New Olivelands School dedicated

Community members, Briggs Elementary School District Board members and various special guests attended the January 16 dedication of the new Olivelands School, 12465 Foothill Rd. The new school is 22,000 square feet with nine classrooms, a multipurpose room and administration building serving 180 K-3rd grade students. Special guests at the dedication included Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles Weis, County Supervisor Kathy Long, Randy LaBorde of the Office of Public School Construction, and George Shaw, California Department of Education. The dedication ceremony opened with the flag salute and school song, and included special recognitions by Briggs Superintendent Carol L. Vines, comments by Olivelands Principal Dr. Donna Ronzone and student essays, additional comments from some of the special guests, and a ribbon cutting ceremony.On April 13, 1913 the Limoneira Company deeded the Olivelands School site to the Briggs Elementary School District for $10, with the provision that if the site ceases to be used by the school district it will return to Limoneira Company. Olivelands School was constructed in 1914. A district-wide facility study was conducted in 1997 in which the old school building was found to be structurally defective. In October 1999, the District qualified for State Abandonment and Replacement Funding due to the unsafe structural condition of the building. The students were moved into State Lease relocatable classrooms in January 2000, where they were housed until the opening of the new school on August 25, 2003.The voters approved a General Obligation Bond Measure coordinated by Laura Galvan on November 2, 1999 to fund modernization and new construction of district facilities. The new Olivelands School construction budget was $4,456,028 with funds from the general obligation bond, state new construction grant, hardship abandonment replacement grant, and general fund. The new facility was constructed in a design assist format with Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. and PSWC Group School Architects.