VENTURA : 3rd Hearing Planned on School Borders

The Ventura school board is scheduled tonight to hold the third of four public hearings on a controversial school boundary plan that would force nearly one in four students to change campuses.

Like the two previous meetings, tonight’s session at 7 at Cabrillo Middle School, 1426 E. Santa Clara St., is expected to draw parents protesting that the new Ventura Unified School District map would separate their children from familiar schools and classmates.

The new boundaries would assign 3,440 of the district’s 15,000 students to new schools. The most affected would be Cabrillo and several elementary schools.

District officials contend that the strategy would put more children into schools close to their residences, saving the district $180,000 a year in busing costs. They also say integration of schools would increase.

But some parents argue that the remapping would force their children into longer, not shorter, bus rides.

A nine-member district panel headed by Assistant Supt. Richard Welcher developed the plan and was scheduled to have a final draft ready for board approval by mid-May. But parental opposition may force a revision of that timetable.

“We’ve got to go back and analyze all the input from these hearings and see how we can improve upon the plan,” Welcher said. “It might take us a month to do it; it might take us two. I just can’t say.”

The last hearing will be held March 14 at De Anza Middle School.