LVUSD bond money at work

Three-fourths of the $93 million school bond funds approved in 1997 are now being put to work on various projects throughout the district, according to officials with Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD).

The upgrades touch practically every school.

The $72.4 million in Measure R funds and state grants that have been spent so far include a wide range of improvements from new merry-go-rounds on playgrounds to entire new classrooms.

During the past two-and-a-half years, the district has built Buttercup Pre-School in Westlake Village, remodeled the main administration and classroom buildings at Calabasas High School, and added new multipurpose rooms at Yerba Buena, Lupin Hill and White Oak elementary schools. Chaparral Elementary got a sparkling, 350-capacity multipurpose room and a classroom/office building.

Chaparral and Round Meadow elementary schools, A.E. Wright and Lindero middle schools, and Agoura and Calabasas high schools underwent major classroom remodeling that included new lights, air conditioning, fire alarms, floors, phones, bathrooms, paint and electrical wiring. Agoura High also received new landscaping and frontage amenities.

The improvements at Calabasas High, which also include a new college and career center, music and dance rooms, and 120-seat lecture hall, cost an estimated $3 million, the most spent for any school site.

"We’ve completed an extraordinary number of projects in an extraordinarily short period of time, and as a result, thousands of our students have new facilities," said Donald Zimring, LVUSD deputy superintendent.

New playground equipment was added at White Oak, Yerba Buena, Willow, Sumac, Lupin Hill, Round Meadow and Chaparral elementary schools.

The two high schools each received new all-weather tracks that cost $300,000 each.

White Oak, Lindero, Yerba Buena, Lupin Hill, Round Meadow, Bay Laurel and Calabasas all received new parking lots. Additional traffic changes were made at many of the schools to improve student safety.

Next up for the district will be the remodeling of Lupin Hill and construction of a multi-purpose room at Sumac. Grading is underway for the middle school in Calabasas and plans are being drawn for the new elementary school in Agoura Hills.

Also on the drawing board is a major expansion at Lindero Canyon, construction of performing arts centers at the two high schools, and renovation of the Agoura High science labs.

LVUSD parents are invited to attend an open meeting tonight at the White Oak Elementary School multipurpose room in Westlake Village to hear more about the Measure R projects. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m.

—John Loesing