MOORPARK : Schools’ Busing Program Defended

About 20 parents and teachers turned out at the Moorpark school board meeting this week to defend the district’s busing program and the grade configuration of its schools, which are under attack by a parents group.

At a meeting of the Moorpark Unified School District board, many of those attending urged board members to maintain the district’s busing program and grade configuration to promote racial integration.

Mainly to achieve racial balance in its schools, the district buses about 40% of its students and instructs the lower primary grades at different schools from the upper primary grades.

A group called Parents for Better Schools has mounted a protest against this system, saying they want the district to reduce busing and allow children to attend the same neighborhood school for all of their elementary grades.

But many school officials say such a change could cause racial segregation in the schools.

At Tuesday’s meeting, parent Suzanne Lange told the board that the district’s busing program has led her children to have friends of different races from various neighborhoods.

“They have grown up with these people,” said Lange, who works as a teacher in the district. “They will not be afraid of them.”

The high level of racial integration in Moorpark schools will help prevent the explosive racial tensions that set off the recent Los Angeles riots, Lange said.

“I don’t want to see Moorpark torn apart,” she said.

The board on Tuesday confirmed an earlier decision to form a task force to survey the community and consider changing to neighborhood schools. People interested in serving on the task force should contact the school district at 378-6300.

The proportion of whites to minorities in each of Moorpark’s public schools roughly mirrors the 3-to-1 ratio of whites to minorities in the city.