Purchase of Private School Site Leaves Parents, Staff in Limbo

In a move that will reverberate for months in the private school community of the San Fernando Valley and Westside, Viewpoint School has purchased the grounds of next-door Meadow Oaks elementary school, leaving hundreds of families and teachers--who get no guarantee they can transfer to Viewpoint--to scramble for places at other campuses next fall.

Viewpoint Headmaster Robert Dworkoski said Tuesday he is encouraging teachers and students from Meadow Oaks School to apply for positions.

“Obviously, it’s a difficult time for them. We are trying to be sensitive to them,” he said, but “our standards for admission will apply to the Meadow Oaks students.”

Meadow Oaks, a 32-year-old institution known for its woodsy campus on Mulholland Drive, had a different educational philosophy than the more traditional Viewpoint School, parents and other private school administrators say.

Some parents, who sought out Meadow Oaks’ creative, outdoorsy educational programs may not want to send their children to Viewpoint and others may find their children cannot meet Viewpoint’s entrance policies.

With annual tuition ranging from $6,900 to $9,450, Meadow Oaks attracts students from Malibu, the San Fernando Valley and Thousand Oaks; actor Mel Gibson and actress Jane Seymour have children there.

Viewpoint, a college preparatory school, requires students to wear uniforms in the elementary and middle grades and has a dress code for high school students. Homework is required beginning in the primary grades and discipline standards are enforced--students are expelled for bad behavior or for using drugs or alcohol. Tuition ranges from $8,000 to $9,300 per year, depending on the grade, and is due to increase next year.

Viewpoint School initiated the purchase because its eight-acre campus of 585 students, has run out of room, school officials said.

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Dworkoski refused to reveal the purchase price, saying terms of the deal are confidential and that the sale is just going into escrow.

Meadow Oaks has 565 students in classes from kindergarten to eighth grade--plus 60 teachers and about 40 other staff members--on a campus of 17 acres.

While Dworkoski was reluctant to say how many more students will be enrolled at Viewpoint, Larry Janss, a member of the Viewpoint School Board of Trustees, said he believes the expanded 25-acre campus could grow to between 850 and 950 students.

Viewpoint officials plan to maintain the open atmosphere of Meadow Oaks, Dworkoski said. “We want to keep it spacious so we’re not going to get as large as they (Meadow Oaks) are,” Dworkoski said. “But we will be one of the major schools in this area.”

The pending closure of Meadow Oaks comes seven weeks after the death of its co-founder, Ken Ketchie, who opened the campus in 1963.

Meadow Oaks parents say they were surprised to receive notices in the mail about the closure on Saturday, the day after teachers learned the news. “Everybody (among the parents) is in shock,” said Jacque Sierad, whose daughter attends the school.

“I don’t really know what I’m going to do. Viewpoint has a very good academic reputation, so we are considering staying on.”

Said Cindy Kurland, who has a son in kindergarten at Meadow Oaks: “It came out of the blue. . . . You finally get your child in an elementary school and think you don’t have to worry about it until sixth grade and then this happens.”

Vic Cook, co-founder of Meadow Oaks, said some parents “are delighted at the prospect . . . excited about what we can create.”

Meadow Oaks’ owners will continue to operate the summer camp on the campus that draws youths from across the San Fernando Valley and other parts of the city.

Susi Gilmartin, a parent who handles publicity for Meadow Oaks, predicted that “when the air clears . . . many people will apply to Viewpoint--whether or not their applications are accepted is another thing because Viewpoint has a very high standard.

“Some parents will obviously have to seek other schools for whatever reasons and naturally time is of the essence.”

Cheryl Zerah, president of the Meadow Oaks Parents Assn. and a parent of two children at the school, said she believes the demise of the campus could have a positive outcome. “It is the end of an era of a wonderful education for our children but we’re on a threshold of a new era with new possibilities,” she said.

Angry Meadow Oaks parents, some in tears, grilled a distressed-appearing Cook at a meeting Tuesday night in a packed lecture room. They complained that the application dates for the next school term at most local private schools have already passed, and even if some schools are willing to extend their deadlines there is no guarantee that their children will be accepted.

Rick Firestone, father of three Meadow Oaks students, said he does not blame Cook for selling the school.

“But the way this whole thing came about is not fair to parents,” Cook said. “They should have discussed it with parents in November.”

Jill Barker, whose daughter attends kindergarten at Meadow Oaks, brandished a list that Meadow Oaks administrators gave to parents, naming 10 schools that have openings for new students in the fall. “This is not enough information for someone who just paid $10,000,” she said.

After the hourlong meeting, some parents privately said they are considering legal action against the school.

Some private school administrators said while they could benefit from the closure of Meadow Oaks, they are saddened to lose a campus.

“What L.A. needs now is more schools--not fewer,” said Janie Lou Hirsch, director of Westland School in Bel-Air. “Dropping another 500 children into the pot for private schools is not going to help.”

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Donna Cattando-Held, the founder and head of Tarzana Hills Elementary, a private school, said many Meadow Oaks parents might not want to apply to Viewpoint because of its more traditional approach.

“These schools are very different in philosophy and feeling,” she said. “A lot of people are going to be scrambling. You make a commitment not just to a grade but to a school and I’m sure they are worried about it.”

Viewpoint officials, who are holding meetings this week and next with Meadow Oaks parents and staff members, say they believe the larger school will be better for parents and students. “We’ll have great facilities and a fabulous program,” said Barbara Erickson, a member of the Viewpoint School Board of Trustees, who has two children at the school. “It’s very exciting.”

But to Meadow Oaks student Jocelyn Sierad, 9, Viewpoint is too conservative.

“I don’t want the change,” she said sadly.