Superintendent defends district's treatment of Camarillo high schools
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Jody Dunlap, superintendent of the Oxnard Union High School District, refuted the notion earlier this week that the district treats Rio Mesa or Adolfo Camarillo high schools unfairly.

Dunlap was speaking to the Camarillo Noontime Optimist Club on Monday when an audience member- referring to the popular catchphrase that Oxnard treats Camarillo schools as stepchildren- asked what the district is doing to ensure equitable treatment.

"I just have a hard time when I hear 'stepchild,'" Dunlap said. "If you tell me there's something missing at Camarillo (high school), tell me, and I'll get it.

"It needs to get out of everybody's vocabulary," she said.

Dunlap pointed to the many advanced placement and honors classes intact at Adolfo Camarillo High and the increase last year in the number of college prep classes offered as proof the district isn't ignoring the school.

Dunlap also said she constantly asks Principal Glenn Lipman if the school needs anything and is a frequent visitor to the high school campus.

The district has also made aesthetic improvements to the school, and plans to offer more academic and specialized programs, such as an International Baccalaureate program and robotic science academy, at Rio Mesa High, she said.

"The board has been adamant that those changes take place," Dunlap said.

To help students prepare for a future where most will work in as many as six different fields in their lifetime, the district is focused on teaching them reasoning, analytical and practical skills, she said. To that end, the district is working to offer industrial arts classes, such as cabinet making and auto repair, and keeping up-to-date with technology- a difficult challenge facing the district, Dunlap told the service group of about 60 members.

The district added 700 new computers last spring and received additional money to split between hardware and software upgrades. The district would have been better served, however, if it was allowed to spend more of the money on new hardware since some of the older computers have 12-year-old operating systems which don't support the latest education software, Dunlap said.

Another hurdle that is likely to hurt enrollment and the district's ability to recruit teachers is the high cost of housing, she said. Although the district is staffed at 98 percent and enrollment remains steady at 16,000, some families are moving away to more affordable housing in the state's Central Valley and teachers fresh out of college are going back home to live with their families, she said.

"It's one of the fallouts to rising real estate," Dunlap said.

After the meeting, Janna Visser, a 20-year member of the club, said that even though she doesn't have children in high school, she was impressed with Dunlap's commitment to students.

"She sounds like she's really doing everything in her power to give students everything they need," Visser said. "I have a good feeling about what she's trying to accomplish."

The Camarillo Noontime Optimist Club is part of a national volunteer service group whose goal is to help youth by sponsoring and coordination programs and scholarships. The local club meets every Monday at noontime at Round Table Pizza on Arneill Road.