OXNARD : Teachers Protest Crowding at School
Teachers presented a petition protesting overcrowding at McAuliffe School to the Oxnard School Board Wednesday, saying that the year-round elementary school has 1,211 students and a student-teacher ratio of 33 to 1.
Forty-eight teachers signed the petition that says the school perceived by visitors as “Camelot,” more closely resembles “The Old Woman in the Shoe.”
The student-teacher ratio for the state is 23 to 1, according to the State Department of Education.
The petition also said the kindergarten through sixth-grade school has four lunch periods with 26 classrooms served in an hour and 45 minutes, four assembly schedules and four back-to-school nights for parents.
In addition, during morning recess for the upper-grade classrooms, 12 classes are on the playground at one time.
The petition also asked for increased office and administrative staff, and classroom and playground aides.
Board President Jack Fowler said the district is in a “no-win situation . . . we would have to move school boundaries.” A change in school boundaries would cause segregation problems, he added.
Board member Dorothie Sterling protested two weeks ago that the school was too crowded when the board voted to add another classroom to the school. On Wednesday she asked that district staff look into the complaints.
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