Oak Park : Board Votes to Keep Library’s School Site

The Oak Park school board has unanimously approved a resolution to keep the community library at the local high school, despite a request from Ventura County Supervisor Maria E. VanderKolk that the vote be delayed.

The board voted Wednesday to recommend to the supervisor that Oak Park continue to have a combined public and high school library.

The Oak Park High School Library has operated jointly with the Oak Park Public Library at the school campus since 1980, under an agreement between the school district and the Ventura County Library Services Agency.

VanderKolk has suggested that to improve library services Oak Park should consider contributing the nearly $1 million it has set aside for community projects toward building a planned regional library in the neighboring Los Angeles County city of Agoura Hills.

But the school board’s recommendation Wednesday demonstrated that the panel would strongly oppose this proposal unless a branch of the regional library were allowed to remain at the high school.

Prior to the board’s vote, an administrative aide to VanderKolk asked school officials to delay their decision on the issue until a study is completed on whether Oak Park should become a city, remain an unincorporated community or merge with Thousand Oaks.

The results of the study, due out in one month, will affect future decisions on library services in Oak Park, said Lenora Kirby, VanderKolk’s administrative aide. If, for example, the study recommends that Oak Park merge with Thousand Oaks, the community would join that city’s library system.

“We’re asking for one month for this study to come out,” Kirby said. “Don’t close any doors right now.”

But school officials said they wanted to send a strong message from the community that it supports keeping a public library at the high school. They said they would prefer to spend the money earmarked for community projects toward construction of a new public library at the high school site.