VENTURA : Panel Lists School Boundary Priorities

A committee of parents, school employees and residents charged with revising a plan to change school boundaries in the Ventura Unified School District finished drawing up a list of priorities for the new boundaries Monday.

In its third meeting, the committee said any plan to change boundaries must be fair to all students, make the best use of school facilities, encourage desegregation and maintain equity in the program offerings at district schools.

However, some committee members said they were skeptical about whether the group would be able to come up with recommendations in three months, when district officials have grappled with the plan for more than a year.

The committee of more than 60 members represents all 23 schools in the district. Members are reviewing a school boundary plan first presented by district officials in January.

That proposal aimed to allow more children to go to neighborhood schools, reduce busing, and simplify the district’s present boundaries. However, the plan met with widespread disapproval from parents who called it ill-conceived and complained that they had not been consulted.

At the first few committee meetings, members have reviewed boundary maps and asked questions about the current proposal, said Rich Morrison, an administrator at the county superintendent of schools office who is coordinating the meetings.

The committee, which meets every two weeks in the cafeteria of Buena High School, is scheduled to come up with revisions to present to the board by Nov. 12--shortly after two new school board members are elected.

A district schedule calls for a board vote on the plan by Dec. 17--the same day that new board members are scheduled to take office.