ENROLLMENT GROWTH STEADY AT AREA SCHOOLS.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

After years of steady growth, Conejo Valley Unified schools expect to welcome a record number of students back to class this academic year.

With more than 400 additional students projected to enroll this year, officials said they are scrambling to get 37 new classrooms in line for the first day of classes Sept. 2.

``We may actually equal the peak we saw in enrollment about 20 years ago,'' said Richard Simpson, assistant superintendent for instructional services.

Last year, more than 700 new students joined public schools in the district, pushing the enrollment figure closer to the record 20,000-student mark. Early estimates of the coming year's enrollment show more than 19,775 children attending Conejo schools.

``Enrollment is going to be up again this year, but at least it won't be as dramatic as it was a year ago. We're tapering off now. And we're down to the last large residential developments,'' Simpson said. ``When the Dos Vientos project is completed, we'll probably see another jump, but then that's it.''

Throughout Ventura County, school districts in recent years have seen the average daily attendance in classrooms jump higher. Following the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, local school growth was about 1.5 percent across Ventura County. It grew to about 2.8 percent the following year and has topped 3 percent ever since.

``All the school districts in the last several years have reported enrollment is on the rise. So without knowing yet who exactly will be coming to school, we are expecting an average 3 percent growth across the county,'' said Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis.

Like Conejo, Simi Valley Unified's enrollment figure is expected to jump to more than 19,600 students this year as it fast approaches 20,000. Even smaller school districts like Oak Park and Moorpark, however, are expecting significant booms in their student body numbers.

Various district officials said new residential developments are an obvious source of the incoming students. But a substantial proportion also come from younger families with children who are buying older homes in the region.

``I know a lot of people move out here from the San Fernando Valley. We have a lot of new young couples moving in with children,'' said Peggy Buckles, a seven-year Thousand Oaks resident and the president of the Conejo Council PTA representing 18 Conejo Valley schools.

Lang Ranch Elementary School, the newest addition to the Conejo Valley Unified School district, already has enrolled more than 540 students. That's above school administrators' projection of fewer than 500 students but still below the school's 635 capacity.

Oak Park Superintendent Marilyn Lippiatt said she expects to see the largest growth in enrollment ever with about 3,360 students projected - about a 4 percent growth.

``The growth is beginning to level off, but we still have a few years ahead of us,'' she said.

``We've had to add several more classrooms in each of the elementary grades. We've added more buildings to the middle school. And we've refurbished some of the space we were using as storage for new classrooms at the high school,'' she said.

District officials said this year's growth should be smaller than the great surges many schools saw in the mid-1980s when Ventura County underwent rapid growth.

``We were looking at double-digit growth for a while there,'' said Frank De Pasquale, assistant superintendent for the Moorpark Unified School District, where about 2 percent growth is projected for this year.