Board May Hasten Flory School Repairs

Desperate to restore the fire-damaged Flory Elementary School campus, the Moorpark school board is considering dropping its normal bidding process to speed up the repairs.

David Pollock, a member of the Moorpark Unified School District board, said declaring a state of emergency at the school would formally allow the district to sidestep a time-consuming, state-mandated bidding process.

In addition, such a declaration would help the district more quickly replace temporary classrooms, furniture, textbooks and other instructional materials.

The board considered the idea at its Tuesday night meeting. The emergency resolution would be the first step in repairing the school after a Nov. 13 fire that displaced two classes at the school at 240 Flory Ave.--one moved to a portable classroom and another to a room in the district administration center next door.

Before the fire, the district was renovating Flory, portions of which date back to 1938.

Meanwhile, late last week, the district began moving three additional portable classrooms onto the Flory campus to ease crowding and create new space for other classes affected by the fire, Pollock said.

Although two of the four classes that occupy the damaged wing of the school have been moved, he said, the district will move the two others into portable classrooms before construction begins so the children aren’t disturbed by the work.