Oak Park May Recruit From Other Districts

Faced with static enrollment, officials in the 3,500-student Oak Park Unified School District--one of the top performers in Ventura County--plan to recruit students from outside the district for next fall.

Officials expect about 100 openings in the district’s three elementary schools. Additional spaces at Oak Park High School may also be available, officials said.

Oak Park’s plan is unusual, because districts with high test scores typically struggle to keep students out.

But with the number of new houses dwindling in the eastern end of the county, officials are predicting flat and even declining enrollments starting in two years.

“Without new homes, new families with school-age children don’t move in,” said schools Supt. Marilyn Lippiatt.

Recent projections of only 15 new students enrolling next year prompted district administrators to plan to recruit in the spring, which requires school board approval.

But with state money and annual budgets tied to enrollment, board members are not likely to challenge the staff’s recommendation. If enrollment does not grow, the district would be forced to make cuts in programs and staff, officials say.

At least one school board member said she favors the plan.

“If we can provide choice to people in the community, I don’t see a problem with that,” said board member Cindy Vinson.

State policy requires students to receive permission from their local school officials before transferring to a school outside their district. District officials are granted wide discretion when considering requests, said Sharon Morgan, curriculum consultant for Oak Park Unified.

Officials say the recent opening of a private high school and delays in construction of a new subdivision partly explain slowing enrollment. The district typically enrolls 150 new students a year, but added only 65 in September.

The district lost about 25 students to private Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, which opened in the fall.

And lawsuits and regulatory delays have stalled the 3,050-unit Ahmanson Ranch housing project--within the Oak Park school district--making it difficult to predict when children from those homes will enroll.

“Our dates have changed as their dates have changed,” Lippiatt said.

Even if Ahmanson is built, the district may continue to see elementary school enrollment slide because children in the subdivision would attend new schools in their neighborhood, Lippiatt said.

For example, Brookside Elementary School has 124 fifth-graders this year but is projected to have only 85 next fall. And Red Oak Elementary School has 115 first-graders but is projected for 75 next year.

Instead of recruiting students from specific school districts, officials said they will advertise the district’s high scores on standardized tests, its small size and what Lippiatt calls its “personalized” education program. The district had the highest Stanford 9 scores in the county in 1998. The following year, 70% to 80% of the district’s students scored at or above the national average in reading and math on the test, compared with 50% to 60% of students countywide.

But board member Bob Kahn said it makes more sense to target Thousand Oaks residents, particularly those whose homes are near Oak Park district schools.

Officials in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, which serves Thousand Oaks, say they aren’t worried about an exodus, even though some of their schools are overcrowded.

“It probably would have only a nominal effect,” said Assistant Supt. Gary Mortimer. “I know a person who lives there and sends someone here.”

But Thousand Oaks resident Debbie Gregory said she might consider sending her children to Oak Park schools if the crowding at Conejo interferes with their education.

“[Oak Park] has a wonderful school district and they’ve won much acclaim,” said Gregory, who has a son in elementary school. “Right now, I’m happy here, but I’ll only stay as long as there’s room at the inn.”