Channel Islands High Has Growing Pains : Education: District officials want to take steps to divert students from the crowded Oxnard campus to other schools.

Oxnard’s Channel Islands High School is bursting at the seams, crowded by 300 more students than its maximum of 2,200 planned when it was built 26 years ago.

And with an additional 260 enrollees expected in the fall, Oxnard Union High School District officials say they want to divert students to other schools.

At its peak in October, Channel Islands--the biggest high school in Ventura County--had 2,734 students, according to enrollment reports submitted to state officials last fall.

As of March 1, Channel Islands’ enrollment had leveled off to 2,541 students, Assistant Supt. Gary Davis said. But students, teachers and administrators say the school, on Raiders Way south of Channel Islands Boulevard, is still too crowded.

Passageways are jammed when students change classes. At lunchtime, cafeteria workers hustle to feed the entire school during one 45-minute lunch break. Over the years, 11 portable classrooms have been moved to the campus to accommodate the growing number of students.

“When we have rallies, we can’t all fit in the gym,” said sophomore Marysol Gutierrez, 15. “Last year we could.”

Science teachers share a portable experiment demonstration table that is moved from room to room. And eight new teachers do not have classrooms; they use the classrooms of other teachers during free periods and do their daily hour of class preparation in the faculty lounge.

“You just make do,” said math teacher Bill Wallace, one of three teachers hired in October to accommodate the growth. Wallace hauls a battered black briefcase with all his teaching materials to three classrooms each day.

If steps are not taken to curb the growth, officials project that the school’s enrollment will rise to 2,805 students in September.

On Wednesday, district administrators presented a plan to the school board that, if approved, would limit the school’s enrollment to between 2,600 and 2,650 students in the next school year.

The plan’s measures include:

* Eliminating transfers from other district schools after April 1.

* Busing students who move into the school’s attendance area after June 1 to Hueneme High.

* Giving parents the option of transferring their children to Rio Mesa, Camarillo or Hueneme high schools next year if they request the transfer between April 15 and May 15.

* Busing students who enroll after Sept. 9 to Hueneme High School if the previous steps have not decreased enrollment to between 2,600 and 2,650.

Those measures could reduce the school’s enrollment by at least 255 students by next fall, officials estimate.

The board is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its March 27 meeting.

Kenneth Benefield, who has been principal at the school for 17 years, said much of the growth is the result of new development in neighborhoods surrounding the school.

Another reason is that Channel Islands serves one of the city’s most mobile and densely populated areas, Davis said. “And apparently, more people are moving in than moving out.”

Oxnard High, which has 2,278 students, is the second largest school in the 11,000-student district, Davis said. Hueneme High has 2,110 students, Camarillo 2,073 students and Rio Mesa 1,810, he said.

If the plan is adopted, enrollment could increase at all the high schools except Oxnard, according to the report. Oxnard High is already beyond its maximum capacity of 2,060.

In April, the district realigned boundaries to offset some of the crowding at Channel Islands and Oxnard high schools, transferring 157 students to less-crowded Rio Mesa and Hueneme.

But some staff members said staff and parents from other schools resisted boundary changes that would have transferred more students, many from the city’s La Colonia neighborhood, which is heavily Latino. Many students who live in La Colonia attend Channel Islands High.

“Other schools just don’t want to have them,” teacher Robert Serros said. “They keep talking about gangs.” But he said the fear of gangs is misguided.

Biology teacher Mike Young, a 17-year veteran of the school, said: “Getting a new school would solve the whole problem.”

Although officials have received state funding to replace the aging Oxnard High, they are still seeking funding and a site for a new high school in east Oxnard.