New School Is Lesson in Cooperation : Education: Students, teachers, parents and community members paste together design ideas for the planned facility in Los Amigos Park.

It was a town-hall meeting complete with Elmer’s glue and Cheerios.

Ocean Park community members met with students, teachers and parents from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to hash out what the new elementary school planned for Los Amigos Park should look like.

Park users pushed for tennis courts. Teachers wanted to flip the existing layout of the park, putting school buildings on the quieter north end where playing fields are now. Neighbors advocated inconspicuous buildings with view corridors to the sea.

But they didn’t just talk. They cut and pasted together their unique visions using household gadgets and plenty of imagination.

After a weeklong series of workshops, the walls of the Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH) auditorium were covered with hanging sheets of paper festooned with miniature buildings made of drinking straws, brightly colored cotton balls representing foliage, and toy cars in hand-drawn parking lots. Cheerios, representing people, gathered in clusters outside gates and rounded the bases on playing fields cut from pattern-making paper.

Although participants could not come up with a consensus plan Saturday, they agreed that the effort was, if not a fun arts-and-crafts session, an excellent way to voice their desires and discuss conflicts.

“There have been many wonderful ideas,” Ocean Park resident Alan Russo said. “I think they will turn into a very positive development.”

The new elementary school, scheduled to open its doors in 1995, is part of Ocean Park’s educational-overhaul plan approved by board members in October.

Under the plan, John Muir Elementary School and SMASH will relocate to the new school and will retain their separate identities. Old buildings will be renovated, and part of the Muir site will be developed into housing, raising about $4.2 million for the school project.

An additional $4 million needed for the new school will come from a $75-million capital-improvements bond issue passed by voters in 1990, and to a lesser degree, developers fees, said Bill Bonozo, director of facility improvement projects for the district.

Park users and nearby residents protested the plan because they did not want to lose valuable open space. Half of the 5.6-acre park, at 6th Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, is occupied by playing fields.

The district pledged to maintain the current ratio of open space and to keep fields open to the public after school and on weekends. After the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission recommended in January that the city consider purchasing the district-owned park, board members passed a resolution formalizing the pledge.

The recent workshops were part of the board’s community-outreach effort, which began in 1985 and will continue throughout the design process for the school, said Connie Jenkins, president of the school board.

The board approved spending $12,000 for a consultant to run the recent workshops in an attempt to “fashion a school and program that has strong community support,” she said.

Architect Brian Dougherty participated in the workshops and has been instructed to draw upon the many ideas in coming up with a draft plan in the fall, board member Mary Kay Kamath said.

Parent Toby Michel presented a plan that featured a “Versaille-like, Romantic bisection” of the campus. He also suggested an amphitheater that would be available for use by the community.

Parent Barbara Trelease presented a plan that would move the park’s tennis courts to another park two blocks away because “it was not important to all of us.”

Many of the amateur planners came up with the idea of having a central focus for the campus, such as a “little-red-schoolhouse” style administration building, a memorial to John Muir or a plaza.

Concerns that were voiced included traffic, parking and keeping transients from hanging out in the park.

A small but vocal group of parents did not want the school to be built at all.

Parent Eric Siss said the $8.2 million earmarked for the new school would be better spent rehabilitating old schools.

“I think this whole process is financially irresponsible,” he said. “The school board is cutting back on PE programs, can’t fix their toilets, and yet they’re willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants, architects and workshops.”

Resident Tracey LePage said she enjoyed having a chance to work with other members in the community. But she said the worthiness of the workshops “depends on whether (board members) ultimately incorporate the community’s ideas and if it’s not just lip service.”