Commitment of Teachers Is Questioned

Members of a district parents’ committee say a majority of Oxnard elementary school teachers show a lack of commitment to students by living outside city limits.

But teachers in the Oxnard Educators Assn. say the assessment is insulting and that they are dedicated to their work, regardless of where they live. Of the district’s 500 teachers, 65% live outside the city, according to the association.

The Parent Advisory Committee broached the subject in a four-page memo to the district’s board of trustees outlining goals for city elementary schools.

The 30-member committee wrote: “Teachers [should] become more involved and committed to their school.

“Since a lot of our teachers do not live locally, there is no sense of commitment to our kids and our communities--we hope they will become more involved in our school and our activities.”

Speaking at a board meeting Wednesday, Ann McCarthy, president of OEA, urged trustees to repudiate the committee’s statement.

“There is simply no data to support this insensitive, ill-informed accusation,” McCarthy told trustees. To follow the committee’s “illogical assumption and apply it to the Oxnard Fire Department, you could conclude that since the vast majority of firefighters do not live in Oxnard, they lack a commitment to saving lives and property.”

Trustees Susan Alvarez, Mary Barreto, Dorothie Sterling and James Suter agreed that the committee’s remarks were out of line. But Trustee Arthur Joe Lopez--whose wife, Susan, is president of the parents’ committee--said he is disturbed by the situation.

“It’s a genuine concern that the parents have and I think the board should look at it,” Lopez said. “Clearly, some teachers are not doing what they should.”

After a lengthy discussion Wednesday night, board members agreed that McCarthy of the teachers’ union should meet with committee President Susan Lopez and Supt. Bernard Korenstein to discuss the issue.

Susan Lopez, who has a child in an Oxnard elementary school, said the committee is not asking teachers to live within the city limits. Parents just want teachers to spend more time with students, she said.

“The committee brainstormed for hours and there was a consensus among parents that many teachers don’t spend enough time at the schools,” Susan Lopez said. “We need more dedicated people who can come here during the weekends, and stay after students go home.”

She said the committee’s comments were based solely on its members’ personal experience, and most members believe that teachers want to leave school early so they can beat traffic.

But McCarthy said that although teachers arrive at school about 7:45 a.m. and leave at 2:15 p.m., many work in numerous after-school programs, and take home work such as grading papers, preparing for class, preparing report cards and even speaking to parents in the evenings.

“We do put in a lot more hours than what is acknowledged,” said McCarthy, who lives in Ojai and has been teaching in the Oxnard School District for nearly 12 years.

In addition, the teachers’ union is expected to negotiate a contract with the district Wednesday, McCarthy said. The issue of how many hours teachers should work is very likely to be discussed during the negotiations, she said.

Many other school districts do not keep track of where teachers live. Officials of the Ventura Unified and Moorpark Unified school districts said the issue is irrelevant to them.

“What is important is the teachers’ credentials, not where they live,” said Ellen Smith, assistant superintendent for personnel at the Moorpark Unified School District. “It’s so irrelevant to us that we don’t have data on where teachers live.”

The board of trustees at the Oxnard School District formed the parent committee last July as part of an effort to increase parental involvement in the schools.

Since then, the board-appointed members have been meeting twice a month to discuss ways to improve education.

“I’m really proud of the teachers at the Oxnard School District,” said Trustee Susan Alvarez. “And I was saddened when I learned about the committee’s comment because it has hurt a lot of people.”