Board to Study New Performing Arts School : Education: Simi Valley trustees agree to discuss the proposed magnet, as well as consider a four-year high school program.

After two days of brainstorming and some bickering, the Simi Valley school board has agreed to study a proposal to transform a junior high school into a high school emphasizing performing arts and technology.

The study would also examine turning Simi Valley’s two existing high schools into four-year programs.

Although neither idea is new, school board members said they want to see the proposed changes become reality--possibly as early as the fall of 1996.

“I can’t see spending another year hashing this around,” trustee Diane Collins said. “I think this should go to the very first board meeting when school starts.”

The board will review a proposal outlining exactly what the study will cover at its meeting Sept. 27.

The idea of restructuring the district’s two high schools and creating a new performing arts high school sparked hours of discussion Thursday and Friday during the board’s summer retreat. Twice a year, the trustees meet informally with Simi Valley Unified School District administrators and educators for a two-day planning workshop.

On Thursday, the board reviewed the results of a survey of parents conducted in the spring that revealed that 55% of 4,863 families in Simi Valley were interested in reorganizing the high schools.

“There is support in the community, rather strongly, for four-year high schools,” Assistant Supt. Susan C. Parks said. Royal and Simi Valley high schools currently serve grades 10 through 12.

Creating a third “magnet” high school, probably on one of the district’s four junior high school campuses, would alleviate crowding at the high schools and improve learning, board members said.

“Educationally, it is what ought to be done,” trustee Doug Crosse said.

Educators say ninth-graders entering high school have more opportunities for counseling and advanced classes to better prepare them for college.

Supt. Mary Beth Wolford warned the board that the restructuring would require a lengthy study of the district’s facilities that would have to be started almost immediately.

“If we are going to do it, we have to start right now,” she said.

In part, the study will examine which junior high school site could house a magnet high school, which would enroll between 600 and 800 students, district officials said.

The board members agreed that if Simi Valley’s ninth-graders were to move to four-year high schools, the decreased population at the junior high level would warrant transforming one of the junior high schools into a magnet high school site.

“The real key is how are you going to restructure the middle grades?” Collins asked.

Board members Carla Kurachi and Doug Crosse said the high school restructuring would provide an opportunity to establish a middle school for grades six through eight--a plan that was approved by the board last fall and later rejected.

But after a heated debate over whether to revisit the middle school issue, the board decided to limit the study to high school restructuring.

Although the parent survey indicated support for both a magnet school and four-year high schools, some parents are against the idea.

“I think that all sounds wonderful, but they’re trying to do all these programs that cost money,” Simi Valley parent Coleen Ary said. “I really question the priority here.”

The school district is still facing about a $2.8-million deficit. Because the plans for a magnet high school and four-year high schools are still in the conceptual stages, district officials are uncertain how much the changes would cost.

The feasibility study, which will examine the potential costs of the changes, could be completed by the end of the year, district officials said.