Oak Park Unified School District

Six months after Oak Park voters authorized a $40-million school bond issue, voters statewide passed the landmark tax-cutting measure Proposition 13, which eliminated that sort of fund-raising tool. The near-unanimous approval almost 11 years ago by the about 500 voters who lived in the eastern Ventura County community paid off Tuesday as students and district officials celebrated the opening this fall of Oak Hills Elementary School.

In the back-porch atmosphere of school board meetings at the Oak Park Unified School District, Tami Lawler, Howard Levy and Wayne Sterling are inveterate participants, joining in the often informal discussions among members of the audience and the board. But after November, none expects to be sitting in the audience any longer. All are candidates for three openings on the board, along with incumbents Wayne Blasman and Robert Kahn. The third incumbent, Pat Kavulic, is not running.

Faced with static enrollment, officials in the 3,500-student Oak Park Unified School District--one of the top performers in Ventura County--plan to recruit students from outside the district for next fall. Officials expect about 100 openings in the district's three elementary schools. Additional spaces at Oak Park High School may also be available, officials said. The plan is unusual because districts with high test scores typically struggle to keep students out.

The superintendent of Ventura County's highest-performing school district will leave her post next year for a job helping struggling campuses nationwide. Marilyn Lippiatt, who has headed Oak Park Unified School District for a decade, announced she will resign in March to join a Redlands firm that provides educational services to schools in California and across the country. "I have no reason to leave," Lippiatt said.

Burgers, si! Burritos, no! When it comes to lunch, the kids of the Oak Park Unified School District are saying gracias pero no to Mexican food. Instead, they are voting with their stomachs for such blander fare as hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets, said food services director Virginia Leigh. "Mexican food of any kind is not popular in this district," Leigh told members of the Oak Park school board this week.

A precedent-setting decision that holds coaches responsible for the off-the-field conduct of athletes has gone largely unchallenged, with little debate on its merits and no discussion on its ramifications. With great secrecy, the Oak Park Unified School District imposed a four-game suspension on Coach Dick Billingsley for his role in an overnight summer passing league trip to Santa Ynez last July that went bad.

Major building improvements for schools and teachers' job security will be in voters' hands in two Ventura County districts next month. Residents of the Simi Valley Unified School District will vote March 2 on a $145-million bond issue that would finance improvements at all 28 schools in the district. Property owners would pay $42 per $100,000 of assessed valuation for the 25-year life of the loan.

Two Ventura County schools with little in common except an appetite for academic excellence received a highly prized award on Thursday honoring top schools around the country. E.O. Green Junior High School officials praised the mostly poor students at the Oxnard school for overcoming social and financial odds, winning the city its first National Blue Ribbon award.

For 257 students at Red Oak Elementary School in Oak Park, this summer seems truly endless. Officials of the Oak Park Unified School District have postponed their first day of school from Tuesday to Sept. 20. District officials opted to delay the beginning of classes rather than scramble to get the still unfinished school ready in time. Students will make up the eight days of lost class time during the school year.

Two Ventura County schools with little in common except an appetite for academic excellence received a highly prized award Thursday honoring top schools around the country. Officials at the small, affluent Oak Park High School were overjoyed at winning the National Blue Ribbon Award--the second consecutive award for the Oak Park Unified School District. Last year, Oak Hills Elementary School received the award. E.O.