District Seeks to Improve the Image of Ventura High : Education: A magnet program in computers, social sciences or performing arts is considered for the school.

Hoping to stop the exodus of students from Ventura High and improve the school’s image, the Ventura Unified School District is considering turning it into a magnet school by the fall of 1994, Supt. Joseph Spirito said Tuesday.

Even though boundary changes a year ago were designed to equalize enrollments at the district’s two high schools, Buena High is expected to have 2,200 students this fall versus 1,700 at Ventura.

District officials suspect that many students falsify documents to get into Buena, which is perceived by some to be safer than Ventura High and academically superior.

“We want to attract more students to Ventura High to show it’s a quality school,” Spirito said. “There’s a concern in the community that it’s not up to par with Buena.”

If Ventura becomes a magnet school, parents would be able to send their children to either high school regardless of where they live.

Officials from the district and Ventura High are scheduled to meet this week to discuss preliminary plans for the conversion. Before any changes are made, parents, students and teachers would be asked for their input, Spirito said.

While continuing to teach the basic core curriculum, a magnet school specializes in one program. The type of magnet program Ventura High would offer is still to be determined. Possibilities include a high-tech computer program, a social sciences and history program or a performing arts program, district officials said.

“Ventura High would be ideal for performing arts,” said Diane Harriman, a school board trustee. “It has a stage you could put ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on. The acoustics are wonderful.”

Harriman is an advocate of converting Ventura High into a magnet school, calling it “an excellent idea. If you’re talking about choice (in education), I like the whole concept of a magnet program.”

The district would have to work out a plan to ensure ethnic diversity at Ventura High, Spirito said. But that might not be easy, based on the district’s experience at Mound School.

Opened in 1988 with the district’s first year-round magnet program, the elementary school uses a lottery system to enroll students, but about 93% of its 552 students are white, compared with the district average of 66%.

According to a report presented to the Board of Education last week, the disparity is partly caused by lack of bus service, preventing disadvantaged minority students from attending the school.

If Ventura High becomes a magnet school, “we’ll have to work through the transportation issue,” Spirito said.

The district might also consider “setting minority quotas” at Ventura High, Spirito said.

The magnet idea originated with school board President John Walker, who said “it’s been a twinkle in my eye for two or three years. We have to make high school a lot more exciting for kids.”

Even though test results and other data show Ventura and Buena about even in academics, students are flocking to Buena, causing overcrowding, district officials said.

“To change Ventura High’s image, we have to market something very attractive,” Harriman said. “Maybe a magnet program would do that.”