Chaminade Focusing on $9 Million Chatsworth Expansion

With construction of its new performing arts center nearly complete, Chaminade College Preparatory is turning its attention to the next project, a learning center on the middle school campus in Chatsworth.

The Tutor Family Center for the Performing Arts, expected to open in October or November, will be part of the high school campus in West Hills. The Chatsworth campus at 10210 Oakdale Ave., operated a half century ago by the Sisters of Mercy as St. John's Military Academy, holds grades six, seven and eight.

"On this campus,"  said Robert S. Webb, vice president of advancement, referring to the middle school, "what we need is improved classroom space. We also need lecture hall-type space and to improve our small library."

Chaminade is the third Chatsworth private school in the midst of major expansion. Sierra Canyon High is spending $7.4 million on new sports facilities. And is going to build a new $7 million campus.

The new Chaminade building is to be two stories high with more than 25,000 square feet, including an auditorium with seating for 258. Construction of the building, expected to cost about $9 million, is to begin within the next two years, Webb said.

The exact date will depend on "economic factors," he said. The Catholic school barely finished a capital campaign to raise $6 million toward the construction of the performing arts center and has just begun to focus on  a new campaign for the learning center.

Chaminade traces its origins to its first location in Cheviot Hills in 1952. Founded by the Marianist order of priests as an all-boys school, Chaminade has been under the ownership of a board of directors since 1972. Though it continues to be supported by the Marianists, an order established by Father William Joseph Chaminade in 1817, the school is not subsidized by the archdiocese and is open to students of all faiths. Of the 2,006 students enrolled, about 55 to 60 percent are Catholic.

"What is unique about this building is that, on the first floor, there are expandable and adjustable classroom spaces so that students can learn in groups with the teacher as a facilitator and not so much a lecturer," Webb said. "We can have four classrooms or one big room."

Upstairs will be a learning center with study rooms and the modern equivalent of a library. "It's not going to be your typical library," Webb explained. "While there will be some stacks of books, the intent is to make this a 21st century learning center with computer technology." For the first time this fall, all sixth and seventh graders will be issued tablet computers.

There is a third component to the building plan, as well. The private school plans to upgrade the Bob Hope Center on the high school campus. The center, named for the famous comedian who funded the construction and sent his own children to the school, houses the library and food services. It was built at a time when high school enrollment was about half of the 1,285 students who attend now.

Webb said Chaminade's board has not decided whether to demolish the old building and replace it or remodel and expand it. "At the moment, it seems like it's pretty cost prohibitive to add a second story because of what we would have to do. But we're not talking a lot of specifics about that now."

He stressed that construction is aimed at modernizing facilities for students and that total school enrollment will not increase. "It will have an impact on our applicant pool but we're not going to grow as a student body," he said.

Full tuition at the school is $12,331 a year plus various fees.