Conejo Panel May Expand Middle School Program

A popular program that allows Conejo Valley sixth-graders to attend middle school could be expanded to let more students participate and free scarce classroom space in elementary schools for smaller classes.

At Thursday’s meeting, the Conejo Valley Unified School District board will discuss expanding the so-called Middle School Program, a pilot effort during the 1994-95 school year. Currently in place at Colina and Los Cerritos middle schools, the program serves as a form of school choice in the 18,000-student district.

Open to any Thousand Oaks sixth-grader, the program offers students a choice between the safe nest of elementary school and the hustle-bustle of middle school.

In the program’s current incarnation, each of the two schools accept 144 sixth-graders each year. The schools regularly boast waiting lists of about 30 students.

Offering sixth-graders a gentle segue from the one-teacher-all-day arrangement in elementary school to the bustling, different-teacher-for-every-class middle school model has proven extremely popular at Colina, Principal Mike Waters said.

“The sixth-graders and the parents loved” the program from its inception, Waters said. “It was really a fantastic program from the get go.”

Beyond shaping the future of the four intermediate and middle schools, the idea of shifting more students to middle schools is an indication of how Conejo Valley will address the elementary school space crunch prompted by class-size reduction.

The plan would free space at elementary schools for shrunken first-, second- and third-grade classes. For all teachers to have their own classrooms in those primary grades, district officials estimate that another 39 classrooms must be found.

Trustees could pursue a scattershot solution to crammed elementary schools or take riskier routes such as switching to year-round schooling or floating a local facilities bond. Trustees have previously discussed all those options and appear to favor less radical solutions.

“I think [the trustees] are going to have to look at several alternatives” to ease elementary school crowding, said Richard W. Simpson, assistant superintendent for instructional services. “There’s no one alternative that addresses the whole problem.” Under options outlined by Simpson, trustees could expand the program in a variety of ways next year.

All four schools--Colina, Los Cerritos, Redwood and Sequoia--could participate in the program, each allowing 144 sixth-graders on campus. Trustees could leave the two existing programs intact and begin a 216-student program at both Sequoia and Redwood.

Another option is broadening the Middle School Program at Colina and Los Cerritos to admit 216 students each without involving the other two schools. Or, trustees could decide to reconfigure the entire school district, making elementary schools kindergarten through fifth-grade institutions and bumping all sixth-graders into middle school.

Each option requires the purchase of portable classrooms, which run about $75,000 to $80,000 each. But in an era of class-size reduction, the question is no longer whether to buy portables, but where to put them.

Simpson’s recommendation is to begin 144-student programs at Redwood and Sequoia while beefing up the Colina and Los Cerritos programs to 216 students. No vote on the matter will be taken until Sept. 26, but trustees have said previously they are not inclined to reconfigure the district if there are other options available.

If done properly, an expansion of the Middle School Program will be successful, Principal Waters predicted. “It’s a wonderful program, if properly planned. . . . You don’t just want to throw sixth-graders onto a campus.”