SIMI VALLEY : Board OKs Delay on New Grade School

Construction of a new elementary school in west Simi Valley could be delayed up to two years due to a slump in the local housing market, school officials said Tuesday.

Simi Valley school board members Tuesday approved a request by Olympia/Roberts Co. to postpone construction of the Wood Ranch Elementary School for one year and possibly two if the number of grade-school students living in the area is not enough to warrant a new school.

In exchange, Olympia/Roberts, developer of the Wood Ranch tract, will pay the Simi Valley Unified School District $500,000 for each year the project is delayed. Funds received by the developer will be used for capital improvements--such as extra buildings--at Madera Elementary School, where Wood Ranch-area children are now bused.

Approximately 200 grade-school students currently live in Wood Ranch, compared with the estimated 350 elementary-school students that were anticipated by this time, said Mary Beth Wolford, an assistant superintendent for the district. The new school would accommodate about 500 students.

“A delay is the best thing,” Wolford said.

As recent as January, representatives of the school district and the developer said construction was planned for the spring of 1991, with a September, 1992, opening date. Wolford said that Olympia/Roberts requested the delay two weeks ago.

The proposed school would include common areas that would house student computers and built-in television monitors and videotape machines in every classroom. The cost is estimated at $5.5 million, which would be paid by Olympia/Roberts.