Assistant Supt. Sarah Hart said.

In other business Thursday night, the board approved changes in the district’s alcohol and drug testing policy for job applicants who will handle machinery, such as woodshop teachers, electricians and custodians. Laboratory Specialists in Woodland Hills, which conducts the tests for the district, will no longer test for certain prescription drugs, such as antidepressants.

The lab will continue to test for illegal drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, which cause the greatest safety threat in the workplace, company President Marnie Verbofsky said.

Since September, 1987, applicants seeking jobs involving machinery have been tested for drugs, said Jim Silberberger, director of classified personnel. Of the 102 people tested last year, 7% failed, he said. The changes in testing will increase the cost of each test by $1.