OXNARD : Educator Wants to Lease Closed School

The director of the Oxnard High Adult Education School said Friday that leasing the closed Ramona School in east Oxnard from the elementary district would save the adult program $100,000 a year.

Michael Hernandez, the adult school director, said he plans to submit a proposal to the Ramona School Disposition Advisory Committee at its meeting Sept. 26.

“We would like to take it on,” Hernandez said about the empty school site in the La Colonia area that was closed a year earlier than planned to save money. “It’s a good sweetheart deal for us, because as a public agency we would be entitled to lease it for $1 a year.”

The Oxnard Elementary School District plans to lease the school site out for as long as two years before selling the property.

The adult school serves 30,000 students a year at 20 locations, with an average of 3,900 enrolled at any one time. Currently, the school rents a warehouse in La Colonia for $100,000, but the lease expires in October, Hernandez said.

If the adult school receives the lease, classes would be offered during the day and at night.

According to Sandra Herrera, an assistant superintendent with the Oxnard Elementary School District, the state educational code favors the use of abandoned schools by other school districts.

“It doesn’t preclude selling it to developers, but working with the community (will influence) where it will go, as opposed to just getting the top dollar,” Herrera said.

Referring to the proposal by the adult school, Herrera added, “We’re hoping they are interested.”