3RD TIME'S CHARM FOR CONEJO SCHOOL BOND SUPPORTERS.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

It took three tries, but apparently the Conejo Valley Unified School District has gotten voter approval of a multimillion-dollar school bond.

``I'm so happy for the teachers and the staff and the parents and students,'' said Superintendent Jerry Gross. ``I'm delighted.''

With 29,684 votes counted, Measure R had received the approval of 72.3 percent of voters. The $88 million bond needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

Although about 6,800 absentee ballots remained uncounted, the district's advisers believe the bond has passed, Gross said.

The passage of Measure R means the district will qualify for $17 million in state matching funds, Gross said. The money will be used to pay for air conditioning, roof repairs and campus modernizations.

Several factors helped the bond pass this time, after similar measures had failed twice before, Gross said.

First, its backers tried to reach every voter throughout the community.

``We did a better job of making people aware,'' said Mary Beth Eisenhard, a member of the district's bond advisory committee. ``We were out there in force. We had buttons; we had yard signs. People just saw more, heard more and read more about it.''

Bond supporters also tried to make the measure more palatable to their opponents.

``We spent a lot of time with our critics,'' Gross said.

The district wanted to demonstrate responsibility, he said. It cut the bond from $97 million over 40 years to $88 million over 25 years, with most of that to be paid back in the first 15 years.

To make the community a larger participant, the district set up a 24-member advisory committee, which held its first postelection meeting Wednesday night.

``We're going to get at this right away,'' Gross said.

The committee, which has been meeting for five months, wants to address school safety issues immediately, said member Scott Carr.

``People that passed the bond measure want to see these things corrected,'' Carr said. ``It's going to allow the kids to go to school without fear of any problems.''

Had Measure R failed, the district would not have come to bat for a fourth bond anytime soon, Gross said. A special election would be too costly, so the earliest projection was for the general election in 2000, he said.

After the polls closed Tuesday night, the first absentee ballot results were announced at lower than the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bond, Gross said.

``We got the same results on the absentee ballots that we got last time,'' he said. ``My heart dropped and I said, Don't let this happen.''

But the percentage in support of the bond climbed higher and higher as the evening progressed, until victory was assured.