Proposal for Simi Magnet High School Draws Debate : Education: Backers praise the potential of a program featuring performing arts and technology, but opponents say the district can’t afford it.

The Simi Valley school board has a dream: a sparkling new four-year high school emphasizing technology and the performing arts, created for a small price and centered on a converted junior high campus.

The school--which would be the first of its kind in Ventura County--would make room for Simi Valley to transition to four-year high schools, trustees say. The district’s two existing high schools now serve grades 10 through 12.

Supporters of the proposed magnet high school praise the concept of a technology-based performing arts program. They believe that it will attract scores of young people interested in its specialized course of study.

But critics, including one dissenting board member, say the plan is flawed. It is crazy, they argue, for a district with declining enrollment, with angry, underpaid teachers and with a massive $6-million deficit to consider opening a new high school.

“What are we going to cut to pay for this?” Trustee Debbie Sandland asked. “We can’t even put the technology into the programs we presently have.”

But officials say the move to four-year high schools is long overdue for the Simi Valley Unified School District. And they claim that the cost of creating a small high school at an existing campus will not be prohibitive.

“It is a zero cost technically because the dollars go with the students,” board President Diane Collins said. “We have money problems whether we do this or not.”

The primary objective of the magnet high school proposal is to move to four-year high schools, officials said. Parents and educators agree that a ninth- through 12th-grade configuration is better academically and socially for students.

Without adding a third high school, though, moving the ninth-graders would crowd the two existing schools.

“We need a four-year high school,” parent Irene Silbert said. “You are going to reconfigure anyway, so we might as well make one of (the high schools) a magnet.”

The idea of creating a magnet--a school specializing in a particular field of study--came out of a survey conducted in 1993. Of the 4,863 families returning the survey, about 57% supported creating a technology-based high school. About 52% supported creating a high school for the performing arts.

Sandland is quick to point out that 44% of the 11,002 families receiving surveys in February, 1993, returned them. School officials said that was a high rate of return given historical levels of response.

But Sandland claims that the survey is not an accurate reflection of the community’s interests. “It was kind of like a wish list,” she said. “Like, ‘would you rather have a BMW or a Lexus?’ ”

Parent Jackie Rogers said the survey reflects her desires. She was among the 52% who wished for a performing arts high school.

“From the time my son was little, I have been interested in promoting the arts in the school system,” said Rogers, whose 14-year-old son, Patrick, is an eighth-grader at Valley View Junior High School. “This high school sounds like a wonderful thing.”

“I would like to go there,” said Patrick, who wants to be an actor or director someday. “It would introduce me to all the aspects of not just drama but the technical side.”

Jessica Sanjeaud, 15, said other schools do not offer enough in the way of arts programs.

“I think it will be cool to have a magnet school in Simi Valley,” said Jessica, an eighth-grader at Valley View Junior High. “I’m into dance and acting, and I know a lot of people who want this school to happen.”

Silbert, who is a Hollywood lighting designer, said the proposed high school would provide a creative outlet for students and boost self-esteem.

“I have worked in schools all over Southern California developing arts programs for children,” she said. “I have seen the incredible benefits that the arts gives kids.

“There would be no other school like it. We would be a pioneering community and I think it is about time our community thinks like pioneers.”

The idea of combining technology and the arts into a single program was suggested at a board retreat last summer.

“The two fit really well together,” Assistant Supt. Susan C. Parks said. “Certainly the performing arts end is very technically oriented . . . hardly anybody paints a set anymore.”

Officials have not developed a curriculum or outlined what the magnet school would offer in the way of specialized classes, but it would maintain a college-preparatory core curriculum. And they have not determined how much such a program could cost to develop.

“It depends on if you want to go on the shoestring,” said Leslie Crunelle, district director of secondary education. “The technology is going to cost a whole lot more money, but we will have to take that gradually.”

Supporters and school officials have suggested creating an arts foundation to solicit financial support from businesses and individuals.

But critics of the plan say it has not been thought through, and they worry about mushrooming costs if and when the program gets rolling.

“At this point, there is no definition of what the school would be,” parent Linda Fowler told the board last week. “At this point, the board and the district have no budget for such a plan.”

Fowler was one of half a dozen parents and teachers at Tuesday’s board meeting who asked trustees to halt plans for the proposed school.

Citing stalled salary negotiations with the district’s teachers, Simi Educators Assn. President Ron Myren said the union strictly opposes the proposal.

“The SEA will not support any magnet high or any school that builds on the backs of the teachers of this community,” he said.

The teachers are seeking a pay increase, while trustees have warned that cuts and layoffs are probable.

Trustee Norm Walker later accused the union of trying to “hold the plan hostage to get more money for its members.”

Reflecting the majority consensus of the board, Walker said: “I am committed to four-year high schools. . . . As I see it, the only way to get to it is to utilize the magnet school proposal.”

At the crux of that proposal is finding a site for the new school. The board has targeted two possible sites: Sequoia and Hillside junior highs. The board agreed last week to follow a six-week timeline for identifying which campus to close.

That process begins today with a 4:30 p.m. board meeting at Berylwood School, where officials from Hillside and Sequoia will present reports on each campus’s capacity and facilities.

A nine-member district committee made up of parents, teachers and administrators will review the reports, and present a closure recommendation to the school board later this month. Trustees are scheduled to vote on the proposal June 12.

Some parents have questioned the whirlwind process. But officials said a site must be found this month if the board intends to meet its self-imposed 1996 deadline.

“We cannot proceed with the rest of the planning unless we have a site identified,” Crunelle said. “Once that happens, the rest falls into place.”

Under the proposal, “the rest” would go something like this:

In September, 1996, Simi Valley’s ninth-graders would no longer attend the district’s four junior highs, which now serve grades seven to nine.

Instead, they would become freshmen at three campuses: Simi Valley High, Royal High and the new magnet high school. Unlike Simi and Royal, attendance at the magnet school would be voluntary, not dictated by boundaries.

The transition would occur slowly, probably over three years, during which time enrollment at the new high school would be quite small, about 900 students, officials said.

Administrators predict that older students at Royal and Simi won’t transfer to the new school, which means that the magnet would have low enrollment while the other schools would be crowded for the first few years.

“We can’t start all four grades at once,” Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said. “We have to build the program.”

Officials expect debate over the proposal to be fierce. It will likely surpass prior controversy over the proposed closure of an elementary school and the two-year fight over teaching birth control.

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Magnet School Timeline

The following timeline has been developed by the Simi Valley Unified School District for identifying a magnet high school site:

TODAY

Special board meeting, presentation of junior high school reports--Berylwood School multipurpose room, 4:30 p.m.

TUESDAY

Budget study session--district office, 4 p.m.

THURSDAY & MAY 23

District review committee meets.

MAY 30

Regular board meeting, recommendation and discussion of site--City Council chambers, 6:30 p.m.

JUNE 6

Special board meeting, public forum--Berylwood School multipurpose room, 6:30 p.m.

JUNE 12

Regular board meeting, vote on site--Berylwood School multipurpose room, 6:30 p.m.