District May Hire Outsider to Publicize Bond Measure

Trustees of the Oxnard School District have scheduled a special session Monday to discuss whether to hire someone to help get the word out on Measure J, a $57-million bond measure set to go before voters in the district during a special election March 4.

If approved by two-thirds of the voters, the money would be used to build two elementary schools in the next seven to 10 years, according to Susan J. Herrera, assistant superintendent for business and fiscal services.

In addition, bond proceeds would be used to refurbish existing school facilities, and pay for computer and other technology improvements throughout the 14,200-student district.

On Friday, the five-member Board of Trustees decided to discuss hiring someone outside the district to present impartial information to the public, according to Herrera. “Currently, fiscal information as it relates to the needs of the district has been coming out of my office,” she said.

“I think the board considered hiring someone else just because of the inordinate job of doing this on top of everything else,” she said.

Herrera said that she does not consider the board’s proposal to seek outside help as a challenge to her ability or that of her office.

The board has not considered a specific person for the job, and there has been no mention of how much the position will pay.

For as long as she can remember, the district has experienced 2% to 3% growth per year, said Herrera. The last time voters in the K-8 district approved a bond measure was in 1988, when $40 million in general obligation bonds were issued to build two elementary schools--Emilie Ritchen and Norman R. Brekke, which opens this summer--and Robert J. Frank Intermediate School and Nueva Vista Opportunity School.

Some of the money was also used to refurbish a kindergarten and classroom wing at Rose Avenue School, said Herrera.

Steve Buratti, chairman of the Inter-Neighborhood Council Committee of Oxnard, said residents he has spoken with seem to support Measure J.

“I am swayed in favor of the measure by the fact of my profession as a teacher,” said Buratti, a special-education instructor at Fillmore Junior High School in Fillmore.

“The people don’t have too much of a problem spending money if it’s going to have tangible results. And that’s what this is going to do,” he said.

The meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the boardroom of the district office at 1051 South A St., Oxnard.