EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Displaced Simi Pupils to Attend Rival School

Junior Kris Williams lives right across the street from Simi Valley High School, but beginning today, he will have to take a bus to school.

Until earthquake damage to Simi Valley High is repaired, its students and faculty will attend classes 5 1/2 miles away at the home of their cross-town rival, Royal High School.

“It’s a real inconvenience,” 16-year-old Kris said. “Now our lives are disrupted, considering we have to start school at 12 and go until 5.”

The two schools will operate on a split shift, with Royal running from 7 to 11:35 a.m. and Simi High arriving at 12:10 p.m.

First-period class assignments for Simi High students will be posted on outside walls today. Once in their first class, the students will receive the rest of their schedules.

“It will be just like the first day of school,” said school board member Judy Barry, who helped staff an information center Tuesday in the parking lot at Simi High. “I’m really confident that it’s going to work.”

Along with Barry, a group of teachers at the information center distributed bus schedules and other information as parents and students stopped by.

“In the first-period class, the students will be given their programs plus a map, because they won’t know their way around campus,” Simi High English teacher Marge Morgan said.

The split schedule, resulting in shortened days for students at both schools, is not desirable, but it’s better than no school at all, Morgan said.

“The only thing it’s going to do is get us through,” she said.

No food service will be provided to either group of students, but those who bring their lunches will be able to use the cafeteria between 11:40 a.m. and 12:10 p.m.

Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said she doesn’t know how long Simi High students will have to attend classes at Royal, but noted that the arrangement will continue at least until Feb. 14.

Meanwhile, workers wearing respirators and protective clothing began removing asbestos found in ceiling panels at Simi High--a discovery that forced a delay in the school’s reopening. School officials had originally believed that the building would be ready this week.

Work to repair earthquake damage at the school cannot begin until the asbestos is removed by a certified contractor.

Damage districtwide has been estimated at between $3 million and $5 million, with about $1 million at Simi High, officials say.

By Tuesday, all schools in the district except Simi Valley High had reopened, including Township School, one of the most heavily damaged by the magnitude 6.6 quake Jan. 17.

“All I can say is people have pulled together like champions,” Township Principal Barbara Marino said.

Beginning today, some school buses will be available at Simi Valley High at 11:45 a.m. to transport students to Royal, officials said. However, the district is encouraging parents to car-pool.

City buses will operate on their regular schedules, officials said.

Some students predicted that the rivalry between the two schools will be intensified by the shared quarters.

“There’s going to be a lot of fights,” said Kevin McClintock, 15, a 10th-grader at Simi High.

But Royal Principal Mike McConahey said staff members from the two schools have worked hard to ensure that things run smoothly. Officials have about half an hour between the departure of Royal’s 1,800 students and the arrival of Simi’s 2,100.

Still, minor glitches can be expected on the first day or two, he said. With its larger staff and student population, Simi will use more space than Royal, McConahey said.

“There will be some chaos, and there will be some milling around,” he said. “But in a couple of days, everything will settle down and we’ll get back to being a high school--or two high schools, as the case may be.”