VENTURA COUNTY ROUNDUP : Simi Valley : Arroyo Elementary to Be Reopened

The Simi Valley school board has voted 3 to 2 to reopen Arroyo Elementary School, a move that affects where students on the west side of the city will attend classes.

The school board also voted Tuesday to hire the architectural firm of Arketset to begin planning the renovation and eventual expansion of the campus.

Arroyo Elementary, scheduled to be ready for classes a year from now, will be the first of four Simi Valley schools closed in 1982 to reopen. The schools were shut at the time because enrollment had declined.

Officials estimate that it will cost the district just over $3.5 million to renovate the school and about $400,000 a year to operate. The board has not yet voted to expand the campus, a plan that is expected to cost in excess of $3 million more.

The move comes despite the objections of two board members.

Trustees Diane Collins and Carla Kurachi voted against reopening the school, questioning whether it is feasible or necessary, and if so, if it could be ready in time for the 2000-2001 academic year as planned.

The two also questioned whether reopening the school addresses one of the district’s most pressing growth concerns: population pressures in Wood Ranch.

School board President Janice DiFatta said reopening was the best move available.

“We can continue to shift kids around, we can continue to add portables, but I don’t think that’s the answer at this point,” DiFatta said. “It’s evident we’re going to have to open a school unless we pack our schools so full of kids they can’t move.”

Arroyo Elementary is on Ulysses Street, northeast of Madera Road and Los Angeles Avenue.

When it closed 17 years ago, the school served 210 students. Students who now live in the same area attend Madera and Park View elementary schools, school officials said.