Frustrations mount on both sides of unification

With the election less than a month away, emotions ran high regarding Measure U—the ballot initiative for unification—during Oxnard Union High School District's board meeting at Adolfo Camarillo High School last week.

Dozens attended the Oct. 8 meeting. OUHSD critics voiced their frustration that the board continues to fight against the local district's bid to unify, while others spoke against unification.

If passed Nov. 4, Measure U would create the Camarillo Unified School District by taking more than 3,000 Camarillo and Somis high school students out of Oxnard Union and merging them with kindergarten-through-eighth-grade students from the Pleasant Valley School District. Camarillo High would become part of the new unified school district.

Parent Cami Pinsak said she was once a supporter of unification but learned more about the issues and changed her mind. She opposes Measure U because she doesn't want her daughter treated like a "guinea pig" by the unified school district and forced to attend an overcrowded Camarillo High or a makeshift high school on the campus of a former middle school.

Teacher Pascual Campos said he plans to stay with Oxnard Union should Measure U pass but wondered what will become of the English language learners he teaches at Camarillo High.

"I'm really, really, really concerned," Campos said.

Students from Rio Mesa High said they were concerned that Advanced Placement classes, the International Baccalaureate and other programs could be jeopardized if Measure U passes and Oxnard Union lays off teachers. About 800 Camarillo and Somis students attend Oxnard Union's Rio Mesa High.

Sandra Berg, a Pleasant Valley trustee and longtime unification advocate, told the board it showed a lack of religious sensitivity holding the meeting on Yom Kippur. She then said the board was "deceitful" in mailing out a "No on Measure U" flier that claims the high school district will lose $22 million if Measure U passes, even though its expenses will decrease by the same amount.

"Your integrity is at stake here," Berg said.

Measure U proponents concede the high school district will lose millions in state funding, what's called ADA or Average Daily Attendance, but say the money isn't lost; it will follow the students to the unified school district.

"It's a phony issue," Bill Little said on Monday. "It's an attempt to twist it to make it sound like the money disappears, and the money doesn't disappear."

The labor union Oxnard Federation of Teachers and School Employees sent out the recent flier. President Jim Rose said his calculations show the high school district stands to lose $22.75 million annually if 3,500 Camarillo and Somis students leave the district.

It's true that the ADA will follow the students if Measure U passes, but the amount will be less than the $22.75 million, or $6,500 per student per year, the state now pays Oxnard Union, Rose said. The state pays high school districts the highest ADA amount and the lowest to elementary/middle school districts. Unified school districts are paid somewhere in between.

In addition, Oxnard Union expenses will not be reduced in proportion to the loss of students, Rose said.

Standing outside the board meeting, Camarillo High teachers Susan Thee and Michaeltore Smith talked about what's in store for students should a unified school district form.

"It's going to take them three years to get this school back to where it is right now," said Thee, a science teacher at Camarillo High for the past 10 years. "Our school has worked so hard to get where we are today."

As with any startup business, the unified school district will have to hire scores of new employees, many of them rookie teachers, and all of them will need time to learn all the state rules and polices that govern high schools, said Thee, who's been a principal of elementary and high schools in her 32 years as an educator.

"Eventually it will be a good school district, but what's it going to cost?" she said. "It's going to be tough; it's going to be tough for everybody."

Smith, a first-year teacher at Camarillo High who also coaches girls' basketball, said he and other teachers are likely to be laid off if Measure U passes. "The immediate impact of unification is going to be mind-blowing," he said.