Board to Vote on School Renovations

One of Moorpark’s oldest schools may receive a $1.24-million face-lift this fall, bringing new furniture, flooring and air conditioning to its aging classrooms.

The Moorpark Unified School District board is scheduled to vote tonight on a contractor’s proposal to renovate 21 rooms at Chaparral Middle School. If board members approve the contract, the renovations could be finished by Nov. 1, said Mike Berger, the school’s principal.

School officials have already vacated the rooms in preparation for the work. About 300 of Chaparral’s 691 students started school last week in portable classrooms and will remain there until the renovations are finished.

Although temporary, the portable rooms have air conditioning, Berger said.

The renovations--funded with money from a state bond issue approved by voters in March--are the latest effort to modernize Chaparral, which opened in 1960. A new wing dedicated to science education was added last year, and the school is currently installing fiber-optic cables to link computers in its classrooms to the Internet.

“They’ve added some to it, but it’s essentially the same school,” said school board member Gary Cabriales, who attended Chaparral as a child.

School district officials also plan another phase of work that will reshape the school’s library and administrative offices.