MOORPARK : Schools to Name Panel Members

The board of the Moorpark Unified School District on Tuesday is scheduled to announce the members of a committee that will review whether the district should reduce busing.

The panel, called the Committee for Effective Schools, will consist of 12 parents, six teachers and four non-teaching district employees.

The committee will survey community members on whether the district should reduce its busing of elementary school students, a move that some officials have charged would disrupt racial balance in the schools.

In addition, the committee will ask parents whether the district’s schedule should change to year-round and whether officials should create a magnet school.

More than 50 parents and district employees applied for spots on the committee. Their applications were reviewed by a small panel of school officials and community residents picked by Supt. Thomas Duffy. The panel interviewed most of the candidates, according to school board member Pam Castro.

The 22 committee members represent all of the neighborhoods in Moorpark.

“I can’t see how there would be any objections” to the committee’s makeup, she said.