CONEJO VALLEY : Firm to Be Picked to Plan School Rooms

The Conejo Valley school board has approved hiring an architectural firm to design multipurpose rooms at two elementary schools.

The 3,000-square-foot rooms, which will include a stage, tables and possibly a kitchen, will be built at Aspen Elementary School in Thousand Oaks and Cypress Elementary School in Newbury Park, the school board decided on Thursday.

The two rooms will cost a total of $1.5 million to $1.7 million, which will be paid with developer fees that can only be used for new construction or major renovations.

An architectural firm will be chosen by a district committee in about a week, said Ali Kiafar, director of planning and facilities. The projects are expected to be finished by the fall of 1993, he said.

The schools have small multipurpose rooms, but children eat outside most of the time because there is not enough space for them, school officials said.

At Aspen, students eat at their desks in bad weather, and parent volunteers come in to help at lunch, said Principal Lonnie Urbina.

The multipurpose room becomes taxed when it’s occupied by the school’s 90-voice choir.

“During choir practice, it’s wall-to-wall humanity,” Urbina said. “Once the new building is completed, we will use the existing building for classroom space or a computer lab or a combination of both.”