Student Shift Not Needed, Study by Parents Says

VENTURA —  Determined to block a proposal shifting their children to new schools, eastern Ventura parents Tuesday gave the school board a detailed study showing why the redistricting plan is unnecessary.

In a public hearing that was in many ways a repeat of last week’s heated meeting, school officials came under attack for their proposal to move about 300 students from Buena High to cross-town Ventura High, nearly half that many students at the middle school level from Balboa to Cabrillo, plus other adjustments, affecting a total of about 460 pupils.

Fearing their children’s education would be disrupted by the move, nearly 300 parents turned out for the meeting in hopes of persuading the Ventura Unified School District board to consider alternatives to the current plan.

“One of the primary responsibilities of the board is to have a good, long-term plan,” said Larry Leeth, who has two children at Buena High. “I would like to know where was the plan last year, the year before and the year before that?”

However, district officials stood by their assertion that something has to be done to ease overcrowding at Buena and Balboa.

Addressing parents’ concerns about their children’s education, schools Supt. Joseph Spirito said west-end schools would provide counselors to alleviate the impact of the move on affected students. The counselors will help integrate students in academic and extracurricular activities at their new schools, Spirito said.

However, Arlene Morelli, who spoke on behalf of about 150 parents from two affected east-end neighborhoods, gave a lengthy presentation questioning the district’s need for such a plan.

Buena has a capacity of 2,187 students and, without changes, the expected enrollment for the academic year starting next fall is 2,422, or 235 over capacity, according to school district figures.

Morelli said the number could be brought down by 35 students by simply eliminating special permits allowing transfers from within the district or other school districts, as already contemplated in the plan. Enrollment has dropped by 51 students since the beginning of the year, further reducing the overcrowding figures, Morelli said.

An additional reduction in enrollment at Buena could be achieved by cracking down on an estimated 50 students who live in Ventura High’s attendance area but are enrolled illegally at Buena, Morelli continued.

Finally, she said revoking the privilege that allows teachers and administrators to enroll their children in the school of their choice would bring the number down even further.

After those changes, the overcrowding problem would be largely resolved, she said. “I think we are really looking, at most, at 100 students. It may be as few as 50,” Morelli said.

She closed her presentation by showing how the proposed plan would create overcrowding at Ventura High, which is now underused.

School officials took issue with Morelli’s presentation.

Spirito said that while student enrollment drops throughout the year, staffing decisions are based on enrollment at the beginning of the school year. He also said the number of students illegally enrolled at Buena is probably small.

Morelli admitted her figures on that point were the result of guesswork.

Additionally, Spirito said the problem with overcrowding at east-end schools is expected to get worse because most new housing developments in town are located in Buena’s and Balboa’s attendance areas.

School board members, who have expressed support for the plan in the past few weeks, listened carefully to the exchanges.

“If we want to balance the schools we have to do something,” board President Cliff Rodrigues said before the meeting. “We have to look at the big picture and think about all the kids in Ventura.”

But Buena High students who spoke Tuesday night wanted no part of the move to the crosstown rival.

“The flower is rooted in the soil,” said Buena sophomore Nicki Hughes, who lives in a hillside neighborhood affected by the proposal. “If you rip it out, chances are it won’t live. If I’m ripped out of Buena, where my roots are, I don’t want to think of what the results will be.”

The current plan was put together by a 20-member committee of school teachers, principals and administrators. It would affect students from three east Ventura areas: the hillside communities of Skyline, Clearpoint, Ondulando and Hidden Valley; a residential area bounded by Foothill and Telegraph roads and between Tyler and Petit avenues; and a neighborhood south of Ventura College and east of Buenaventura Mall.

The plan is seen as a stopgap measure that would alleviate overcrowding for three to four years. If the plan is approved, district officials are expected to begin studying long-term proposals in March.

The board is scheduled to vote on the current plan Feb. 27.