Moorpark School Boundaries to Stay to Stay

A majority of school trustees has agreed to leave elementary attendance boundaries alone--for now--and to turn the new Walnut Canyon School into the district’s first magnet campus.

With a 3-1 vote Tuesday, board members backed off from a proposal to bus more students to improve the district’s ethnic boundaries. Instead they agreed to reexamine the issue next year, hoping enough students from all backgrounds will attend the new school to help the district balance student ethnicities at all campuses.

Walnut Canyon School will be open to all students in September. This has eased the fears of some residents, who were worried their children would be forced to leave their neighborhood elementary campuses of Mountain Meadows and Arroyo West.

Trustee Clint Harper, while agreeing with the idea of a magnet school, voted against the proposal. Walnut Canyon needs a stronger program to draw enough students to succeed, he said.

“I’m not convinced there’s enough to attract the cross-section of parents we’re trying to attract,” said Harper, who said the program may need further changes. “Having said that, I hope I’m wrong on the vote.”

Other board members, however, were more optimistic.

“I’m very, very pleased with what’s happening,” said trustee Tom Baldwin, who said he has been interested in a magnet school since he was elected in 1987. Baldwin had to leave before the board voted on the matter.

After examining the results of a recent survey to gauge parent interest in the new school, trustee David Pollock expressed confidence in the new program.

“Even if only 23% [of those who expressed interest] actually apply, we would still fill the school,” said Pollock. The new campus, with 15 rooms, will take 360 students the first year and can expand with portable classrooms to 600 students in the future.

Trustees have decided to take a separate vote, possibly at their next meeting, to settle details of the school’s programs.

So far the district staff envisions a school serving students from kindergarten to fifth grade, with additional programs offering dance, music, computer studies and foreign languages.

Parents would pay extra for programs outside of regular school hours. The district estimates it will need about $367,000 to cover the extra costs.

The fees, however, could be reduced if the administrative costs are lowered or if the district can secure money from outside sources, school officials said.

Harper worried, though, that the price tag could be a considerable barrier.

Pollock and trustee Greg Barker have suggested the district make sure there is a good mix of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This, they say, may be just as or more important than ethnicity.