Oxnard School District trustees decided Wednesday night to pay a Ventura County nonprofit agency for work it has done over the past several months, but passed on a contract covering the rest of the year.

Since October, the Interface agency has provided services for Oxnard families with an understanding that Oxnard Neighborhood for Learning had selected it to do the work. The Oxnard school board, however, is responsible for ratifying that contract and has refused to do so.

Complicating matters, Interface officials said they were asked by district staff to start working before the contract was ratified to avoid disrupting services that families were already receiving. They were told that the board was expected to ratify the contract at an October meeting, which never happened, and have been continuing to serve families without reimbursement.

On Wednesday, the board voted to pay Interface $75,000 to reimburse the agency for its costs, but held off on approving any new contracts.

Trustee Arthur Joe Lopez said he had hoped to see an agreement Wednesday that represented "some kind of meeting of the minds," but that wasn't what was proposed. The board again asked for the issue to come back at its next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 6.

The issue with Interface's contract has grown out of a dispute between the school board and the Neighborhood for Learning steering committee. While the steering committee selected Interface in September to take on a new contract, school board members have said they are concerned that El Centrito de la Colonia, a nonprofit agency based in Oxnard that previously held the contract, was denied a new one.

Some trustees have suggested a possible resolution is that El Centrito and Interface work together — a move the steering committee has rejected in the past. But committee members changed their minds after the school board again turned down a contract with Interface at a meeting last week, giving the steering committee a week to come up with something new.

In agreements covering Feb. 1 through June 30 that were presented Wednesday, Interface would have been paid about $82,000 and have responsibility for aspects of the contract such as intensive case management for Oxnard families. El Centrito would have been paid about $20,000 to take on other responsibilities, including outreach efforts and parent education workshops.

The school board balked, however, after El Centrito representatives said they had concerns about the agreement, which they said asked them to do more than had originally been proposed for less money. Executive Director Luann Rocha also said the agency hadn't had an opportunity to discuss the proposal with the committee and only had a chance to review the contract minutes before Wednesday's meeting started.

Interface also wasn't a part of the steering committee meeting when the new agreements were brought up, but the agency said Wednesday that it would sign off on new agreements and commit to collaborate with El Centrito.

The school board, however, decided to again send the issue back to the steering committee, urging members to meet with both Interface and El Centrito to come up with a plan everyone can support.

Both agencies agreed to meet with the Neighborhood for Learning steering committee next week to try to come up with a plan.

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