It is sad to see so much omney being wasted at a time of budget cuts.  There is no more music program in the schools, the cost of school lunches is now at $3.50, they sliced the GATE program up, no more school buses to get the kids to school and so forth.  Hmmmmmmm, do you think over a million spent would have saved all those programs?

Do the supporters of Measure U honestly believe that PVSD can effectively manage a high school when their own k-8 schools are so poorly managed?  The majority of teachers at Camarillo HS will stay with Oxnard Union HS District and leave Camarillo HS if Measure U passes.  There is already a shortage of well-qualified, experienced teachers and unification will only add to that shortage, especially for PVSD. 

PVSD's tunnel vision about unification is impacting students as we speak.  They are dumping thousands of dollars (taxpayer dollars) to support the measure, yet their students are the true victims because they are losing out on money that could very well be spent on preserving or expanding programs.  I'm definitely going to VOTE NO on Measure U!!

The students from PVSD are the ones getting the short end of the stick.  OUHSD has spent far less than the group(s) supporting U.  With the closures of some of PVSD's schools, they have already demonstrated that they are financially strapped and the money poured into supporting U could have easily been used to fund programs in need.

The Camarillo area homeowners who support this measure will definitely see an increase in property tax.  Those who purchased homes many years ago will not see much of an actual increase, but those who purchased homes more recently will definitely feel it.  Since the increase will be a standard percentage for all, for example, 3%, those who paid $500,000 for a home will end up paying so much more in tax than someone who purchased a home many years ago for $200,000.

The supporters of U are also misinformed about the distribution of funds from Oxnard Union.  They seem to believe that they do not receive a fair share of the funds that the district receives.  The district receives a collective amount for all the schools and distributes it according to student enrollment and needs, such as program funding, extra-curricular funding, etc.  The district does not view Camarillo HS as "their only hs in Camarillo," but all the schools in the district as their schools and funds are distributed equally.

If the supports of U were able to see the big picture and the long-term benefits of this measure, they would definitely Vote No on Measure U!

How can the PVSD Board expect the people of Camarillo to stand behind them when they have done such a bad job of taking care of their K-8 Schools. Yes some test scores are high but the question remains, what would our k-8 scores look like if our Board was actually concerned about educating insted of Unification.

Bob Taylor

Test scores are just test scores, but they do not indicate how well a school district is run.  Test scores can be influenced by the educational background of the parents of a student.  Students who come from families in which the parents are educated may value education more than a student whose parents are not as hight educated.

PVSD should be spending more money on finding a solution to fix their existing schools.  Put this issue to rest once and for all by voting No on Measure U!! 

I include the "K" because I am not the other Janet. Although we do stand on the same side of the fence. Michelle made a good point about programs decreasing when we were promised school closure would infact increase programs. When Josh started Gate not that many years ago he went everyweek. So sad to see the decrease. Anyways, I went to the information meeting last Tuesday at City Hall and I can say I was upset when PVSD stated," that they had there mandatory 3% in reserve and an EXTRA $800,000.00"! A teacher behind me said, "then why aren't they giving it to there teachers?". I say, "good point, and why aren't they giving it to there programs?" Nellie came home from school the other day and said she needed $ to go on a field trip. The Skirball museum is supplying the buses and parents are paying admission. I just don't get it.

It was also stated at that meeting that the rumor about the kids losing the Honors/AP/IB program at Rio Mesa is simply untrue!! Yeah, OK Rio Mesa won't lose there program, but our kids won't be there anymore. DA, OUR KIDS WILL lose the programs when we lose the school.

There was a man up there with a long slide show of pictures of other high schools, going on and on. You could build like this, you could build like that, you can have this program or that. Oh our possibilies are endless. But where is the $$$ to build this or that? How long would something like that take? What would happen to our kids in the mean time? I guess these things don't matter when we are fantisizing.

They stated that the Ventura County Board of Education would act as an Interm Supurintentant for the first 6 months if we unified. The man was asked," in your experience with Unification what would be the steps you would take. The man chuckled and stated,"well, the last district to unify was Moorpark and it was probably before most of you were born, chuckle, chuckle." I didn't find that funny at all. As a parent sitting there what I saw was, NO PLAN and LEADERSHIP WITHOUT EXPERIENCE. I have seen it in the paper where an elementry school teacher said,"there will be growing pains". I don't think I want MY kid to be the sacrifical lamb. All our kids have so much to lose no matter what side of town your on.

I include the "K" because I am not the other Janet. Although we do stand on the same side of the fence. Michelle made a good point about programs decreasing when we were promised school closure would infact increase programs. When Josh started Gate not that many years ago he went everyweek. So sad to see the decrease. Anyways, I went to the information meeting last Tuesday at City Hall and I can say I was upset when PVSD stated," that they had there mandatory 3% in reserve and an EXTRA $800,000.00"! A teacher behind me said, "then why aren't they giving it to there teachers?". I say, "good point, and why aren't they giving it to there programs?" Nellie came home from school the other day and said she needed $ to go on a field trip. The Skirball museum is supplying the buses and parents are paying admission. I just don't get it.

It was also stated at that meeting that the rumor about the kids losing the Honors/AP/IB program at Rio Mesa is simply untrue!! Yeah, OK Rio Mesa won't lose there program, but our kids won't be there anymore. DA, OUR KIDS WILL lose the programs when we lose the school.

There was a man up there with a long slide show of pictures of other high schools, going on and on. You could build like this, you could build like that, you can have this program or that. Oh our possibilies are endless. But where is the $$$ to build this or that? How long would something like that take? What would happen to our kids in the mean time? I guess these things don't matter when we are fantisizing.

They stated that the Ventura County Board of Education would act as an Interm Supurintentant for the first 6 months if we unified. The man was asked," in your experience with Unification what would be the steps you would take. The man chuckled and stated,"well, the last district to unify was Moorpark and it was probably before most of you were born, chuckle, chuckle." I didn't find that funny at all. As a parent sitting there what I saw was, NO PLAN and LEADERSHIP WITHOUT EXPERIENCE. I have seen it in the paper where an elementry school teacher said,"there will be growing pains". I don't think I want MY kid to be the sacrifical lamb. All our kids have so much to lose no matter what side of town your on.

That's one of the main points why No on U is necessary; lack of planning, lack of leadership, and mismanagement by the PVSD.  Seriously, how can anyone in their right mind think that a district that cannot manage an existing k-8 district can manage a high school?

A high school is full of extra-curricular activities such as athletics, bands, clubs, etc.  All the schools in the Oxnard Union High School District have many extra-curricular activities that are well-established.  Those who support U do not realize that these are the types of programs that would be at the top of the list to cut because they are "extra."  The supporters of U have not addressed this, most likely because they will have no choice but to concede that the educational plan of their new high school will be bare-bones minimum that has ZERO extra-curricular activities due to all the money needing to go strictly to academics.  Who would want to attend a high school like that?  No one!

If the supporters of U want a high school, let PVSD try to pass a multi-million $ bond and they can build it themselves and leave OUHSD out of it.  Of course, it's much cheaper to try and annex Camarillo HS and take it from Oxnard than to build a new one from scratch.  The supporters of U want something for nothing.

Vote NO on U!!!! 

When will the spreadsheet be ready?

Another interesting fact about those supporting U is that they are ready to file a suit in court to overturn the measure if the voters decide no on U.  The pro-U group was the one to ask for a vote, yet are not ready to accept defeat should the voters decide 'no' on U.  When the votes are tallied and a decision is reached, let it rest and get back to the business of educating the kids.

Vote NO on U!!!!!! 

The spreadsheet?