Board OKs Study of Joint Campus

Conejo Valley school officials have agreed to begin designing a $15-million educational center they hope to build jointly with Moorpark College.

Planned for a 10-acre site next to the Conejo Valley Unified School District headquarters on Janss Road, the 45,000-square-foot facility would combine a new campus for Conejo Valley High School and a satellite campus for the community college.

The school district’s board of trustees Tuesday approved a preliminary agreement with the college, Assistant Supt. Gary Mortimer said. The college board is expected to approve it in January, President Jim Walker said.

Under the agreement, the two agencies would split the $30,000 cost of hiring Costa Mesa-based Daugherty & Daugherty Architects to prepare a study. The report would include several design options, cost estimates and a construction schedule.

The move was welcome news at Conejo Valley High School, the district’s continuation school and its oldest campus. Principal James Martin said his staff has heard for 20 years that it would get a new school.

But “whenever you hire an architect, that means somebody’s serious,” he said.

The electrical system of the school, which was built in 1928 on Newbury Road on the west end of Thousand Oaks, is outdated, Martin said, and the old buildings are riddled with cracks.

“It’s a nice old school, and it looks quaint from the outside, but to live in it is a little tough,” he said.

The new campus would serve 300 students from local high schools, about 100 more than the continuation school can handle. Moorpark College’s satellite campus also would enroll about 300 full-time students.

Each school would have its own classrooms but could share common space such as computer labs, a 100-seat lecture hall, a faculty lounge and a multipurpose room.

The district’s part of the facility would be funded by a variety of sources, including about $1.1 million from a school bond passed by Conejo Valley voters in November 1998. A large chunk of the money will come from selling the land where the continuation school is now.

Walker said the college’s portion--about 30% of the cost--is expected to come from a $365-million bond measure that will go before Ventura County voters in March.

Officials from both agencies said they are excited about opportunities from the joint facility.

Transportation is a major issue for Conejo Valley High School’s students, most of whom do not drive, Martin said. The new campus is more centrally located, and the proximity of the college will make it easier for students to take higher-level courses, he said.

“Instead of trying to get all the way to Moorpark, kids could just walk across the hall,” Martin said. Students could also easily volunteer at the senior center or library across the street.

If everything goes as planned, the new facility could open to students in the fall of 2003, Walker said.