In order to accommodate the large number of families who wanted to return in-person instruction and to abide by the State’s requirement to bring students back to the classroom to the “fullest extent possible,” VUSD needed to maximize classroom space as much as possible in order to comply with the recently changed public health guidelines providing for three feet between student desks. Many of our classrooms would not have accommodated such changes due to being filled with older furniture such as double desks which took up too much space.
Therefore, the Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) used one time money provided by the state to help with these exact issues to purchase new, smaller single desks for many of our classrooms. These changes were discussed several times during publicly agenized Board of Education meetings. And because VUSD does not have storage space to hold on to older, more obsolete furniture we decided not to waste public funds trying to find a place to store such items. Instead, and based on hearing from many families that our students do not have a dedicated space at home to study, we felt the best use of this furniture would be to continue to support the education of our students by declaring the items surplus and providing families a chance to claim and use these desks at home. This action also assists with environmental impacts that would have occurred had we discarded them in local landfills. For additional information or discussion, please feel free to contact Rebecca Chandler, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, at 805-641-5000 x 1202.
