Parents Fight Closure Plan for Sycamore Elementary : Simi Valley: District says shutting the school would save about $200,000 a year. Some residents fear other campuses could also be in jeopardy.

There is a vivid orange sign jabbed in the lawn at Sycamore elementary that reads in bold black letters: “Save Our School.”

The sign is one of many steps angry and fearful parents have taken in recent weeks to combat a school district proposal to close the central Simi Valley elementary campus by next fall.

“It seems kind of like an uphill battle,” parent Gary Murphy told a group of parents last week. “But we’ve gone this far.”

On Tuesday, the school board will consider a district committee’s recommendation to shut down Sycamore School, a small pink-and-white campus with only 376 students. A final vote is scheduled for April 18.

If the closure is approved, Sycamore students will be transferred to Atherwood, Justin, Garden Grove and Simi elementary schools next fall.

Officials say the closure will save the cash-strapped district about $200,000 a year, and bring in an estimated $100,000 annually if the school buildings are leased.

But parents across Simi Valley worry this could be just the first of many schools to shut down as enrollment continues to drop citywide.

And Sycamore parents question the proposal’s cost-effectiveness. They point to expensive upgrades that will be needed at other elementary schools where Sycamore students would be moved.

And they challenge the district’s assertion that money would be saved in maintenance and personnel costs if Sycamore is shut down.

“What is it going to cost to stick our kids in those buildings at Atherwood?” said Colleen Duncan, a Sycamore parent. “What is the cost of going through with this plan? There’s a whole lot of holes.”

Allen Westheimer, a parent and government auditor, said he asked district officials to show him a dollar-by-dollar breakdown of the plan. But the district only has projections, which Westheimer found laughable.

“The amusement became bewilderment which transformed to shock,” he said. “And now I’m angry.

“This is a fraud,” he added.

But officials say they have addressed major areas of concern, including a detailed accounting.

“We are trying to be really honest,” Assistant Supt. Susan C. Parks said. “We have taken great care not to use inflated numbers.”

The justification for the closure is simple, officials say: money and low enrollment. Simi Valley Unified School District lost 232 students this school year. At $3,155 per student in average daily attendance money, that adds up to a loss of $715,000 in state funding.

“I do think a little of it is the earthquake,” Parks said of the enrollment drop. “Kids in rental areas have moved out and never come back.”

Sycamore was one of three schools in a corridor of low enrollment considered for possible closure. A committee of administrators earlier this month recommended closing Sycamore, noting the school was barely half-filled and would be easy to lease.

New budget estimates released last week project a $1.8-million deficit for the 1996-97 school year, and a $6-million deficit for the following year. That deficit would violate the district’s legal requirement for a 3% reserve.

“Even closing a school doesn’t close the gap,” board President Diane Collins said. “We have done just about everything around the edges we can and now we are cutting into the bone.”

If the closure proposal is approved, the district expects to save at least $162,500 annually in maintenance and personnel expenses, Park said.

The numbers break down as follows: A principal’s position will be cut, which will save about $74,000. Combined with clerk and custodian jobs lost through attrition, the district saves nearly $93,000 in salaries and benefits, Parks said.

The district will also save a projected $69,500 in maintenance costs, such as electric, telephone and cleaning bills. The amount saved could be different, but until “a school is fully leased you won’t have the full cost,” she said.

In addition, the district hopes to generate about $100,000 a year by leasing the empty school site. Simi Valley Unified makes about $277,000 a year by leasing four other vacant schools.

“That’s not just small change,” Parks said. Income the district has received from rented school sites has been invaluable, she said, paying for books and other materials.

But parents are not persuaded. They argue that a saving of $200,000 out of a $75-million budget is minor, and the potential damage a school closure could bring to the community is major.

“They are on automatic pilot to do the right thing, but the ‘right thing’ is devastating,” Westheimer said.

Parents point to safety risks since some students who walk to school would have to cross busy streets, such as Los Angeles Avenue or Cochran Street, to reach their new campuses.

The loss of Sycamore’s grassy, expansive campus would mean the loss of a park for the nearby community. It would also decrease the value of homes, they argue.

Additionally, parents say the cost of moving students, especially those enrolled in Sycamore’s program for severely disabled pupils, will be prohibitive.

Officials acknowledged that closing the school, moving teachers, programs and some portable classrooms will cost in excess of $42,000. But the move will be a onetime expense, they said.

The proposed closure of Sycamore has triggered a wave of rumor and speculation among Simi Valley parents, who fear other schools will be targeted too.

“Who knows who’s next,” said Nan Mostacciuolo, a Sycamore parent.

But school officials deny the rumors.

“That is absolutely not true,” Parks said. “At this time the board is absolutely considering the closure of one school--Sycamore, period.”

If enrollment continues to slide, however, the board may have to consider additional school closures, board President Collins said.

“We will have to close another school if we lose another 300 students,” she said. Officials will not know whether a closure is necessary until students enroll for classes next fall.

But at least one board member says she objects to closing any school, and will vote against the Sycamore proposal.

“I am vehemently against this,” Trustee Debbie Sandland said. “I feel closing a neighborhood school has to be a last resort . . . We need to exhaust all possible alternatives, and I don’t feel we have.”

As an alternative, Sandland wants to sell the school district office.

“That sits on 13 1/2 acres of prime real estate,” she said. “I think it is very valuable and I think we need to look at it and look at it now.”

But Assistant Supt. Parks said, “It isn’t as quite as simple.” Plans to move the district office have been in the works for years, but officials are waiting to sell the Cochran Street site until the land is worth more.

A city proposal to extend Cochran to 1st Street would probably boost property value in that area, officials said. “It would be silly to sell now,” Parks said.

Collins agreed: “We will close the district office too. But the timing has to be right.”

Since March 16, when the closure recommendation was announced, parents have organized to fight the proposal. Last week, a group of Simi parents and concerned citizens created an organization called People Against Closure.

“It’s about a community getting together,” Mostacciuolo said. “A school closure affects the neighborhood, not just the people who go to school there.”

Hoping to thwart plans to shut down Sycamore--or any Simi school--the group of about 25 parents met last Wednesday to discuss how to persuade the board to reject the recommendation.

They planned to canvass schools with bright pink flyers that read, “Will your school be next?” and encourage parents to attend Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. meeting.

“Some of us are almost addicted to this,” said an exhausted John McGreevy, a Sycamore parent who has been fighting the school closure plan for two months. “I think no school is safe.”