Program for Gifted Students Proposed

Bright Ojai students could begin attending classes at a special magnet school for the gifted by next fall.

A group called the Parents Alliance for Magnet Education has proposed a voluntary program in which students in the top 12% of their class would attend full-time classes at a special school site.

“We proposed a pilot program with a combined third and fourth, and fifth and sixth grades,” said Chris Westphal, a member of the alliance.

Gifted students from throughout the Ojai Unified School District would converge onto a single school where two classrooms would be dedicated to the program, Westphal said. “It only requires training two teachers and setting aside a couple of classrooms at one campus.”

Currently, nearly 100 students in third through sixth grades who qualify for the district’s gifted and talented education program are pulled out of regular classes and work on advanced projects with specially trained teachers, Assistant Supt. Pam Martens said.

But concerned that private schools are taking away some of the brightest local students, the parents’ alliance wants a more intensive program for top students.

Responding to the group’s request for a review of gifted programs, administrators set up a task force that includes parents, teachers, community members, school administrators and school board members.

The parents’ alliance proposed program is one of many options the task force will discuss at a 3 p.m. meeting today at the district office, 414 E. Ojai Ave.