CAMARILLO : Board to Vote on Building of School

To the relief of parents in Camarillo, the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District board is nearing a decision on whether to fund construction of a new elementary school.

The board agreed Thursday to vote at its May 6 meeting whether to take out a $5.5-million loan to build a previously approved school on Woodcreek Road.

The board also is expected to decide at the May meeting whether to establish the district’s first sixth-through-eighth-grade middle school at Monte Vista Intermediate School at the time the Woodcreek school opens, scheduled for fall 1994.

With the construction of Woodcreek, some of the kindergarten-through-sixth-grade students who now attend crowded Las Colinas School would be transferred to the new school.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students from eastern Camarillo who are now bused to Monte Vista would instead attend Las Colinas.

The transfer of these students back to their neighborhood school would create enough space at Monte Vista, which currently houses only the seventh- and eighth-grades, to add sixth-grade classes.

About 20 parents from eastern Camarillo either spoke or presented written statements to the board Thursday, urging school officials to fund the construction of Woodcreek.

Parent Kathy O’Reilly said Friday that she and other parents have been pushing for the construction of the Woodcreek school for years and are relieved the end may be in sight.

Because some grades at Las Colinas are full, about 20 primary grade students are bused to other schools in the district.