Conejo Valley Schools Off to a Big Start

THOUSAND OAKS — High school girls in hip polyester pants and funky sleeveless tank tops, grade school boys sporting new T-shirts and leather backpacks, and students of all ages wearing excited looks bombarded the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s 26 campuses when school began Thursday.

District administrators said first-day attendance was up 741 students from last year. To accommodate the influx of students, 68 new teachers--including one who landed her job less than 24 hours before the start of school--were hired to instruct the masses of children pouring in.

Although overall district enrollment on Day One was about 1.5% below earlier predictions, the halls and classrooms of Redwood Middle School were “past busting at the seams,” said Principal Tim Carpenter, who calmed fretting youngsters who had misplaced their schedules and radioed maintenance workers to fix jammed lockers.

This is the first year that sixth-graders had the choice to join seventh- and eighth-graders at Redwood instead of attending their neighborhood elementary school, though other middle schools in the district have offered this alternative for a while.

Although Carpenter said it’s a wonderful opportunity for sixth-graders to attend school with older kids and work out their jitters early, a few eighth-graders had other opinions.

“The halls are too crowded,” complained Jessica Baxter. “The sixth-graders shouldn’t be here. We can’t even get through to our classrooms.”

Carpenter just laughed, and explained that the school’s 120 sixth-graders are being taught in portables on one end of campus and aren’t in the way of other students.

But it is true that life is crowded in the Conejo Valley school district.

A total of 18,879 students showed up for the first day of classes, according to the district accounting office. And although enrollment was projected earlier at more than 19,170 students, officials said an undetermined number of students may still be on extended Labor Day vacations. A revised count will be taken next week.

Things ran smoothly all day at Thousand Oaks High School, where attendance reached more than 2,300 students Thursday, said Principal Jo-Ann Yoos.

“All the kids were in their classes by 8 a.m. with schedules in hand,” she said.

A few high school veterans, who were enjoying a laid-back lunch period, predicted this school year was going to be a piece of cake.

“I only have two real classes, econ and English,” said senior Ryan Campbell. “The rest are music classes, because I’ve finished [all other requirements]. Senior year is easier. Teachers know you’re going to college and you’re kind of left alone.”

Junior Tiffany Maple, standing with a group of classmates, longed for a senior’s life.

“Being a junior is the hardest year,” maintained Tiffany. “You have to write all these big term papers.” Fortunately, she said, the “teachers seemed cool, so far.”

At least one teacher wasn’t feeling so cool on the first day.

Ladera Elementary School’s newest employee, Inge Barnhart, didn’t sleep much Wednesday night, waking up every hour to stare at her alarm clock, waiting anxiously for morning to come.

Her fitful rest was understandable.

She was hired a few hours before the close of Wednesday’s workday--less than a day before school began--and stayed on campus until early evening, calling parents to announce that she would be their children’s new kindergarten teacher.

The last-minute scramble was justified. Just 48 hours before the school bell rang, Ladera--the district’s most populous elementary school--gained enough students to qualify for a fourth kindergarten class under class-size reduction rules, said principal Neil Snyder.

Originally, only five of the district’s 18 elementary schools were believed to have sufficient room and money for the smaller kindergarten classes this fall. In addition to Ladera, Glenwood Elementary School also was able to reach the right numbers this summer and receive the benefits of smaller class sizes.

“We got to 80 students on Tuesday,” said Snyder, a new principal at Ladera. “Which means we had four clean packages of 20 kids.”

That’s when district officials, secretaries and energetic teachers banded together to sift through applicant files. In the frenzy, Barnhart’s resume--which includes five years’ teaching experience at a private school--was uncovered.

“I was praying something would come through,” said Barnhart, who lives in Moorpark. “I had applied to four different school districts, but I was told they already had hired their teachers.

“I feel so fortunate to be teaching in this district,” she said. “Even though it was so last-minute, and I’m nervous because of the newness of it all, mostly I’m just really excited.”