MOORPARK : Architect Hired to Modernize Schools

Moorpark school officials have hired an architect to design plans for modernizing two schools and building a new elementary school, which is proposed to accommodate anticipated population growth on the city’s north side.

The Moorpark Unified School District board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire the architectural firm Kal Porter & Associates to draw up plans to build the new school and revamp Flory School and Chaparral Middle School.

The district has not yet received state approval or funds for any of the construction projects. Part of the architect’s job will be to help prepare the district’s funding applications to the state.

The district agreed to pay the firm $5,000 a month for up to a year to design the three projects, until the state funds one of the projects.

Although school officials haven’t selected a site for the new elementary school, it will probably be located on the city’s north side, where several large housing developments are proposed to be built, Supt. Thomas Duffy said.

The proposed modernization of Flory and Chaparral will include such improvements as new plumbing, lighting, carpeting and painting, Duffy said.

“It’s more than a face-lift,” he told the board. “It’s improving the educational environment at the school.”

Flory and Chaparral are the oldest school buildings in the district except for the Moorpark Community High School building, which is to be closed next year when the high school moves to a new site.

The district’s other five schools have been built within the last 10 years.