Camarillo High School

A former Camarillo High School teacher and coach who engaged in sex acts with several of his male students was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Monday. Chad Wenzlick Pridgen, 31, pleaded guilty in November to 20 felony and misdemeanor counts involving 11 teenage boys, most of whom were students at Camarillo High when Pridgen taught upper-level science and coached boys' tennis and soccer.

As hundreds of students looked on, emergency workers from around Ventura County converged on Camarillo High School on Friday, staging a head-on fatal crash to advertise the perils of drinking and driving. Four students--three in one car and one in the other--portrayed the drunken driver and his victims. During the simulation, firefighters used the Jaws of Life to free trapped victims, and one student was rushed to a local hospital by rescue helicopter.

The board of trustees of the Oxnard Union High School District voted unanimously Wednesday to buy a 12-acre parcel that will be used to build a new parking lot and community playground next to Camarillo High School. The proposed lot, which will cost $3.1 million, will make the journey to and from Camarillo High School safer for students who drive to school, officials said. Students park across the street and must dodge heavy traffic on Mission Oaks Boulevard to get to classes.

A Camarillo High School teacher accused of committing sex crimes against nine male students was released from Ventura County Jail on bail Friday. Chad Wenzlick Pridgen posted a $250,000 bond and was released, jail officials said. On Wednesday, in a courtroom packed with more than 50 supportive parents, students and teachers, a judge denied a bid by Pridgen's attorneys to lower the bail amount to $50,000.

A week before Chad Pridgen is to be sentenced for molesting 11 teenage boys, prosecutors are investigating whether there is a new victim in the case against the former Camarillo High School science teacher. The mother of the potential new victim, a former Camarillo High student, last month told an investigator working on a civil case against Pridgen that she believed her son was a victim, said Ventura attorney Brenda Andrade.

After a snafu in mailing flyers to parents, Camarillo High School officials are trying to get the word out on their annual back-to-school night. Principal Terry Tackett said the person who usually prints address labels to parents of the school's 2,200 students was unable to do the job this year. So the school was left with piles of unaddressed flyers. Back-to-school night, an annual event when parents can visit students' classrooms and meet their teachers, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday.

A Ventura County developer has agreed to build new baseball and softball diamonds at Camarillo High School so it can bulldoze the school's existing fields and expand a nearby freeway on-ramp, officials said Tuesday. Brian Butler, a representative of Pardee Construction Co., said the company will spend $1.1 million to build two softball and two baseball diamonds and expand a nearby parking lot. The improvements are scheduled to be completed by January, officials said.

Six Ventura County high school seniors have won $2,000 National Merit Scholarships, the Evanston, Ill.-based group announced Tuesday. A total of 2,000 winners across the country were selected from more than 1 million applicants, spokeswoman Elaine Detweiler said. In Ventura County, the winners were Thomas A. Niday of Moorpark, who goes to Moorpark High School; Jeffrey A. Bowers of Oxnard, who attends Oxnard High School; Cathleen N.

Camarillo High School won the 12th annual Geography Bowl competition held recently at Oxnard College. The first-place students beat teams from eight Ventura County high schools. Oxnard High teams placed second and third in the contest, which tests students' knowledge of the environment, economics and geography. The focus of this year's competition was conservation.

A former Camarillo High School parking lot will be developed for commercial use under a plan approved Wednesday by Oxnard Union High School District trustees. The district plans to seek a business partner for the project. The 3.76-acre vacant parcel, across Mission Oaks Boulevard from the school and near the intersection with Adolfo Road, is a former parking area for students' cars that was recently replaced by a newer lot, district officials said.