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Stanley C. Mantooth, Ventura County Superintendent of Schools
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20 School Districts – Each as Unique as Ventura County
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Ventura County is home to twenty different school districts, each one as diverse as the students they serve. The smallest – with just 59 students – is the Santa Clara Elementary School District with its iconic red schoolhouse building alongside Highway 126. The largest is Conejo Valley Unified, with more than 18,000 students in 27 schools.
Some districts only have elementary schools, one (Oxnard Union) has only high schools, and nine have the whole range from kindergarten through 12th grade. Several offer preschool and adult school as well. Our K-12 districts are known as “unified,” which means they were created by the union of an elementary and a high school district. The most recent local district to unify is Santa Paula, which went through the process in 2013.
Despite their differences, all local school districts have much in common. They’re each governed by an elected board of trustees and led by a superintendent who is hired by the board. As we begin the 2019-2020 school year, we asked all of the superintendents to tell us a little bit about their districts. We invite you to explore this edition of Focus on Education to find out what makes Ventura County’s school districts unique and how they’re each working to ensure that all students receive a quality education that prepares them for a bright future in our changing world. Stan Mantooth
Ventura County Superintendent of Schools
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Serves: West of Santa Paula
Grades: K-8
Students: 526
Superintendent: Deborah Cuevas
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The Briggs School District motto is Rich History….Bright Future. This has never been more evident as Briggs School District is celebrating its 150th anniversary as a school this year. George G. Briggs, for whom the school was named, was originally from Ohio but moved to California at the time of the gold fever. He had accumulated considerable wealth raising deciduous fruits near Marysville and then moved to Ventura County in 1862 and purchased the Santa Paula y Saticoy Rancho with hopes of raising his fruits there as well.
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Serves: Conejo Valley
Grades: K-12
Students: 18,408
Superintendent: Mark McLaughlin, Ed.D.
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In Conejo Valley Unified School District we proudly do things “The Conejo Way” to ensure ideal academic outcomes for our students. We use collaboration at every level of our organization, from our teachers in our classrooms to our directors and superintendents in our district office. This collaboration and teamwork provides the foundation for the premier educational experiences our students receive.
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Serves: Fillmore
Grades: K-12
Students: 3,785
Superintendent: Adrian E. Palazuelos, Ph.D.
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Greetings from the Fillmore Unified School District. During the 2019-2020 school year, we are continuing our work in supporting college and career opportunities for secondary students, enhancing and constructing new facilities, supporting the integration of new technology across the district, and engaging our community through high quality district preschool and adult education programs.
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Serves: Port Hueneme
Grades: K-8
Students: 8,243
Superintendent: Dr. Christine Walker
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This school year is sure to be an exceptional one in the Hueneme Elementary School District! All staff were welcomed back “pep-rally style” at our annual Back to School event, SHINE. Staff left excited and ready to welcome Hueneme students. In Hueneme, we believe that arts integration is crucial to creating well-rounded, prepared learners and leaders. We are fortunate that all of our schools, both elementary and junior high schools, have a long-standing, thriving instrumental music program.
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Serves: Eastern Conejo Valley and Western San Fernando Valley
Grades: K-12
Students: 11,138
Superintendent: Dr. Daniel Stepenosky
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In the Las Virgenes Unified School District, we are extremely proud of our tradition of academic excellence, a rich diversity of programs, and variety of options and opportunities available for our students. We work very hard to ensure our students are well prepared for college and career, which is evident in the fact that Las Virgenes is one of the top-ranked school districts in the state.
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Serves: West of Somis
Grades: K-8
Students: 1,138
Superintendent: Jeffery Turner
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As Mesa Union School District celebrates its 80th year of providing high quality education to students spanning grades TK through 8th throughout Ventura County, the essence of the District’s vision to “ Honor the Past, Live in the Present, and Drive to the Future” is very much alive. The District honors its rich traditions by maintaining robust state test results, providing access to visual and performing arts…
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Serves: Moorpark
Grades: K-12
Students: 6,255
Superintendent: Dr. Kelli Hays
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After celebrating Moorpark High School’s 100th anniversary, what do you do for an encore? In the Moorpark Unified School District, the answer is always “plenty.” We had a wonderful 2018-19 school year celebrating 100 years since Moorpark High School was established. Our graduation rate and state assessment scores continued to exceed state and county averages and our students were awarded numerous academic and athletic scholarships.
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Serves: North of Santa Paula
Grades: K-8
Students: 166
Superintendent: Sheryl Barnd, Ed.D.
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Walking into the peaceful courtyard of Mupu School, one immediately sees the beauty and power of the small school environment. There is a pervasive friendliness and respect amongst scholars and between scholars and staff. Mupu is truly a place to learn and grow. Our long tradition of academic excellence began in 1879 and here we are in 2019, a learning community deeply immersed in 21st century learning.
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Serves: Oak Park
Grades: K-12
Students: 4,579
Superintendent: Dr. Anthony Knight
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We have developed five goals in Oak Park USD for this year. The first goal is our primary focus for this year and the future and is a continuation of many years of work. In fact, it defines us as a school system. The goal is to ensure that all of our students feel cared for and valued for who they are and that each is connected to their school and to the adults who teach, care for, and interact with them on a daily basis.
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Serves: Coast between Oxnard and LA County
Grades: K-8
Students: 2,564
Superintendent: Craig W. Helmstedter, Ed.D.
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As Superintendent of Ocean View School District, I am proud of the many wonderful accomplishments of our schools and how we achieve our Mission to ensure the academic and emotional success of all students. Our Ocean View “family” is a gem of preschool through 8th grade education along the Ventura County coast. In Ocean View, we believe our students deserve a world-class educational experience.
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Serves: Ojai
Grades: K-12
Students: 2,453
Superintendent: Tiffany Morse, Ph.D.
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Ojai Unified School District is embarking upon a new era of creating schools that integrate place-based education and reflect the values and assets of our unique community. The deeply held values of environmental regeneration, wellness, creativity and a culture of inclusion are what make our community, and therefore our schools, special. To inform our work, we held a summer “Engage to Impact” series along with several “Meet and Greet/Conozca y Salude” community discussions.
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Serves: Oxnard
Grades: K-8
Students: 16,134
Superintendent: Karling Aguilera-Fort
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The Oxnard School District is committed to ensuring the social-emotional well-being of every student that attends our schools. For the last five years, we have been committed to implementing a robust Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program so that our staff and students are equipped to address the many challenges in a safe, nurturing and rigorous learning environment. Today, we are proud to share that our PBIS work is generating the outcomes we have anticipated.
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Serves: Oxnard and Camarillo
Grades: 9-12
Students: 17,538
Superintendent: Penelope DeLeon, Ed.D.
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Before school even began this year, the Oxnard Union High School District was hard at work fulfilling our promise to create equitable educational opportunities for all of our students. The high schools in some of our most economically challenged areas were distributing Chromebooks, cases and hot spots to students, many of whom had never owned such a device. While it might seem like overkill in many districts where students come from families that have the resources…
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Serves: Camarillo
Grades: K-8
Students: 7,014
Superintendent: Angelica Ramsey, Ed.D.
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Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! PVSD began our 151st year of providing excellence for all on August 29th. We continue to be a destination district due to our commitment of improving the lives of the children in our care. Our whole child approach allows students to excel academically, athletically, artistically, and socially. We continue to be extremely grateful for our community’s support of Measure C.
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Serves: El Rio and parts of Oxnard
Grades: K-8
Students: 5,219
Superintendent: Dr. John Puglisi
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The Rio School District serves more than 5,000 students and their families. It employs more than 500 people and stewards more than $60,000,000 in annual funding for the education of children in preschool through 8th grade. Rio includes nine schools – five schools enrolling grades K-5, two schools that enroll K-8 and two middle schools enrolling learners in grades 6-8. Rio aims to be a world-class educational organization that provides state-of-the-art learning environments…
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Serves: East of Santa Paula
Grades: K-6
Students: 59
Superintendent: Kari Skidmore
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Santa Clara Elementary provides a safe, nurturing environment which helps to foster our long-standing commitment to academic excellence. Our community of students, parents, and staff are dedicated to the 21st century skills needed to succeed in the information age. At the Little Red Schoolhouse, we strive to motivate students to be critical and creative thinkers, collaborators, and communicators.
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Serves: Santa Paula
Grades: K-12
Students: 5,270
Superintendent: Ed Cora, Ed.D.
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The Santa Paula Unified School District is proud to share some of the many wonderful and exciting learning opportunities happening throughout the district for our students. We have been diligently working on providing technology access of one laptop or iPad to every student in the district. We have completed approximately 75 percent of our goal. The many students who have access to a laptop or iPad are quickly learning how to appropriately use the technology…
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Serves: Simi Valley
Grades: K-12
Students: 16,436
Superintendent: Dr. Jason Peplinski
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As the superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District, I am proud of our district’s diversity and achievements. Each year brings new challenges, but also new successes. We currently serve the city of Simi Valley and the surrounding unincorporated county area and are one of the largest school districts in Ventura County. Our most exciting news it that for the first time since 2004, we have started the new school year with more students than the prior year.
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Serves: Somis
Grades: K-8
Students: 238
Superintendent: Dr. Colleen Robertson
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Shhh! I’m about to tell you one of the best kept secrets in Ventura County. Nestled into the hills behind Camarillo, between avocado orchards, fruit stands, and pastoral horse ranches, you will find the quiet little town of Somis. There is a post office, a fire station, and a 100-year-old hardware store, but there is no gas station, no fast food, no franchise stores, no mayor, no city council, and there is so little crime that some call us “Mayberry.”
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Serves: Ventura
Grades: K-12
Students: 16,353
Superintendent: Dr. Roger Rice
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The Ventura Unified School District aims to cultivate a wealth of diverse academic programs so that every student can explore their interests and passions through compelling and innovative programs, rigorous curriculum, quality instruction, and engaging learning environments. This year we are focused on several initiatives that will enhance learning inside and outside of the classroom and better support our staff. Some of these include:
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