Countywide : 8 School Districts to Share Retrofit Grant

Eight Ventura County school districts are among those statewide splitting a $106-million grant to retrofit ceilings and lighting fixtures in schools.

The Simi Valley Unified School District received the most money among county schools from the National Hazard Mitigation Grant Program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said her district’s $4.7 million share--the second-largest amount received by any district in the state--would outfit all the district’s schools with sound lighting fixtures.

During the Northridge earthquake, heavy lighting fixtures broke loose in many schools in the east end of the city and landed on students’ desks.

“I hate to think what would have happened if we had had children in the schools,” Wolford said. “We would have had children injured or possibly killed.”

Districts must match the grants with 25% funding. The grant is preventive only; money to repair quake damage must come from other sources.

Amounts allocated to other districts in the county include $2.7 million to Ventura Unified, $2.1 million to Conejo Valley Unified, $1.2 million to Pleasant Valley, $797,299 to Oxnard Union High, $349,389 to the Ventura County superintendent of schools, $346,902 to Moorpark Unified and $16,101 to Mupu Elementary.