OXNARD : Plan Would Change Graduation Rules

Additional classes in English and geography may be added to graduation requirements under a plan being considered by the Oxnard Union High School District.

A report from a district panel to the school board Wednesday recommended an additional year of English for graduation.

Recommendations from the superintendent’s cabinet and administrative staff, however, are much stiffer. In addition to the extra year of English and an additional year of math, the district staff wants to see half a year of geography and proficiency in computers added to graduation requirements.

The half a year of geography could be bypassed if the student can pass a challenge test, Assistant Supt. Gary Davis said.

But some teachers and students objected to the plan. Mary Hopple, a teacher at Oxnard High School, said more requirements are not necessarily better for the student, often cutting into elective programs such as music and student government.

“We keep mandating more and more courses for graduation,” Hopple said. “That doesn’t mean the student knows any more.”

Dennis Goodenough, an industrial arts teacher at Hueneme High School, said the district must build well-rounded students.

But it was the board’s student representative, Matt Antonelli from Channel Islands High School, who persuaded the board to move slowly before adding additional requirements. Antonelli was accepted recently by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a student, beginning next year.

“In my senior year, I was able to take one semester of drafting, but I was not able to take it the second semester,” Antonelli said. “With these new requirements, I would have had no opportunity to take drafting.”