Boys & Girls Club resurrected for Lindero Canyon





Plans have been revived to add a Boys & Girls Club on the new campus of Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills.

The Las Virgenes Unified School District had wanted a club built within its boundaries for the past seven years, Superintendent Donald Zimring said. By 2007 the school district and the organization were close to an agreement.

But the failing California economy scuttled the plan. Last year, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced budget cuts to education, the district had to consider laying off teachers, cutting programs and trimming construction costs in several areas, including Lindero Middle School. To save money and school programs, the board nixed the Boys & Girls Club.

Zimring said Cal Johnston, the founder and chair of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes, never abandoned the idea of a Lindero club.

Over the summer, Johnston joined Mark Elswick, Boys & Girls Clubs president, and Marsh Bull, board member, in a meeting with school board members Cindy Iser and Dave Moorman to try and resurrect the plan. By that time, the district had already overhauled its budget and trimmed costs.

Iser said an agreement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes was reached in about four days during the summer talks. The Las Virgenes Unified School District Board of Education approved a memorandum of understanding on Aug. 26 to allow the organization to build a facility on the northern part of the Lindero campus.

Because remodeling of the near 40-year-old Lindero campus is already underway, the Boys & Girls Club will have to pay for additional design plans and the cost of placing utilities underground.

Moorman said the project was “very doable.” He said Elswick and Bull were “absolutely committed to figuring out ways to make this work.”

Club administrators have design challenges and placement issues to work out, including minimizing the loss of parking on the campus. But Moorman and Iser believe the issues are manageable.

Iser said the two sides have a nonbinding contract and that “the risk is solely on the Boys & Girls Club financially.”

Elswick said incorporating the club into Lindero’s existing modernization plan puts pressure on his organization to raise funds for construction quickly. “We did it before,” he said of the challenge.

Zimring assured the public that the club will not cost the school district any money and will not delay the renovation of the middle school.

The school board’s Terilyn Finders said the club will be a “suburban model” designed to fit the needs of the Las Virgenes area

Zimring said the club will provide a great place for kids to go after school, especially for students who are not already involved in structured or “athletetype” activities.

The club will be integrated into the school’s threephase modernization plan that went into effect after Yerba Buena Elementary School moved away from the Lindero campus and into its new home near Reyes Adobe Road.

Founded in 2001, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes provide a variety of programs such as sports, leadership training, art classes, fitness and recreation, health and life skills, and career development.

There are four clubs within the Conejo Valley Unified School District. An earlier attempt to place a club at Mae Boyer Park in Oak Park failed. A Boys & Girls Club also was rejected in Westlake Village.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *