Proposal to Shut 1 Simi Elementary School Advances : Education: Board votes to pursue closing one of three possible campuses to reduce costs despite loud protests.

Despite pleas from parents, the Simi Valley school board voted Tuesday to pursue closing an elementary school to cut costs.

School officials will now begin to evaluate three central Simi Valley elementary campuses--Mountain View, Sycamore and Simi--to determine which site could be closed most easily by next fall.

Because enrollment at those campuses is among the lowest of Simi Valley’s 19 elementary schools, officials say one school should be shut and its students transferred. That move could save the school district $190,000 annually, officials said.

But parents are outraged. For nearly two hours, mothers, fathers and a few teachers from the three schools urged board members Tuesday night not to move forward with the plan.

“I ask you please strongly consider the valuable contributions that Sycamore Elementary has added to our community before you decide to ring our bell for the last time,” said Adel Martin. Martin’s son is one of 34 disabled children enrolled in a progressive special education program at Sycamore, a program that could be threatened if the school is closed.

Many parents in attendance Tuesday night said the board has to find a better solution, a way to save money without moving children out of their neighborhood schools.

“In a budget as big as ours, there has to be a way to find the money someplace else,” said Gary Murphy, whose children attend Sycamore.

Simi Valley Unified School District operates on a $77-million budget, but is now facing a $3-million deficit.

Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said enrollment dropped by 325 students districtwide this school year, which means less state money for local schools. “Stretching those dollars is a hard problem,” Wolford said. “Some very hard decisions will be coming up.”

Given the district’s financial troubles and its dwindling enrollment, school board members said Tuesday that closing an elementary school is not only justified, but necessary. “For us not to close a school, would not be a fiscally responsible thing for us to do,” Trustee Judy Barry said.

In 1982, the district closed five schools. Since that time, the school system has saved more than $6 million and earned nearly $3.5 million from leasing some of the property, Barry said.

“We probably should be thinking about closing additional elementary schools,” she said.

The board voted, 4-1, to pursue closing the school with Trustee Debbie Sandland dissenting. *

Diane Menjivar, who moved to Simi Valley in July, assumed her neighborhood school, Sycamore, would remain open for her four children.

“My husband and I specifically bought a home in that area,” she said. “It is within walking distance to where we live.”

But if Sycamore is closed, Menjivar would have to pay $1,200 in busing fees to send her children to another school, she said. “If this thing goes through, I’ll pull my kids out of school altogether,” she said, threatening to send them to private school.

Sycamore, Simi and Mountain View elementary schools have been targeted because they lie in an area with little growth where enrollment has declined in past years, school officials said.

Sycamore has about 370 students but has space for 660; Simi has about 300 enrolled with room for 660, and Mountain View has about 400 students and a capacity of 540.

To evaluate which school could be most easily closed, committees at each campus will report on their school’s capacity, use and enrollment in meetings with parents, officials said.

A district committee will use the reports to make a closure recommendation in late March, and the school board will vote on the issue in April, officials said.

The proposal to study closing an elementary school was suggested at a school board retreat in January, and listed among 16 restructuring goals for this school year approved Tuesday night.

Other goals include closing a junior high school and opening a technology-based, performing arts high school. Arguing late into the night, the board debated whether to create a new administrative post to organize opening the new high school by fall, 1996.

School officials had hoped to have the position filled by next month. The new administrator, who would be paid between $52,000 and $70,000, would start in July, officials said.

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Possible School Closures The Simi Valley school district is considering closing one of three elementary schools to cut costs and streamline facility use.