CAMARILLO : Meeting to Discuss Annexing School

The board of the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District has decided to call a community meeting to discuss how the district could annex Camarillo High School.

The board voted 3 to 2 Thursday to hold a public meeting to present a report on how Pleasant Valley could unify with at least one local high school to become a kindergarten-through-12th-grade district. A date for the meeting has not yet been set.

After hearing a consultant present the report Thursday, board member Jan McDonald motioned to call a community meeting, saying it would give residents an opportunity to ask questions about the detailed report.

Board members Leonard Caligiuri and Robert Rexford agreed with McDonald, but board members Dolores Rains and Richard Amador dissented.

Rains said she opposes any move toward unification because of the potential cost to the district.

Amador said Friday he doesn’t see a pressing need for unification. “If it’s not broke, why fix it?” he said.

Terry McHenry, the consultant who helped school officials prepare the unification report, told board members Thursday that Pleasant Valley would have to accept some portion of the Oxnard Union High School District’s $19 million in liabilities if the elementary school district annexed Camarillo or Rio Mesa high schools.

State education officials have said they may block annexation of the high schools if such a move would create racial imbalance in the mostly minority Oxnard district.