City Considers Restoring Old School to Its Former Class

Flashlights in hand, more than a dozen city officials gathered on the steps of the boarded-up Washington School on Tuesday morning for a rare glimpse inside the historic building.

At 9 a.m. Jorge Gutierrez of the Ventura Unified School District unbolted the door, and the group walked in.

Built in 1926, the grand old school--which has sweeping rooms, wooden floors and fireplaces in some classrooms--was shut in the early 1980s because of declining enrollment and safety concerns.

Now the school district has received proposals to turn the stately building into a community center, school or business.

As officials tramped through the dilapidated halls--stepping gingerly over broken plaster and crackling through shards of glass--they spewed out ideas.

“This is just ripe with possibilities,” said Craig Burkhart of the Midtown Community Council.

Already the community council, which organized the walk-through, is urging the school district to turn the historic Spanish colonial building into a community center.

An old school in Malibu that has been transformed into a vibrant local community center is a model for what could happen here, Burkhart said.

Supt. Joseph Spirito has recommended that the Ventura Unified School District consider using the building for educational programs or administrative offices.

School board members discussed some plans for the old school Tuesday night at a meeting on the city’s long-range school facilities plan.

On Thursday, several board members will meet with three groups that have submitted proposals for using the school: Ventura Christian High School, the Gem and Mineral Society and the Midtown Community Council.

But during Tuesday’s walk-through, different officials seemed to have their own ideas of how the building could best be used.

When Patricia Gilbert of the city’s Historic Preservation Committee looked at the building, she envisioned a lively multipurpose cultural center.

“The integrity of the building is intact,” she said, swinging her arm as she peered at the walls covered with scrawls of graffiti, the shafts of sunlight filtering through broken windows. “There are educational opportunities, opportunities for the arts, for parks and recreation, for theater. It could be an incubation space for artists.”

When Planning Commissioner Ted Temple surveyed the building, he saw, as a short-term use, space to rent to movie makers for filming rough, edgy scenes, such as those in “Escape from L.A.”

And when school board member Velma Lomax looked at the building, she saw a scarce space the school district should hold onto.

“There is no more property in the middle of Ventura,” Lomax said. “My fear is, if we let this go, we may have a population explosion in the area. Where are we going to put the kids if our schools are already at 98% capacity?”

For Councilman Sandy Smith, Washington School Class of 1961, the visit was a trip down memory lane.

Standing in his old kindergarten room among the fallen plaster and broken lights, he recalled how he used to enjoy hot milk and graham crackers there, and then a nap.

Whatever is done would require money.

“It would be nice if it could be used for something,” Mayor Jim Friedman said. “Unfortunately, to a certain extent it is going to come down to the numbers.”

Added Temple: “We need a congressman to champion this thing. It’s going to take big dough to fix it up. And it can’t come from the school district, and it can’t come from the city.”