Plan Cuts Number of Students Facing Transfer to Ventura High

Balboa Middle School students and incoming juniors at Buena High School will be spared a move to cross-town schools, according to a scaled-down plan unveiled Tuesday night to relieve overcrowding at those schools.

The new plan would require about 185 incoming freshmen and sophomores from three east Ventura neighborhoods to attend Ventura High, and was drafted after parents and students attacked an initial proposal that would have shifted as many as 460 middle school and high school students across town.

The Ventura Unified School District board of trustees was still considering the plan late Tuesday night.

“The input from the community was taken very seriously,” Supt. Joseph Spirito said. “I feel this is a fair and adequate solution to the overcrowded conditions at Buena.”

The new plan, like the original one, allows Buena’s incoming seniors to finish their education at that school. But in crafting the new plan, district officials heeded arguments in favor of making the same exception for incoming juniors.

Critics of the original plan said sending incoming juniors, who had already invested two years developing friendships and participating in extracurricular activities at Buena, would be too disruptive.

The plan drew mixed reactions from parents and students.

“I am happy that some compromises have been made,” said Arlene Morelli, who has spearheaded opposition to the original proposal. “However, I don’t know that it meets the needs of everyone. I don’t think it is the best solution.”

Other parents were clearly displeased by the new proposal.

“I’m very dissatisfied with the superintendent’s recommendations,” parent Paul Rodriguez told the board Tuesday night. “You go home with me and tell my child they have to be bused to a school they don’t want to go to.”

School officials also backed down from shifting any middle school students from Balboa to Cabrillo.

While Balboa has nearly 50% more students than Cabrillo Middle School, district officials chose to let stand that disparity rather than face the ire of middle school students and their parents. Despite the gap in enrollment, Balboa is not at capacity--a point that was made repeatedly by parents opposed to the original plan.

The plan will also rescind a rule that currently allows siblings of Buena students to enroll at Buena. Many parents objected to that measure and pleaded with the board not to split up families.

“The issue I’m trying to address is to keep families together,” said Susan Loughman. “I can’t believe I have to beg for my kids to go to the same school.”

Faced with overcrowding at Buena High, school officials last fall put together a 20-member committee of teachers, principals and administrators to address safety and quality of education concerns.

Due to an unexpected rise in enrollment, Buena, which has a capacity for 2,187 students, is expected to top 2,400 students next year if no changes are made.

Ventura High Principal Henry Robertson said the district could lose a handful of students as some Buena athletes may refuse to attend rival Ventura High and choose to enroll in private schools instead.

But Robertson said he expects that number to be small as Buena athletes will be welcomed at his school.

Under the revised plan, Buena students would be reassigned to Ventura High from the same three areas that were considered in the original plan: 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 Buenaventura Mall.

The plan is seen as a stop-gap measure that would alleviate overcrowding at Buena for three to four years.

If the plan is approved, district officials are expected in March to begin studying long-term proposals, which may include building a new high school in east Ventura.