Long-Awaited School Becoming Reality

Mitzi Koscinski just had to see it for herself.

When she and her husband moved to the massive Wood Ranch development in Simi Valley, they were promised a school for the children they were planning to have.

That was six years ago. In the interim, Tanner, now almost 4, was born. So was Mason, now 15 months. It was almost time to buy a bigger house. Still no school.

Much as the Koscinskis like the peaceful, well-landscaped haven of Wood Ranch, they were thinking of moving elsewhere. Until Friday.

That’s when various hard-hatted dignitaries lifted gold-plated shovels and broke ground for the 600-student school, scheduled to open by fall 1998--just in time for Tanner to start kindergarten.

“I didn’t think it was going to happen,” she said, balancing a smiling Mason on her hip. “So I had to see it with my own eyes that it was really going to be built. It is really going to be built.”

It was no small feat, given the circumstances.

The Wood Ranch school--which will ease overcrowding at nearby Madera Elementary--was first mentioned in 1982 as part of a proposed 4,000-home development project. But when the parent company of the original Wood Ranch developer, Olympia/Roberts, filed for bankruptcy 11 years later, no school had been built.

The Simi Valley Unified School District then became the Long Canyon landlord, when Olympia/Roberts gave the prime residential land to the district in lieu of the $6.2 million promised for school construction.

To build a school, Simi Valley Unified sold the land to present developer New Urban West for $6.8 million. That money is earmarked for the construction.

Once open, you can expect to see Koscinski at the PTA meetings.