Activists to Question Safety of School Site

Environmental activists are expected to express their concern about the proposed site for the Juan Lagunas Soria school at tonight’s Oxnard Elementary school board meeting.

Critics want the school board to release the results of a draft soils test conducted in May 1998 on the site at the corner of Emerson and Rice avenues.

“As long as the district refuses to disclose all the soil and toxicology tests, any claim they are making about the safety of the school is just rhetoric,” said Kim Uhlich, analyst for the Environmental Defense Center.

In June, school board trustees approved the site for the elementary school, despite parent and community concerns about the possible dangers of nearby pesticide spraying.

The site is on farmland in the Lemonwood neighborhood of Oxnard. The school is expected to open in August 2001.

On Thursday, the Planning Commission will consider county land annexation for the 1,200-student elementary school. During that meeting, Lemonwood residents Larry and Ann Marie Stein plan to speak against the school site.

“The traffic is going to be overwhelming,” Ann Marie Stein said. “And we believe that there are pesticides in the ground where they want to build the school. We believe it’s unsafe.”

The Planning Commission postponed the county land annexation at its meeting earlier this month, frustrating district officials who were worried about a delay.