TOMFOOLERY: Who better to check in with...

TOMFOOLERY: Who better to check in with on April Fool’s Day than a seventh-grade teacher? Beth Pallares of Balboa Middle School in Ventura says her best trick backfired on her. . . . “It was around the time of the Olympics, and I told them I was participating”--in the luge. The students bought it and told their parents, who also bought it, forcing Pallares to ‘fess up. . . . She says she can’t remember falling for any of her kids’ tricks: “You’re pretty alert on April Fool’s Day.” Nevertheless, she’s glad school’s out this week.

PAPER TRAIL: Then there’s the older crowd. Carol Weinstock, advisor to Ventura College’s student newspaper, says the staff cooked up a little something extra for their April Fool’s Day issue last year. . . . The main story was an account of the college president’s abduction by aliens and carried a picture featuring his face with Elvis’ hair and body. . . . No one seemed to believe any of the stories in the special issue, Weinstock said, adding that the paper was tinted yellow “in case somebody missed the point.”

SETTING GOALS: Camarillo’s Pleasant Valley district may be in line to receive $5.6 million from Proposition 203, passed statewide last week. But that’s not going to buy nearly enough, said Associate Supt. Howard Hamilton. “That’s just a drop in the bucket compared to our needs.” . . . Pleasant Valley is one of the districts across the county that is preparing spending plans for the coming year and finding they’re not getting close to what they say they need (B1).