Joint Session to Discuss Future Schools

Hoping to avoid a repeat of the controversy that has surrounded the Juan Soria School site, City Council and school board members will hold a rare joint session tonight to map out where future campuses should be built.

The new approach illustrates the growing awareness by school officials that they need to enlist community support early as they attempt to build schools quickly enough to meet an exploding student population.

During tonight’s meeting at the City Council chambers, the public will hear presentations by a school district administrator, a representative from the state Board of Education and a member of a community committee. Members of the public will also be able to make comments.

“I’m sure that this will not be the end of it,” Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said of the brouhaha over where to put Oxnard’s newest elementary school. “But at least [the community] will be a little better informed, and we will be better prepared to provide suggestions and decide where to go from here.”

School board President Dorothie Sterling said she is optimistic that the meeting will help foster collaboration between the city and school district, but is skeptical about gaining the public’s support for constructing campuses on agricultural land.

“I think it will help the two boards, but I don’t think it will help fend off those who disagree,” she said. “I think they will continue to fight. But we don’t have anywhere else to build but farmland.”

For the past three years, the Oxnard Elementary School District has faced ardent opposition to the Soria school, planned for a 14-acre sod field just east of the city. Most farmers want to preserve farmland, while environmentalists fear the affect of nearby pesticide spraying.

School district administrators argue that there is tremendous demand for campuses and that they must pursue every possible option.

District officials say they need to open three elementary schools and one middle school in the next five years to meet the district’s growth needs.

Last fall, the Local Agency Formation Commission refused to allow annexation of the land to the city. But in December, the city agreed to provide water, sewer and public safety services to the property. Now LAFCO is suing both the city and school district to block construction of the campus.

Meanwhile, the school district is moving forward with its plans. Administrators are negotiating with property owners to buy the land at the east end of Emerson Avenue. The state has already given its preliminary approval for the site and is expected to give the formal go-ahead within a few weeks.

“It’s quite frankly a first-rate site,” George Shaw, a consultant with the California Department of Education, said Monday.

County Supervisor John K. Flynn said he plans to do everything he can to prevent the project from happening. He met at the district offices Monday with several county leaders, including school Supt. Richard Duarte, county farm bureau President Rex Laird and agricultural commissioner Earl McPhail.

Flynn expressed concerns about the cost of the property and suggested that the district build smaller schools within the city boundaries. The school would house up to 1,000 students.

“It’s not over till it’s over,” Flynn said. “I think the district needs to reconsider its decision.”