Native American Group Will Meet

A Ventura County group devoted to helping students of Native American descent succeed in school will hold a public hearing Tuesday for interested parents and community residents.

The hearing, which will be held at 7 p.m. at Sequoia Intermediate School in Newbury Park, will give parents an opportunity to learn more about the Ventura County Indian Education Consortium and to make suggestions for improving the group’s programs.

Founded in 1974, the consortium is a partnership among seven school districts that have the largest populations of Native American students in Ventura County: Conejo Valley Unified, Hueneme Elementary, Fillmore Unified, Oxnard Elementary, Oxnard Union High, Simi Valley Unified and Ventura Unified.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the program serves about 800 children in kindergarten through 12th grade in the consortium’s seven districts.

This year the education program received a $103,000 federal grant.

Part of the consortium’s mission is to teach Native American children about their heritage by holding special school programs on tribal culture and customs.

But the group’s main goal is to ensure that students enrolled in the program succeed in school, said Floyd O. Beller, the consortium’s coordinator.

“Our main goal is to see all of our kids graduate from high school,” he said.

To this end, the group offers tutoring in various subjects to children of all ages and provides personal and academic counseling to high school students.

For more information on the consortium or the public hearing, call Beller at the Ventura Unified School District office, 641-5000.