At their April 17, 2013 Board Meeting, the Oxnard School District Board of Trustees received a report from Mrs. Catherine Kawaguchi, the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, and Caldwell Flores Winters, Inc., its financial and facilities consultants, announcing the Opening of Academies in the Oxnard School District. The Educational Academies are a part of the overall grade reconfiguration that the Board of Trustees is in the process of implementing for the fall of 2014. The Academies will open at three schools, Frank, Fremont and Haydock. These schools will open as grade 6-8 middle schools in the beginning of the 2014-15 school year.
The report announced that Frank Middle School, located on North Juanita Ave. in the Colonia area, will be a Science & Engineering Academy focusing on robotics and marine sciences.
Fremont Middle School, located on North M Street, will be an Environmental Science and Design Academy. The focus at Fremont will be technology, three dimensional (3-D) design and environmental sciences.
Haydock Middle School, located on Hill Street south of Wooley Road, which already has an extensive music program, will be reopened as a Visual and Performing Arts Academy by adding a robust acting and drama curriculum.
Mrs. Kawaguchi explained that all three middle schools will continue to offer the core curriculum but will integrate the Academy program into that curriculum. The schools will also offer additional special classes and electives that focus on the educational program offered by the Academy.
After visiting a number of existing Academy programs, the District engaged in an extensive 90 day outreach to Principals, staff and the community for the purpose of selecting the Academies. Over the course of the next 15 months, the District will be developing the detailed curriculum, instruction and implementation plan for opening the Academies in the fall of 2014. The development of the curriculum will be coordinated and integrated with the deployment of 1:1 devices at certain schools throughout the District.
Jeff Chancer, the District’s Superintendent, explained, “This is an exciting time for the Oxnard School District. We have excellent leadership, a focused educational vision and a facilities plan that is going to fundamentally improve the way we educate our children.”
Oxnard School District serves approximately 16,500 kindergarten through eighth grade students at twenty (20) schools throughout the City of Oxnard. The District retained Caldwell Flores Winters, Inc., an education, financial and facilities consultant, in October 2012 to assist with implementing its vision and transforming its deteriorating facilities into state of the art learning facilities. The firm presented the District with a plan in January of 2013 that calls for restructuring of all grade configurations throughout the District, extended day kindergarten at all K-5 and K-8 schools, reconstruction of three school sites, Lemonwood, Elm and Harrington, in phase one, and the acquisition of a new elementary school site and a new middle school site.