MISSION VIEJO : Educators to Discuss Reform Movement

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District will hold a special presentation tonight about a state and federal educational reform movement known as restructuring, the subject of much debate recently in the district.

School board members called for the public forum last month when comments made about restructuring by school board member Debbie Hughes at a church meeting caused an uproar among teachers and parents.

At the meeting at Saddleback Valley Community Church, Hughes criticized restructuring as a “dramatic shift” away from traditional academic-based education to new methods she said are lacking in moral values.

“It concentrates less on what children should know and more on how they should feel and behave,” Hughes said during the church meeting, reading from a prepared sheet.

Hughes said her conclusions about restructuring came after a year’s worth of research.

Parents and teachers, however, have criticized Hughes’ comments on restructuring as distorted and alarmist.

Educators say restructuring is a broad-based effort to improve schools and better meet the needs of diverse groups of students. Improving schools can be done in many different ways, all under the name of restructuring, educators said.

Restructuring is also working well in the district, educators said.

La Paz Intermediate School, the only school in the district to have received a restructuring grant from the state, was named two weeks ago as a finalist in the prestigious 1992-93 National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

Tonight’s meeting, which will include presentations by Hughes and district and state curriculum experts, will start at 7 p.m. at El Toro High School Charger Hall, behind the administration building.