For Schools, It's a Year of More

By REGINA HONG and JENNIFER HAMM

Aug. 31, 1998 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The code word for the new school year in Ventura County is: more.

More students than ever. More classroom days. More stringent graduation standards. And more money from the state to make it all happen.

Responding to a statewide push for higher achievement, Ventura County’s school districts are working to offer harder classes for high school students and smaller classes for freshmen.

Spanish-speaking students will receive more instruction in English, and all students will see more computers in the classrooms.

Unlike the recession years, when administrators spent the beginning of the school year trying to figure out whom to lay off or what programs to cut, school officials are now scrambling to qualify for state money made available in a record-breaking $30-billion education budget.

“Every one of these things where money is being put into pockets is an indicator of something to help achievement,” said county schools Supt. Charles Weis. “They all affect achievement, so if you invest in these things, every one of these things can make a difference.”

The start of the school year for county students from Ventura to Thousand Oaks has been staggered over three weeks--with five districts already teaching, 10 districts starting this week and another five after Labor Day.

When the last group of students arrives on campus after Labor Day, enrollment is expected to be 3% higher than last year’s 130,954.

And many will be in the classroom longer, under a state initiative adding more instructional days.

In the state budget, Gov. Pete Wilson agreed to provide money to increase instructional days to 180. The statewide average is 175 1/2, with other days used mainly for teacher training. Some school districts, including Ventura Unified, don’t expect to meet the goal this school year.

Conejo Valley Unified School District, on the other hand, does plan to have 180 days of classroom instruction.

“We’ve talked quite a long time about extending the school year,” said Supt. Jerry Gross. The district is pleased to see the state go in this direction, he said.

Other districts, such as Moorpark, Simi Valley and Oak Park, said they will still use a day or two for teacher training.

The state budget also provides $44.4 million to reduce the size of ninth-grade classes, starting in January.

However, local administrators are assessing whether they have enough space and personnel to to handle smaller classes.

Both the Ojai and Ventura Unified school districts are preparing for the possibility of reducing class sizes in ninth-grade math courses.

“We’re hearing that we may not be fully reimbursed, but we’re still going to go ahead with math,” said Ventura Supt. Joseph Spirito. “We feel that it will be hard to tell this community that that’s not important, so we will be willing to put out the money for it.”

Conejo Valley is also looking at ways to accomplish the goal.

In Oxnard, however, the lack of space and buildings may pose a problem. The Oxnard Union High School School District is already planning a new campus to relieve overcrowding. The plan was to open the school in August 2000, but with delays from the state to review architectural plans, the opening date has been pushed to 2001.

“We’re overcrowded, and with the new bill, we don’t know if we’ll have the classroom space in order to do that, so we’re looking at it closely,” said Oxnard Supt. Bill Studt.

At the primary grade levels, school districts plan to continue lowering class size to 20 students for kindergarten through third grade. Last year more than 31,000 county students were in smaller classes.

In addition to money for class size reduction, the state has earmarked $230 million to purchase new library and science materials for schools and $250 million for new textbooks.

County educators said it’s good to see education receiving more money from the state, but added they are disappointed that it is increasingly limited to certain categories. In 1989, restricted money was about 24 cents for every dollar. The figure has increased to 32 cents this year, Weis said.

“Rather than allowing the local district to decide where best to use the 32 cents on every dollar, we’re being told by Sacramento how to spend it,” Weis said.

That means schools have to spend more time and money on application and administration fees when they could have used their energies elsewhere, he added.

One change ordered by the voters, not the Legislature, is the elimination of bilingual education, required with the passage of Proposition 227 in June.

Although many county educators opposed the measure, only two districts have sought waivers--Oxnard and Hueneme elementary districts. And both are asking for only a one-year delay while they prepare a new curriculum.

Proposition 227 was “the will of the people’s vote,” Ventura’s Spirito said. “We will implement it. No chicanery. No gimmicks.”

Most districts plan to teach classes in English, using Spanish only when necessary. By law, parents can request their child be placed in a bilingual or mainstream class after 30 days in the new program.

With some exceptions, students in bilingual classes are supposed to go to mainstream English classes after one year.

Beyond the state initiatives, school districts are trying new approaches to improve student performance.

In districts that typically perform poorly on standardized tests--particularly Santa Paula, Fillmore and Oxnard--educators have to do more to make up for socioeconomic disparities: greater numbers of poorer students, fewer students with parents who have college educations and more students who speak English as a second language.

“It’s our job to overcome that,” said Fillmore Unified School District Supt. Mario Contini. “If our kids aren’t on an even playing field, we can’t go on and say, ‘That’s the way it is.’ We have to get them there.”

As part of the move to improve academic standards, this year’s freshmen will be the first in Fillmore’s history to need a 2.0 cumulative high school grade-point average to graduate.

It’s a message to everyone, said Contini, “that going to school is a serious business and graduating through school with a D average is not sufficient to claim they’ve had a high-quality education.”

In the Oxnard high school district, incoming freshmen who tested at least two grades below their level in standardized tests for the language arts were required to attend summer school to get help in areas such as reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling and grammar.

About 500 attended this summer.

“The whole intent is to get these kids off to a good start,” Studt said. “When they start two grade levels behind, they really struggle.”

And at Santa Paula Union High School, administrators are continuing a program begun last year that eliminated all the easier standard-level classes in favor of college prep.

This year they have also added two more advanced placement English courses, which would give students college credit if they score well on the tests.

In the area of technology, schools across the county are still busy wiring their classes for the Internet, trying to better prepare teachers to use the technology in their classrooms and offering more computer courses for students.

In the Conejo Valley and Oak Park unified districts, all classrooms are being wired.

At Oak Park campuses, teachers plan to create home pages on the Web for their classes. Homework schedules and examples of outstanding work may be among the postings, said the district’s Supt. Marilyn Lippiatt.

Joyce Mahdesian, Simi Valley Unified School District’s new superintendent, plans to take her new position Oct. 1. High on her list of priorities is to push for improved technology. While superintendent of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, Mahdesian was responsible for getting all the schools wired for the Internet.

Many schools have also been working to make teachers more comfortable with the new technology. In Ojai Unified, a number of teachers attended a day-tech institute during the summer to learn to integrate computers into their lesson plans.

Conejo Valley Unified, as with many other county districts, is trying to add more technology into its vocational education classes. For the first time, students this year will have the chance to take a media production class that will include instruction in making CDs and writing software.

“I think probably what’s happening is a lot of the classes have been updated,” said Chuck Eklund, the district’s director of secondary education. For example, what was once drafting has become computer-assisted drafting, Eklund said.

Moorpark Unified School District has also added classes to train students to repair computers and to become systems engineers.

“I think there are things kids can do without a great deal of experience with computers,” Contini said. “But I do think they need to have a pretty intimate relationship with technology.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Opening Dates for Ventura County School Districts

District: Briggs

Starting Date: Today

District: Conejo Valley Unified

Starting Date: Wednesday

District: Fillmore Unified

Starting Date: July 30

District: Hueneme

Starting Date: Aug. 25

District: Mesa Union

Starting Date: Aug. 24