40,000 Get to Play Hooky From School

With sodden sneakers and soaked sweatshirts, they turned up at malls, video arcades and pizza parlors.

With Tuesday’s torrent bringing an unexpected holiday for 40,000 students across western Ventura County, the youngsters had to go somewhere.

“My TV’s broken because the power went out at home,” said Eric Bray, a Ventura High School freshman hanging out at Buenaventura Mall. “It’s boring there. It’s pretty boring here, too, but not as.”

Seven districts--including all of Ventura Unified and Oxnard Union High School--shut their doors Tuesday, with officials concerned that heavy rain and flooding might endanger their students.

“It comes down to a matter of safety,” said Ventura Supt. Joseph Spirito, who added that he only heard complaints from two parents. “They said I was disrupting their lives, but I don’t really think they were thinking about the kids.”

Another 150 parents called to thank the district for shutting the schools, he said.

Given the emergency situation, Ventura’s 15,400 students will more than likely not have to make up an extra day at the end of the year, Spirito said.

By 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, many Ventura school bus drivers had already notified the superintendent that roads were either closed or too dangerous to travel.

In addition, a lack of electricity at several campuses prompted Spirito to call off school--the first time since heavy storms three years ago.

It was much the same story at schools in the Mesa Union, Ojai and Rio elementary districts, as well as Oxnard’s high schools.

Officials expected to open schools this morning, with the exception of a few damaged in power outages.

Spirito said he would rather have kids at home, safe and warm, than at school. But some of the students chose not to do that.

Some of their usual haunts--Ventura’s Skating Plus and many area arcades--did not even open Tuesday. And flooding prevented only but a handful of kids from showing up at Oxnard’s Lazer Star.

But Ventura’s Chuck E. Cheese drew about 200 youngsters for pizza and arcade games, twice the normal crowd for a weekday at the Telephone Road location.

“We’ve had people even coming down from Ojai because of no school today,” cashier Jamie Batey said.

Another popular spot was Buenaventura Mall, where adolescents drifted in Tuesday morning dressed in soaking hooded sweatshirts and either sockless sandals or saturated sneakers.

Usually banned from the video arcade at the mall until 3 p.m. weekdays, many youths found they could wander in as early as 11 a.m.

“When it rains, we get swamped,” said Blake Laughlin, an employee of Gold Mine arcade.

Mothers of younger children brought them to the mall to get out of the house and to window shop.

“So many things have been canceled--my Ventura College class . . . the meeting at the Unitarian Church,” said Wendy Lofland of Ventura, who had three kids--ages 2 to 12--in tow.

“It’s kind of nice to not have to be anywhere--to just scratch the whole schedule,” she said.

Correspondent Troy Heie contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Storm Closures

Scores of schools and dozens of roads were closed Tuesday because of the storm. Her is the outlook for today:

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School Districts

for updated information, tune in to KVEN-AM (1450).

Ventura Unified: All campuses open; secretary on duty at 6 a.m. at 641-5000.

Oxnard Unified High School: All campuses open.

Oxnard Elementary: Rose Avenue school closed until Thursday due to power outage; all others open.

Santa Paula elementary and high schools: All campuses open.

Mesa Union: Expected to be open.

Ojai: All campuses open.

Rio: Rio Real Elmentary Scool to be open if power is restored; all other campuses open.

Ocean View: All schools closed until Thursday.

Somis: Expected to be open.

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Roads

U.S. 101: All lanes open

California 118: All lanes closed between the Moorpark city limits and Somis Road. Reopening date unknown.

California 150: Closed at the Santa Barbara-Ventura county line, possibly until Thursday.

For updated information in Oxnard, call 676-9331 for details on street closures and when to obtain sandbags.

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Rail Lines

Amtrak: Service between Los Angeles and Oakland shut down through today, possibly resuming Thursday.

Metrolink: Oxnard and Camarillo stations closed today. Commuters should use Moorpark station. Service from Oxnard and Camarillo possibly resuming Thursday.

Source: California Highway Patrol, Metrolink, school districts.