VENTURA : School Boundary Change Opposed

Most members of a Ventura Unified School District committee disagree with a plan to send some mid-town students to Ventura High School rather than to Buena High, according to results of a poll released Monday.

The 63-member committee of parents, teachers and Ventura residents was formed to examine a district plan to redraw school boundaries.

In a survey of committee members taken earlier this month, 90% said children who attend Montalvo School should continue to go on to Buena High because it is closer to their homes.

In addition, 91% of the committee members do not agree with another part of the plan that calls for moving some children from elementary schools in western Ventura to Sheridan Way and E. P. Foster schools, the survey showed.

In written comments on the survey, many parents said that those schools are already crowded and that the district proposal would disrupt the schools’ racial balance.

The district proposed the redistricting plan in January in an effort to correct the imbalance that resulted from having most of the city’s schools in western Ventura and much of the projected growth in eastern Ventura. The plan also aims to allow more children to attend schools closer to home.

In other survey results, which were reviewed by the committee Monday, from 56% to 85% of committee members agreed with other portions of the plan, including limiting transfers to and from Buena High and allowing boundaries for Poinsettia School to remain unchanged.

The committee’s suggested revisions to the plan are scheduled to be presented to the board next month.