Oxnard District Could Revive K-8 Schools

Driven by a desire to boost academic achievement and improve behavior among middle school students, Oxnard educators are considering a pilot program in which teenagers would attend the same school as kindergartners.

Oxnard Elementary School District trustees last week reviewed a study that recommends making at least one school a campus for kindergartners through eighth-graders in a trial program that could lead to other conversions. The panel asked for a more detailed report to review by next month.

The move reflects a growing trend throughout the nation toward reviving the K-8 school, which 50 years ago dominated the public education landscape but now takes a distant back seat to the stand-alone middle school. The change was fueled by population growth in the 1960s as well as educators’ belief at the time that adolescents could be better served on a separate campus.

That opinion, however, is shifting again as many public school districts are realizing the benefits--both in the classroom and on the playground--of children staying in the same school for nine years instead of six or seven.

“It’s been referred to as ‘back to the future,’ ” said Ernie Morrison, principal of Lemonwood School in Oxnard and chairman of a committee that studied the concept. “The K-8 structure was the real approach many years ago when communities were small.”

The committee, a task force made up mostly of parents, recommended implementing the K-8 model at Thurgood Marshall School, a campus scheduled to open in fall 2003.

Board members liked the concept but wanted specifics on cost and other concerns before approving the plan.

Oxnard Supt. Richard Duarte proposed the K-8 idea in February. He said research has shown that students, especially those at the socially vulnerable middle school age, perform better when they feel connected to their school.

But that can be difficult in Oxnard, where middle school students attend a separate campus for only two years and the largest school has nearly 1,200 students. A K-8 school, conversely, would have only about 120 students of middle school age.

“The more years you can have a group of kids with a group of teachers, the better it’s going to be, and K-8 schools have a great feeling of community,” Morrison said. “Working in smaller groups, you are able to get more done.”

Morrison’s committee visited half a dozen K-8 schools around Southern California. Task force members said they were struck by the quiet that marked the campuses and the few number of students seen awaiting discipline in principals’ offices.

Although younger and older students rarely mingle on a K-8 campus--each having separate restrooms, lunch areas and playgrounds--the mere presence of youngsters seemed to encourage teens to act as role models, Morrison said.

Jimmy McAuley, father of two children in Oxnard schools, said he hopes the district will offer the program. As a security guard at Frank Intermediate School, McAuley said he has seen firsthand the fights that can erupt from too many adolescents on one campus.

“In a K-8 school, the older siblings can really look after the younger siblings,” he said. “It’s safer.”

If board members approve the plan, Thurgood Marshall would become one of only a few schools in Ventura County serving children in grades K-8. There are now K-8 schools in Camarillo, Santa Paula and Somis.

But the format, popular among private schools, is more common in public schools elsewhere. The Los Angeles Unified School District has about a dozen K-8 schools, and the Paramount Unified School District, north of Long Beach, recently converted all 14 of its elementary schools to also serve seventh- and eighth-graders. Overcrowding in the district’s two middle schools--as many as 1,600 were enrolled on each campus--prompted the configuration change, said Susan Lance, an assistant superintendent.

“The result has been a wonderful familial atmosphere at each one of the K-8 schools,” she said. “We’ve also seen a significant decrease in the number of crimes.”

While research is inconclusive on which grade groupings are best for maximized learning, a few studies have shown that middle school students in a K-8 model perform better in reading, math and science than those in a traditional two- or three-year intermediate school.

But not all parents in Oxnard like the idea. Diane Pretzer, with one child at Haydock Intermediate School, said putting kindergartners and eighth-graders on the same campus seems to be a logistical nightmare that could take away from the school’s job of educating youngsters.

Pretzer added that she believes middle school is an important steppingstone that builds maturity on the way to high school.