OXNARD : School Board OKs Parental Contracts

In the first districtwide program in California, parents of Oxnard Union High School District students will be asked next fall to sign a contract promising to send their children to school “in good health and with a positive attitude.”

The two-page contract approved Wednesday by the Board of Trustees asks parents to “send their children to school properly washed, dressed, fed and rested.”

Similar contracts outlining suitable behavior for parents and students are often sent home by teachers and schools, but it’s the first time in California that such a contract has been adopted district-wide, said California State Parent Teacher Assn. President Dorothy Leonard.

School officials say the new contract, to be included in students’ registration packets, is designed to remind parents of some of the basic responsibilities that they have toward their children.

“Most parents, particularly when their kids get to high school, feel their children are old enough to be on their own and don’t pay as much attention to them as they need to,” said board President Sorrell Berman.

The result is that students sometimes come to school unprepared, tired or hungry, said Jan Anderson, a communications consultant with the California Teachers Assn.

The Home-School Partnership, as the contract is called, reminds parents that they are “expected to be available for teacher and office conferences and to support mutually agreed upon decisions regarding the behavior and education of their children. Parents should know what is expected of their child on campus academically, behaviorally and socially.”

The only punishment for parents who do not stick to their end of the agreement is that their children may not do well in school, said Hueneme High School Principal Terry Taylor, who co-authored the contract. “To some parents that would be punishment enough,” Taylor said.