Trustees OK Reshuffling of Students in Oxnard : Education: District says boundaries for Fremont and Frank schools will minimize impact on most youths.

After spending five years and $16 million, Oxnard school officials prepared to open the new Robert J. Frank Intermediate School by approving a major reshuffling of the district’s 2,600 middle-school students.

The Oxnard Elementary District’s trustees unanimously approved new boundaries Wednesday night that will divide students in grades seven and eight between Fremont School and the new Frank school.

The step followed months of debate and discussion about the attendance boundaries for Frank, in northeast Oxnard. The uncertainty was compounded by a decision last month to close the 40-year-old Haydock School for major repairs.

School officials said the new lines will minimize the impact on most of Oxnard’s middle-school students.

“Our goal was to redistribute the children without slicing up their neighborhoods,” said Sandra Herrera, assistant superintendent. “We also wanted to make sure that those kids who live within walking distance of a school would not have to ride a bus.”

Under the the new boundaries, students living north of Wooley Road and east of Oxnard Boulevard will go to Frank. Students living south of Wooley Road between Escalon Drive and Oxnard Boulevard also will go to Frank.

All other students will go to Fremont, unless they live within walking distance of Frank.

“Figuring how to get the students from Haydock to fit into the new setup was complicated, but in the end I think it works out real well,” trustee James Suter said. “We’ve been working on it for a long time, and I’m really glad it’s finally resolved.”

The decision marks not only the end of a logistical nightmare, officials said, but the final leg toward opening the $16-million Frank School.

After five years, the 1,600-student school located on New Colonia Road between McKinley and Juanita avenues will be set for its August, 1994, opening.

“It’s a step that we’ve all been working toward,” Herrera said. “Now we are able to run attendance figures that will allow us to fill the school with teachers and equipment.”

“It will be a magnificent school,” said Ron Weinert, who oversaw the construction. “Given the state of the economy, it certainly is a great accomplishment.”

Residents of La Colonia, where the school is located, said they were pleased with the progress the district has made.

“The kids will finally have a school that they can walk to and that they can claim as their own,” said Carlos Aguilera, president of La Colonia Neighborhood Council.

“I think in a neighborhood like this, any new facility is a welcome addition. We plan to take pride in this school, and we will nurture it, take care of it, and participate in it,” said Aguilera, whose son will attend the new school.

District officials said they wanted to assure families in La Colonia that the school’s operation will not be disrupted when Haydock reopens.

“Three to four years from now we’ll have to redraw the boundaries all over again,” Suter said. “But we want to be sure that the kids from the neighborhood around Frank will stay put.

“Frank is going to be that community’s school,” he said.