MAGNET SCHOOL MOVES FORWARD AMID DISSENT : COST, EQUAL ACCESS ISSUES RAISED.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

The vision is to prepare students for the 21st century, to mold young adults into ``informed and contributing'' members of society through a special curriculum at Ventura County's only magnet school.

But opponents of the technology and performing arts high school say it will cause a wave of problems when it opens this fall - denying students equal access to specialty classes and diverting money into new programs and restructuring when it's needed elsewhere in existing schools.

``Instead of creating one specialty school focusing on technology, all of our schools and students should have access at the schools we already have,'' said school board member Debbie Sandland. ``I don't understand the reason behind creating this magnet.''

The goal of the magnet school - planned for the Simi Valley Unified School District's Sequoia Junior High School campus - is to prepare students for careers in technology and the performing arts, along with providing a solid foundation in math, science and liberal arts, officials said.

Proponents say the district must begin planning now to prepare its students for highly technical jobs of the future.

``Students who attend won't have home economics or wood shop, but classes like computer engineering and theater arts classes,'' said Judy Cannings, magnet school coordinator. ``This will be a school where we can try innovative ideas, see what works and what doesn't, and use as a model for all the other schools in the district.''

Sandland and others, however, fear that the magnet school will cause unnecessary anxiety for parents, who might wonder if sending their child to a neighborhood school is good enough.

``This is a very close-knit, bedroom community,'' Sandland said. ``I want every parent to feel they can send their child to any school in their neighborhood to get a quality education. Bringing a magnet school here will break away from that.''

So far, 15 instructors have been selected to teach at the magnet school, Cannings said. More than 750 students - eighth-, ninth- and 10th-graders - have registered to attend classes in the fall. Capacity at the school is roughly 1,200, said Cannings, who predicts between 800 and 1,000 students will be enrolled in the school by September.

Magnet start-up costs will total $100,000, according to a school district expenditure report issued in March. The one-time cost was pulled from a $912,000 federal grant given to the district for the 1995-96 school year, Cannings said.

An additional $120,218 will pay for staffing and extracurricular activities, such as academic decathlons and a yearbook staff class, Cannings said. This money will be provided by the school district's general fund.

Average daily attendance monies will keep the magnet school funded for years to follow, Cannings said.

The magnet is expected to partially absorb extra enrollment when Simi Valley's ninth-graders move into the high schools as part of the district's restructuring plan.

About 500 extra students are expected to attend both Simi and Royal high schools in September, when the ninth grade is added to the high schools' current 10th- through 12th-grade configuration, officials said.

Anticipated cost for the secondary transition and the magnet school combined will be $830,308, according to the expenditure report.

Suzi Bird, whose ninth-grade son attends Sequoia, believes this money should be spent elsewhere.

``With Simi's schools already short on books and teachers, and with classrooms being overcrowded, it is not feasible to develop a stand-alone magnet,'' Bird said.

Cannings agreed there are schools in need of funding for improvement.

``We probably could use the money for that,'' Cannings said. ``But we also want to be preparing students for the 21st century.''

School board President Judy Barry said the district has done ``considerable amounts of spending'' on existing schools, and is in the process of making a list of improvements that are still needed.

She said plans for the magnet have not diverted the district's attention from needs at other schools.

``We're not ignoring them,'' Barry said.