COUNTYWIDE : Board of Education OKs District Changes

The Ventura County Board of Education voted Monday to change its district boundaries, strengthening the voting power of the Latino communities in Oxnard, El Rio and Nyeland Acres.

The new boundaries for the five districts match those recently adopted by the Ventura Community College District.

A Latino voting-rights coalition, the Ventura County Coalition on Redistricting and Reapportionment, urged both the college district and the county board to change the boundaries.

Assistant Supt. Robert Smith told the board that the trustee area boundaries were based on out-of-date census information. He recommended changing them.

Marco Antonio Abarca, representing the coalition, spoke in favor of the redistricting proposal, which drew no opposition and little discussion among trustees.

“It is a plan that recognizes there is a strong community of interest between the heavily Latino neighborhoods of El Rio and Nyeland Acres, and the Latino neighborhoods of the city of Oxnard,” Abarca said.

The plan, he added, creates “a 58% Latino district that is compact, is of equal population to other districts and does not illegally fragment the Latino community.”

John McGarry, trustee for District 5, which will be the most heavily populated area for the time being, said he had no objection to adding the new communities to his area.

“I thoroughly welcome El Rio and Nyeland Acres into the District 5 area,” said McGarry, whose district will grow by about 4,500 residents.

District 4, represented by trustee Albert (Al) Rosen, will decrease by about 17,000 residents.

Under the new boundaries, district 1 includes Ventura and most of Port Hueneme; District 5 encompasses most of Oxnard, El Rio, Nyeland Acres and the balance of Port Hueneme; District 3 covers Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru and Camarillo; District 4 includes Simi Valley and Moorpark; and District 2 encompasses Thousand Oaks, county land east of Camarillo, Point Mugu and the balance of Oxnard.