FILLMORE : Schools to Urge Commuting on Foot

Fillmore Unified School District could meet Ventura County air quality requirements if more of its employees walked to work, the Board of Trustees was told Tuesday.

Reporting to the board on a recent employee survey, Assistant Supt. Robert L. Kernen said the district is already close to meeting new standards set by the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

“If another 14 people walked to work, we’d have it,” Kernen said.

The new rules require that commuter vehicles carry an average of 1.35 people. Kernen said the district survey revealed that Fillmore Unified employees now average 1.27 people per vehicle. “People are already car-pooling to the extent that’s feasible,” Kernen said. “The key would be to have more people walking.”

Kernen said Fillmore schools are unique because so many of the district’s 353 employees live locally, many within a mile of their workplace. “It’s the ideal community for walking to work,” he said.

About half of Fillmore’s 189 teachers live in town, and most of the 164 other workers are Fillmore residents.

Fillmore Unified has already filed its plan to reduce commuter vehicles, Kernen said. But with the end of the 1990-91 school year only a week away, district officials will wait to take action until the new school year begins July 31. Kernen said employees would receive a bulletin encouraging them to walk to work.