Ventura Parents, Students Warn Rerouting Plan Would Disrupt Lives

Opposition to a proposal that would shift hundreds of eastern Ventura students across town to Ventura High and Cabrillo Middle schools reached new heights as parents and students circulated petitions and told school board members how the proposed changes would disrupt their education.

The meeting of the Ventura Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday night drew about 250 angry parents and students who pleaded with the board to find another way to ease overcrowding at east end schools.

“High school and junior highs are secondary parents to our children, and changing the boundaries is tantamount to a divorce,” said Keith Wintermute, who has two children at Buena High and one from Balboa Middle School. All three would be bused to west side schools under the proposal.

“No parents were involved in the discussion, and the result doesn’t reflect the concerns parents have,” Wintermute said.

Students, too, expressed their unhappiness with the plan unveiled last Thursday.

“This is my first year at Balboa,” said Jennifer Lao, a seventh-grader and honor roll student. “It was hard for me to make friends. It’s not fair to make me move over to Cabrillo and start all over again.

“It’s really emotional and hard,” she told the board. “Put yourselves in our shoes.”

A Buena High sophomore, Joel Levin, collected more than 150 signatures from his fellow students in two days.

“If the transfer goes through there will be negative ramifications not only on a social level but in our studies as well,” he said. Even those upset about the plan agreed something had to be done to ease overcrowding at Balboa Middle and Buena High schools.

“I understand the need for it,” said Cheryl Baldwin, who lives in one of the affected hillside communities and has two sons who would be transferred from Buena to Ventura High. “But the method they are using is not appropriate.”

Baldwin said moving ninth-graders before they start their high school education was preferable to moving sophomores and juniors.

“There are a lot of kids who have been very active and are leaders in student organizations,” Baldwin said. “In a new school they’ll be at the bottom of the totem pole.” The move would severely affect their college admissions, she added.

Many parents acknowledged that some kind of move was inevitable but presented reasons why their children should be spared the disruption.

Parents in one residential tract--bounded by Telegraph and Foothill roads and Tyler and Petit avenues--said 85% of the homes in that area are new and most of the kids have had to change schools in the past two or three years.

“We recommend that you eliminate [the area] from the move,” said Arlene Morelli, who brought 150 signatures opposing the plan. “The majority of students have recently been uprooted. The parents purchased their homes based on existing school boundaries and asking these children to move again can cause serious disruption.”

Morelli also argued that students who are within walking distance of east side schools should be allowed to remain at their school, while those farther east would be bused anyway and, thus, less affected by a move to the west end.

“It’s difficult to understand the busing of children who are within walking distance of Balboa,” she said.

Other parents pitched the idea of returning to the junior high system, which would take ninth-graders out of the high schools and put sixth-graders back in elementary schools. That way, they argued, the overcrowding would be spread across 17 elementary schools.

The current plan does not adjust boundaries for the lower grades.

Bob Maxwell, who lives in a hillside community affected by the proposal, took on the proposal itself, putting forth 19 questions about the way the plan was prepared.

He questioned whether planners took into account the new developments planned for western Ventura and what impact they would have on Ventura High. And whether the committee that drew up the plan had conflicts of interest. Only one of 20 committee members lives in an area affected by the proposal, he said.

Such remarks drew a strong response from Ventura schools Supt. Joseph Spirito.

“I find it very disconcerting when people who disagree need to attack the integrity of my committee and I apologize to them,” Spirito said.

The plan under consideration was drawn up over three months by a “growth committee” put together by Spirito. It included school principals, teachers and administrators.

Many parents hadn’t seen the details of the plan before Tuesday night and criticized the board for not involving parents in the growth committee.

Spirito acknowledged the concerns of students and parents. As an educator, he said, he understands the disruption the plan would cause.

But he added that overcrowding at Buena and other schools was also disrupting education.

Board members commended the growth committee for what they called a well thought-out proposal, but said they expect the plan will be amended before it comes up for a vote Feb. 27.

“This will allow the district to fine-tune its proposal,” said board President Cliff Rodrigues.

Under the proposed plan, students from the following three areas would be moved from Buena to Ventura High: the hillside communities of Skyline, Clearpoint, Ondulando and Hidden Valley; residential tracts between Foothill and Telegraph roads bounded by Tyler and Petit avenues; and a neighborhood south of Ventura College and east of the Buenaventura Mall.

Middle schools students living in the tracts between Foothill and Telegraph roads would also be shifted from Balboa to Cabrillo Middle School.

Another public hearing on the issue will take place Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Ventura High School Auditorium.