Simi Campus May Be Sold to Finance Building Repairs

Intent on raising cash to repair old buildings, trustees here will consider selling an elementary school and shipping its students to a new campus.

They will also weigh putting the district transportation center on the market and contracting with private firms for bus service during an upcoming meeting.

In a memo obtained by The Times, Assistant Supt. David M. Kanthak listed eight “surplus” properties for the school board to consider selling, including the site of school district headquarters and the Santa Susana School elementary campus.

With 20 of the Simi Valley Unified School District’s 26 schools more than 30 years old, many systems are starting to fail, including plumbing, electrical, and heating and cooling, according to the memo.

The best way to pay for modernizing all schools--which could cost as much as $125 million--is by selling “surplus” properties, he said in an interview Wednesday.

“The only way I see of coming up with sufficient funds to bring schools up to par would be to sell some of the district’s surplus assets,” he said.

Because market values jump, dip and hover, it is impossible to predict how much money the district could raise by selling properties, he said. Also, trustees have yet to discuss the options--and could choose to rule them all out.

Still, some employees and parents are already concerned, particularly bus drivers who could be vulnerable if the school district turns to contract services.

“It always makes me nervous when they talk about contracting out, but I know the law is on my side,” said Alan Coyle, president of the union that represents maintenance workers, clerical staff, bus drivers and mechanics. “I don’t want to sound too big of an alarm yet because the board hasn’t discussed this and they’re the ones who have to make this decision. . . . . That’s why I’m not raising the flag of terror yet.”

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But some Santa Susana parents are already terrified.

“That they’re even thinking about doing this breaks my heart,” said one mother, who has a child at Santa Susana School and another in high school. “They’re trying to do this on the backs of kids, selling surplus properties. But [Santa Susana] is not a surplus property. It’s not just sitting there rotting. It’s being used. We take pride in it. We need it.”

Other options the board will weigh in a daylong study session April 11 include peddling two of the four elementary schools that were closed during a period of low enrollment. Those schools are Arroyo, Arcane, Belwood and Walnut Grove. A timeline for selling properties and repairing facilities has not been set.

The sale of some of the district’s 10 properties is necessary, Supt. Tate Parker said.

“This school district, for whatever reason, has come upon a significant amount of property,” Parker said. “It seems to me that, given the business we’re in--we’re not in property management--that we would be best served by, and our students would be best served by, finding some way to use or dispose of the property and appropriate revenue . . . to the educational welfare of our students.”

But, memo notwithstanding, proceeds would not automatically go to modernization projects, he said.

“You might choose to use it for maintenance,” he added. “You might choose to use it for something else--buying text books, hiring more teachers.”

The memo, dated March 14, was sent to school board members but has not yet been made public.

According to the memo, trustees could consider selling:

* A 36-acre property at Tapo and Alamo streets, which could bring a handsome price because it’s in the city’s redevelopment area.

* The 10-plus-acre site of the school district headquarters on Cochran Street, which will become prime real estate property once Cochran is extended from 1st Street to Madera Road during the construction of a “big box” shopping center.

* A one-acre equestrian area near the Long Canyon parcel of the Wood Ranch subdivision area.

* The two-acre Wood Ranch conference area, complete with stone fireplace and a commanding view of the valley.

* A site next to the adult education building on Los Angeles Avenue now used for parking.

* Two of the district’s four shuttered elementary schools, some of which are leased to schools and companies, and all of which need repair.

* Santa Susana School on Apricot Road, which is adjacent to the redevelopment area. It could be replaced by razing the decrepit Belwood school nearby and building a new elementary.

* The two-plus-acre transportation yard south of Simi Elementary on School Street, including 120,000 square feet of office and storage space.

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Trustee Carla Kurachi, for one, would like to see district headquarters moved and see the conference center sold, as it is rarely used. But she is holding off on decisions until she has more information.

‘This is something the board has thought about for years, and it’s why we had a facilities study done: What do we do with all these facilities?” she asked. “This will be a very significant meeting.”