Improvement projects at three Simi schools get underway this month
Modernization projects scheduled for Valley View, Madera and SVHS
By Miguel Morales miguel@theacorn.com

Simi Valley's voter-approved C4 bond measure continues to provide funds for school building projects. This summer more than $8 million in upgrades and improvements are scheduled for three different Simi schools.

Madera Elementary School, Valley View Middle School and Simi Valley High School are entering different phases of what the school district refers to as their "modernization process."

According to Gary Nottingham, Simi Unified's bond program manager, all three schools will undergo similar repairs and improvements that will make the campuses more accessible for people with disabilities and will also bring plumbing and electrical equipment up to code.

"This will be the first modernization of its kind for these schools," Nottingham said.

The C4 bond measured was approved by 61.7 percent of Simi Valley voters in 2004 and granted $145 million to be used for predetermined school construction projects. To date, nearly $47 million has been used, and the remainder is scheduled to be put to work within the next five years, Nottingham said.

"The money is there; the plans have been voted on- now it's just a matter of getting around to them all," he said.

Bonny Porter, principal at Madera Elementary, said that all the upgrades at her school are necessary ones. Madera, like many other Simi schools, was built in the 1960s, and new building codes need to be met, and many technical issues need to be resolved, she said.

"They are minor details but ones that will make the school function more efficiently," Porter said.

Examples of improvements at Madera include replacing temporary/retractable walls between classrooms with permanent ones to reduce noise, widening bathroom doorways to improve handicap accessibility and increasing the number of Internet terminals in each classroom so that five computers with access to the Internet can run in each room.

The capacity of the computer lab will also be increased to accommodate up to 36 stations.

The cost of Madera's scheduled yearlong modernization project is estimated at $2.7 million.

"Next semester children will have better accessibility to technology and facilities at Madera," Porter said.

Projects at Valley View are scheduled to go on for the next 14 months at a cost of slightly more than $3 million. Also, the school recently learned that a long-desired traffic signal will be installed at Tapo and Walnut streets during the summer,

"We've got a lot going on. There's no doubt about it," said principal Terry Webb.

According to Webb, improvements at the campus include an upgrade of the school's alarm and electrical systems and the installation of new heating units.

In order to keep students on schedule during the nearly yearand-a-half-long construction plans, Webb said, the school is installing 11 portable classrooms on the school's tennis courts.

"We're going to call it the Valley View village," Webb joked.