HUNTINGTON BEACH : Parents to Protest Reorganization Plan

A group of parents plans to stage a protest Tuesday at the Ocean View School District offices to decry a proposal to create four middle schools in the district.

Led by residents of the Marine View School area, about 50 parents are expected to challenge the district’s plan to reorganize the school system, said Lindsay DuFresne, who is organizing the demonstration.

The protest is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The board of trustees is holding a public hearing on the issue Tuesday night. It is not due to vote on the plan until June 4.

Currently, Ocean View’s elementary schools are grades K-6 or K-8.

But under a plan proposed by district staff, 11 schools would change to K-5 and four others would be changed to middle schools serving sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Additionally, Haven View School would be closed. The board last week voted to close Crest View School after the 1991-92 school year, under a desegregation plan.

Attendance boundaries districtwide would also change under the plan, which would go into effect September, 1992. In all, the proposal would force about one-fourth of the district’s 8,600 students to change schools, officials project.

Staff officials say the plan is the best way to reorganize the district to maximize the programs and services offered at Ocean View’s facilities. Declining enrollment in recent years has prompted board members to consider a change.

Among 40 members on a committee advising the school board on the issue, 39 support the middle-school concept, said Joseph Condon, assistant superintendent for personnel services.

But parents of students attending sites targeted to become middle schools, including Marine View, argue that the move would upset the academic programs now offered at those schools. They also say the move would divide the neighborhood, prompting younger students to move to new schools.

“What we want to say on Tuesday is that we’re paying attention, we want to know and we care about our schools. And we want to keep the high quality they now have,” DuFresne said.