THOUSAND OAKS : Head Start School Relocation Weighed

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission today will consider a proposal to move a preschool for children from low-income families to an apartment complex, making it Ventura County’s first Head Start program to be located in a housing project.

The federally funded Head Start program, operated by the county to help 3- and 4-year-old children prepare for kindergarten, is now at Church of the Oaks on Warwick Avenue. But the building that houses the preschool is scheduled to be torn down.

Owners of the Shadow Hills apartment complex have offered to house the preschool program within their Wilbur Road complex. The school would pay a reduced rate to rent two units.

“I have so much respect for the program and what they are doing,” said Kathy Sube, executive director of Many Mansions, a private nonprofit group that took over management of the apartment complex last year. “And it’s a program that will benefit our residents. Some of them already have children in the program.”

The preschool would serve 40 students, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. Six of them would be from families in the apartment complex, according to a city staff report.

The preschool would operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Because of potential noise problems, the city is recommending that extra insulation be installed in the units in which the school would operate.

If approved, Sube said, the school would probably begin operating next fall. There are 17 Head Start centers in Ventura County.