Historic School Gets the Cold Shoulder

Our neighborhood group, SOS (Save Our School) has been attending the Long Range Planning Committee meetings hosted by the Ventura Unified School District and the city. As the only neighborhood group present at the meetings, we were at first welcomed by the coordinators and invited to become part of the process, at least on the record. However, after three consecutive meetings, our involvement has been limited by the coordinators to being allowed a few comments, generally at the end of each meeting.

Instead of embracing the possibility of rehabilitating an existing historic school for a fraction of the cost of building a new one, the district and the school board are dragging their heels and closing their minds whenever Washington School is mentioned--while all the time reassuring us that no decision has been made.

Yet, they are rushing headlong toward the prospect of hiring architects to consider renovating the Avenue School and building a new school on the east end. They should not be surprised when Ventura citizens balk at approving a bond measure to finance new construction when the district has failed miserably to take care of existing buildings.

RICK SALAZAR

Ventura