PARENTS MAY GET CHANCE TO GRADE SCHOOL DISTRICT.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

Parents regularly receive report cards on how their children are doing in school, but under a new plan proposed in Moorpark Unified, parents could annually grade the district's performance.

School board President David Pollock said the proposal is aimed at improving communication between the school district and parents.

``The objective would be to provide us with some objective data about how we're doing, and it would be formal feedback from our constituents as to how we're doing in the school district,'' said Pollock.

``I definitely think there's a need for this. We serve a constituency and we depend on informal feedback such as letters and phone calls. And I think the board wants to have a more formal mechanism for this.''

The proposal comes following criticism by some parents that school and district officials failed to keep them informed last school year during evacuations of some campuses during a spate of bomb scares after the slaying of students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

As it is now, there is no routine, formal way for parents to express their opinions to the district.

Pollock said the details of the report card are still being worked out, but he would like to have parents commenting on issues such as quality of instruction, condition of the facilities and the amount of homework given students at the district's nine schools.

The proposal was put forward Tuesday by Mindy Yaras at her first board meeting following her victory in the July 20 special election to fill the vacancy created when Clint Harper resigned after winning a seat on the City Council.

Yaras did not return telephone calls for comment.

``The basic intention was have a parent survey so we know what they're thinking,'' he said.

``Not everyone is comfortable calling us up. It bothers me how many different opinions I have to gather from second- and third-hand sources.''

The board directed the district staff to assess the proposal, including costs, and report back, said Pollock.

In other action, for the first time, the board adopted a set of goals and objectives for 1999-2000, said Pollock.

Among the schedule of 23 goals and objectives adopted:

Improved test scores in every subject at each school;

Passage of a local school bond by March 2000;

Acquiring one or more sites and preparing construction plans for a new secondary school by June 2000.