Board Moves to Ease Crowding at Simi School

Educators have scrapped a proposal to reopen a school in Simi Valley’s growing west end until a boundary study is completed in December, but they are putting plans to improve conditions at crowded Madera Elementary School on the fast track.

The boundary study, which must still be formally approved next month, would examine whether reopening the now-closed Arroyo Elementary School is the best way to relieve crowding in the southwest area of the city, including Wood Ranch.

It would also consider whether it would be more efficient to reopen another of the four elementary schools that are now closed, or whether growth can be accommodated by shifting students among schools districtwide.

Any boundary changes would probably be effective in the fall of 1997.

But, trustees decided, relieving crowding at Madera School cannot wait for a study or even the summer break.

While classes are no larger than anywhere else in the district, the 720 students at Madera must share bathrooms, cafeteria and auditorium facilities built for 600.

Parents complained at a meeting that stretched into early morning hours Wednesday that Madera’s bathrooms smelled of urine, had missing stall doors, clogged toilets and no toilet paper.

One parent said her son refused to use the bathroom, causing him an embarrassing accident on the bus ride home. Physician Shayla Kasel, whose child is still preschool age, said she had heard similar complaints from several parents.

“Children will not use the bathroom, and that is a real health issue,” she said.

Marybeth Jacobsen, an attorney who co-chairs a parents group at Wood Ranch, said students cannot be asked to attend a school that parents find repulsive.

“Healthy and cheerful, that’s all we want,” she said. “That’s the bottom line.”

The school district had already announced plans to improve some facilities there this summer. But in response to the complaints, the board decided to begin repairs at Madera today.

“Keeping restrooms clean is a responsibility that is assigned to our custodians and, in most cases, they are very diligent about it,” Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said.

But, she said, that is difficult at a district where most buildings are 30 years old. In addition, she said, children must be taught to respect school property and not deliberately clog toilets, and to urinate only in the toilets, she said.

“They have to learn to treat their school with pride,” Wolford said.

Plans are to renovate the bathrooms and add tables inside and outside the cafeteria. The district may also add a basketball court. But the school may have to live with a small multipurpose room since many schools do not have them at all, she said.

The school, in the west end of the city on Royal Avenue near Madera Road, is one of several that would be affected by boundary changes if they are implemented.

The study, which will begin in September, will examine whether Arroyo School, which is a few blocks from Madera School, should be reopened to accommodate about 500 students. The study will also look at whether one of the district’s other three schools that are closed should be reopened. The district has 19 elementary schools that are open.

Students who live in Wood Ranch--and who now contribute to the crowding problem at Madera--are expected to get their own elementary school in about five years. The original developer had promised to build a school, but went bankrupt, leaving the area without a school or the money to build one.

Board members said they did not want to reopen Arroyo, only to find there would not be enough students to support that school, Madera and Wood Ranch school after it opens.

“What do we do, turn around and close Arroyo again?” board member Carla Kurachi asked before the meeting. “That would not be in the best interest of the students.”