Cal State Wants to Open Grade School on Campus

Officials of Cal State Channel Islands plan to ask the state to pay for a public elementary school to be located on the university campus that would help train college students pursuing careers in education.

As prospective teachers earn their teaching credentials, they would receive hands-on experience in a classroom--without leaving the university campus. They would be able to complete student teaching hours at the elementary school and would have access to veteran teachers as mentors.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for all the players,” said Pleasant Valley Supt. Andre La Couture. “Anything we can do to further the teaching profession and get quality teachers is going to benefit the whole educational community.”

The elementary school would accommodate about 600 kindergarten through eighth-grade students. Though officials expect to open the school to pupils throughout the county, they said most of the elementary students would be children of university students or staff living on campus.

Starting in 2002, the university plans to begin building 900 housing units for students. Officials expect as many as 450 children to live in the on-campus housing. The remaining slots would be filled with other Ventura County children.

“It will be great for families to have a neighborhood school, not to mention having a teacher education program right in their backyard,” said Barbara Thorpe, chief academic planner for the university. “These families will be able to take advantage of that as well.”