OXNARD : Educators Accused of Interference

Officials with the Oxnard Union High School District are accusing their counterparts in the Oxnard Elementary School District of interfering in the planned relocation of one of its campuses.

Bill Studt, the high school district’s superintendent, said Thursday that elementary school officials have attempted to thwart efforts by his district to gain $25 million in state funding to move Oxnard High School.

The district wants to move the school from its present site at 5th Street and Hobson Way to a 50-acre parcel near Gonzales Road and Victoria Avenue, just outside the city limits.

Studt said elementary school officials have contacted the state Department of Education to protest the high school district’s request for funds needed to relocate the high school. The state Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Aeronautics has declared the school’s present site a safety risk because of its proximity to Oxnard Airport.

“It is unthinkable that one public education agency would attempt to stop state funding of over $25 million to provide safe and modern facilities for more than 2,500 high school students,” Studt said at a news conference.

He also accused elementary school officials with “a systematic effort . . . to discredit the Oxnard Union High School District.”

Studt was responding to published remarks by elementary school officials who said they intend to ask the Oxnard City Council on Aug. 25 not to supply utilities to the proposed relocation site.

Jack Fowler, a trustee with the elementary district singled out by Studt for meddling, defended his district’s opposition to the northwest Oxnard site.

Fowler said the site’s owner, AgLand Services of Somis, is willing to make the land available for a school only on the condition that the company receive permission to develop the area. He called the high school district an unwitting “front man” for the developer.

“We’ve consistently said we’re opposed to taking agricultural land,” Fowler said. He emphasized that new residential development on the agricultural site would probably force his district to build new schools to accommodate more growth.

But Fowler conceded that his district is also opposed to the relocation for its own financial interest. He said his district is studying a proposal to merge the elementary district with Oxnard High and that it doesn’t want to assume any new debt if unification goes forward.

Studt said his district is determined to move forward with the relocation of the high school. He said the district would supply utilities to the new school site if the city did not.