OXNARD : District’s New High School Is Dedicated

With a Goliath-sized pair of scissors gripped in their hands, six school officials snipped a ceremonial red ribbon to mark the dedication of the new Oxnard High School on Saturday.

But the formal ribbon-cutting and speeches soon gave way to the event’s highlight: the inaugural open house and tour.

Scores of parents, students and community members flooded through the campus gate and soon filled the expansive quad area, streaming in all directions to view the school’s 11 sandstone and rust-colored buildings.

They marveled over the cavernous performing arts center, which will house theater and music productions, band instruction and more.

They delighted at the library--complete with a wooden cathedral ceiling and lighting that automatically adjusts to outdoor sunlight.

“At the other campus everything was so squished together,” said Vanessa Stowers, 16, who will be a junior next fall. The old campus on 5th Street was moved because of the danger of being in the flight path of Oxnard Airport.

“I am so excited,” said Danielle Manalo, 16, who will also return as a junior. “School pride will definitely be boosted.”

As parents strolled across the $53-million campus--totaling 52 acres, including athletic fields--they recalled their own high school experiences.

“I’m in awe, it’s so huge,” said Norma Rees, whose daughter Katie Rees, a sophomore, plays French horn for the school band. “My school never looked like this. This is something for [the students] to look up to and say, ‘This is for us.’ ”

Even the public officials there to dedicate the facility were impressed.

“What we have now is comparable to many college campuses throughout the country,” said Assemblyman Nao Takasugi, a former Oxnard mayor and Oxnard High graduate.

The 10 a.m. dedication ceremony included speeches by Takasugi (R-Oxnard), Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Bill Studt and school board President Jean Daily-Underwood. Representatives from the offices of state Sens. Cathy Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) and Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) were also on hand.

From the elevated rostrum, Studt praised the community and school officials for their dogged persistence in guiding the school to fruition, and Daily-Underwood proclaimed the “students are the real winners.”