2 New Superintendents Ready to Tackle Tough Problems : Oxnard: Ian C. Kirkpatrick has inherited an enrollment growth twice as high as was projected and a dispute over the site of a new high school.

Escalating growth in the Oxnard Union High School District, where the number of new students this year is double what officials had projected, is the biggest issue facing the six-school district, the new superintendent said after his first full week in the top post.

“This year, we’re up 400 students over last year,” Ian C. Kirkpatrick said.

Officials had projected that the number of students would increase by only 200 this year. Enrollment in the 11,200-student district is expected to double by the year 2006.

The soft-spoken Kirkpatrick, formerly head of the Oakdale Joint Union High School District in Oakdale, near Modesto, said he is visiting Oxnard’s schools, introducing himself to teachers, staff members and students and becoming familiar with district issues.

The two high schools in the Oakdale district had an enrollment of about 2,500, and although one school was about 55% Latino and the other about 25% Latino, they were much less ethnically diverse than the Oxnard district, Kirkpatrick said.

In his new $87,000-a-year job, Kirkpatrick, 48, will make decisions affecting schools in Oxnard and Camarillo that, on average, are about 65% Latino.

“It’s nice to have such a rich mix,” said Kirkpatrick, citing slightly higher percentages of Asians, blacks and other minorities in the Oxnard schools compared with his former district.

Kirkpatrick encountered an early controversy at his first district school board meeting in September when the board discussed a policy that would have allowed strip-searches of students.

“As soon as we realized our mistake, we did pull back on it,” Kirkpatrick said. “That really wasn’t what we meant at all.”

A revised version of the policy, part of a larger locker-search policy, will be presented to the board later, he said. “At this point we have no reference in the policy to strip-searches, nor will we,” Kirkpatrick said.

Another continuing controversy that Kirkpatrick inherited involves an 80-acre site that was to be donated for a new Oxnard High School. The Oxnard City Council did not approve the developer’s plans, which included a residential development.

District officials are seeking another site for the school, estimated to cost about $21 million. It will replace and relocate the current school, which is near the airport.

“There is a need for some expediency,” Kirkpatrick said. “The state will not hold on to funding for this site forever.”

The superintendent was described by Oakdale school board members and teachers’ union leaders as a hard-working educator whose dedication during his 15-year career there carried him from teacher to principal, to associate superintendent and finally superintendent.

“He’s even-tempered, and that’s important in that particular position, because often he’s the man in the middle, between the community and the staff,” Oakdale board President Sam Bates said.

“I sure hate to lose him,” Bates said. “I think he was just ready to move.”

Oakdale High School teacher Carl Vargas, who became president of the teachers’ association this year, said Oakdale’s teachers enjoyed a relatively smooth relationship with the administration during Kirkpatrick’s tenure.

Kirkpatrick has a bachelor’s degree from Cal State Sacramento, a master’s degree from Cal State Stanislaus and a doctorate from the University of La Verne, in the San Gabriel Valley.

A former track coach, Kirkpatrick competes about twice a year in biathlons that combine running and bicycling.

His wife, Diane, a consultant for the Stanislaus County Department of Education who works with students on the verge of dropping out, hopes to find a similar position in Ventura County, he said.

Kirkpatrick, who followed in his mother’s footsteps in becoming a teacher, said he hopes to make a difference to students.

“If school doesn’t touch a kid, there are not a lot of things that are going to, and the things that do are not all good,” Kirkpatrick said. “I think it’s real important for us to make an impact.”