Moorpark School Bans Skateboarding

Thursday morning, the concrete parking lot that has lured countless Moorpark skateboarders to Peach Hill Elementary School suddenly became forbidden territory.

The school posted “No skateboarding” signs in the lot, hoping to stop the damage caused when kids grind their boards against the school’s curbs and picnic tables during stunts.

“If you look closely, you’ll see the scraping,” Principal Carlos Pagan said. “I just want them to leave the immediate school property alone.”

Moorpark’s other schools will soon follow suit, said Capt. Mike Lewis, head of the Moorpark division of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. School district Supt. Tom Duffy sent Lewis a letter authorizing deputies to enforce no-trespassing laws against kids caught skating on school property.

Skateboarders who refuse to leave after being warned by police could be subject to arrest and a mandatory appearance in juvenile court.

As irritating as the change may be to local thrashers, it could have been worse. The City Council decided Wednesday against writing an ordinance banning skateboarding in some public areas. Lewis told the council that an ordinance would be overkill, considering that the department gets just a handful of skateboarding complaints from residents.

Since 1994, deputies have received 87 complaints related to skating or skateboarding, out of 23,433 calls for service.

“I don’t believe in creating laws for such a minor thing,” Lewis said Thursday. “Why put officers in the position of arresting kids who are just skating along?”

Why indeed? skateboarders asked Thursday.

“We don’t hurt anybody, so I don’t see the point,” said a boy named Ryan, skateboarding after school with two friends. All declined to give their last names.

The three were just a few yards away from Peach Hill School, hopping their boards onto a length of plastic pipe they had set in the grass by the sidewalk. They stayed off school property, they said, because the principal, and sometimes police, had chased them away in the past.

Still, the parking lot often attracts up to 30 skateboarders, depending on the day, they said. Some have even rubbed surf wax on one of the curbs for smoother stunts. Even so, the concrete curb’s edge had been scraped shiny by the friction of boards.

Skateboarders wouldn’t mind being kicked off school property, they said, if Moorpark had a skateboard park. “If they had something at Arroyo Vista, this wouldn’t make a difference,” said Jason.

The Moorpark Teen Council, an advisory panel of local youths, has already discussed the need for such a park. But the city has no plans to build one, said Mary Lindley, assistant to the city manager.

Chewed-up curbs are not the only reason that schools try to discourage skating on campus. Administrators also worry about being held legally responsible if skateboarding students injure themselves.

“For us at the high school, it’s more of a liability issue,” said John McIntosh, Moorpark High School principal.

The high school forbids skating on campus and asks students who ride boards to school to keep them in the office during the day, McIntosh said.

Pagan said he wasn’t sure if a few metal signs would keep skaters away. But he was willing to give it a try.

“Anything we can do to avoid any further damage will be helpful,” he said.