School Map Leaves Some Parents Out and Outraged

THOUSAND OAKS — Besieged by parents angry that their children would be left out of the city’s newest elementary school, the Conejo Valley Unified School District on Wednesday released attendance boundaries bringing another 89 homes into Lang Ranch Elementary School.

But the modifications failed to satisfy many homeowners who live within walking distance of the district’s 20th elementary school, which is set to open next fall.

“I’m completely outraged,” said Kathy Bernstein, a mother of three who lives on Bordero Lane, a street proposed to be excluded from attending the school, which is being constructed on nearby Sandhurst Avenue. “We’re taking up petitions and bringing them to the school board by Friday.”

In its second attempt to address the attendance boundaries, the school district made public a new map, which now includes homes on Parkview and Laurelwood drives, as well as Pocano and Rob courts.

There are 420 homes in the immediate area of the school--west of the city limits, south of Sunset Hills Boulevard, east of Erbes Road and north of Avenida de Los Arboles--that are not part of the new boundary proposal.

The school board will hold a public study session Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and is scheduled to vote on the final boundaries Wednesday.

About two weeks ago, district facilities director Sean Corrigan presented his original attendance boundary maps to the board. More than 100 unhappy parents showed up at that meeting, complaining that over the years they had been promised by real estate agents, developers and school officials that their children would one day be able to walk to the new school in their neighborhood.

Corrigan told the crowd that he drew the attendance map according to the Lang Ranch Specific Plan of 1986. He said he was unable to include about 500 homes that are within a mile of the school, because they were not part of the city plan. He added that such promises should not have been made to entice prospective homeowners.

But trustees directed Corrigan to reconsider the boundaries and include Parkview and Laurelwood drives, which feed directly into the new school.

Corrigan said he is concerned that the board-mandated additions to the attendance map adds the “danger of overcrowding” to the new school. Since construction has already begun, additional permanent classrooms or portable buildings may have to be built on outdoor ball courts to accommodate a larger student body, he added.

Not only are parents whose children are excluded from the proposal upset, but homeowners just added in are also dissatisfied.

“We’re happy for ourselves, but disappointed that our neighbors can’t be included,” said Ellen Klein, a mother of two who lives on Parkview Drive. “It just makes sense to include everyone east of Erbes. And we’re still going to be there for our neighbors Tuesday night.”

Jheri Baer, another Parkview Drive resident, echoed that sentiment: “We’re happy for ourselves, but it’s a shame my daughter will have to be split from her neighbors.”

What most annoys parents is that the school district’s plan accommodates scores of children who would one day live in the proposed Woodridge development near the Thousand Oaks-Simi Valley border.

Parents had asked school trustees why people who won’t move into the Woodridge development for two years take precedence over current residents.

“The worst thing about it is that they’re holding onto it for people that don’t exist,” Bernstein said.

What’s more, is that the future Woodridge parents will clog up Bernstein’s street, as well as causing traffic backups on Sunset Hills Boulevard and Erbes Road when they drive their children to school, she predicted.

“I can’t pull out of my driveway with all the traffic now,” she said. “I can’t imagine fighting more traffic when those Woodridge families move in.”

Bernstein and other parents suggest the district send children from the Woodridge development to the older schools in the area--Ladera, Weathersfield or Park Oaks.

That won’t work, Corrigan said.

The 252 homes to be built in Woodridge are expected to generate about 80 elementary school children, he said. But the 420 existing homes that remain excluded from the school would likely generate nearly 200 kids, he said.

Board President Mildred Lynch said she likely will vote for the revised attendance boundaries, but acknowledged she doesn’t know how to solve the Woodridge dilemma.

“We should put that on the back burner for now,” she said.

But parents say they won’t easily give up their dreams of having their children walk to school, like they did when they were youngsters.

“We’re fighting this, tooth and nail,” said Selene Carr, a mother of two who lives on Rikkard Drive, a street that didn’t make it into the district’s latest proposal. “We hope this isn’t set in stone and the board will keep true to its word of wanting to keep the parents happy.”

Carr said she and other parents are threatening to vote against a $97-million bond measure the district hopes to place on a special election ballot next spring.

“There is no voting constituency in Woodridge coming in April when the bond measure comes up,” Carr said.