OXNARD : District Starts Voter Registration Drive

The Oxnard Union High School District has launched a voter-registration drive to gather force for an April 14 special election, officials said.

Oxnard voters will be asked to approve a $45-million bond issue to build a new high school in the district.

The district includes high schools in Oxnard, Camarillo, Oxnard and Port Hueneme. Its six schools serve 1,100 more students than they were built for, and officials say enrollment is projected to increase. Channel Islands High School, built in 1966, was the last school built in the district.

If voters pass Measure O, a new high school would be constructed on district-owned land on Gonzalez Road east of Oxnard Boulevard near St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

The bond requires approval of two-thirds of the voters to pass.

A separate citizens committee to lobby for approval of the measure has also been formed; it is headquartered in the Channel Islands Industrial Park, 1645 Pacific Ave., No. 103, Oxnard.

Called the Committee for Yes on Measure O, the group is looking for 20 volunteers a day to assemble informational packets, which will be mailed to or sent home with students attending elementary schools that feed into the district’s schools.

“We’re trying to reach the parents of elementary students,” said committee coordinator Jeannette Jennett. “They’re the ones who would really be affected.”

For more information, call 487-6766.