Back-to-Basics Proposal May Be Redesigned : Ventura: School officials consider using four classrooms instead of converting a building. Concept meets some resistance.

A year after proposing that one Ventura elementary school convert to a back-to-basics format, school officials said Thursday they may scale back the venture by launching it in a set of four empty classrooms at Will Rogers School.

But officials said they would pursue the smaller back-to-basic program only if they fail to find an elementary school where parents and teachers agree to a total conversion. Such a program includes dressing students in uniforms and requiring parents to volunteer.

The district has ruled out some schools as too small and others because they are already overcrowded. And at still other schools, parents are giving less than wholehearted support to converting to a back-to-basics format.

“The biggest glitch is whether a school will go for it,” said parent Brent Gerkens, a member of a subcommittee working on the proposal.

And officials face other hurdles in their quest to start a back-to-basics school--including continuing criticism that any such school would be elitist because it would draw only students from stable, well-to-do families with attentive parents.

The idea to fall back on using a bank of empty classrooms instead of converting an entire school is only one of several changes to emerge in the district’s evolving proposal for the new school.

The back-to-basics subcommittee of school officials, parents and teachers is proposing a school that differs somewhat from the vision initially put forward by Supt. Joseph Spirito.

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Some elements are still the same: Students would wear uniforms. And parents would sign a contract, promising to volunteer at the school and make their children behave and do homework.

But Spirito had proposed last fall that the back-to-basics approach extend into the classroom, offering an alternative for children who learn better in highly structured classrooms. With this classroom approach, teachers may rely mainly on lecturing and drills.

Now, as proposed by the seven-member subcommittee, the back-to-basics school would use pretty much the same curriculum and classroom techniques as any other elementary school in Ventura.

“When we really went through the curriculum, we didn’t see that much difference” between what exists at elementary schools and what is proposed for the new school, Gerkens said.

The change in the proposed curriculum, which must be approved by a full 25-member back-to-basics committee, apparently may fuel criticism that the school would be elitist.

Lincoln School teacher Michael Elman, who sits on the full committee, said the idea of offering an alternative curriculum was one justification for setting up such a school.

He worries, he said, that the school as proposed would attract only students whose parents have both the interest and the time to become more involved in their children’s education.

And these are not the students most in need of help, said Elman, a persistent critic of the back-to-basics concept.

“These are students who have good parental support and a good home environment and they would probably do well in any setting,” Elman said. “Unfortunately these are the students I don’t think we need to concentrate on right now.”

But Spirito and other school officials said they are trying to counter any charges that the new school would be elitist.

The district is determined, Spirito said, that the school draw children of all races and ethnic groups from around the city. To ensure this, he said, the district may offer busing--an option not usually available to children who transfer to a school outside their neighborhood.

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Meanwhile, the options for a location seem to be narrowing.

Subcommittee members said administrators have ruled out the district’s four smallest schools--Arnaz, Lincoln, Oak View and Pierpont--because they want a location that can hold 400 to 500 students. In addition, they said three schools on the east end--Juanamaria, Saticoy and Junipero Serra--are already too crowded to take on additional students.

Officials want the back-to-basics school to be centrally located. But parents at one such school, Poinsettia, have had very mixed reactions to the proposal.

Will Rogers School Principal Jose Montano said his school may be a leading contender for the conversion, if parents agree. Even without strong parental support at Will Rogers, the district may decide to use a bank of four classrooms to launch the new school with children from around the district.

The district plans to survey parents at all schools on the issue later this school year.