Private School Plans Move to West Hills

A Canoga Park nonsectarian, private school has received the city’s preliminary approval to move into a vacant West Hills building previously occupied by Shomrei Torah Synagogue.

Parkhill School officials told a zoning administrator at a public hearing Monday in Sherman Oaks that the move to 7401 Shoup Ave. will provide much-needed space.

“It has about three times the physical space we have now. That should allow us to do a lot more,” said Claude Hill, head of the nonprofit special-education school for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, after the hearing.

The 32-year-old school’s enrollment of 70 should increase by about five or six students a year, Hill said.

A city zoning official approved the plan Monday, but other city offices must give it their OK before it goes ahead.

The synagogue also operated a school on the site until last year before building a new facility on Valley Circle Boulevard in West Hills.

Hill said he had been looking around the west San Fernando Valley for nearly four years before finding the Shoup Avenue site.

Another advantage of the move, he added, was that Parkhill will own the property instead of renting as it does at its current location.