Special school may open but with only 25 students

COSTA MESA -- Led by commissioner Katrina Foley, the Planning

Commission voted Monday to allow a school for emotionally disturbed

children to open at Harbor Christian Fellowship Church, but to limit

enrollment to a maximum of 25 students.

In response, Richard Sewell, the director of South Coast Priority

School, vowed to appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council. He

said the school cannot be cost-effective unless it can enroll 50

students.

Sewell, who endured relentless questioning by Foley about the kinds of

students who would be attending the school, said after the heated meeting

that he thought Foley should have excused herself from the issue because

her husband taught at a similar school operated by the Orange County

Dept. of Education.

Harbor Christian Fellowship Pastor Bill Gartner had even sharper

remarks for Foley after she suggested the planning commission stipulate

that Gartner open the church’s playground to neighborhood children.

“It’s already open to neighborhood children,” he said. “But her

remarks go close to breaching the separation between church and state.

For the city to tell me what to do ... I personally think she owes me and

my church an apology.”

Both men said they disagreed with the Planning Commission’s decision,

but Gartner vowed to lower the school’s rent so the school can make ends

meet if Sewell’s appeal to the City Council is denied.

South Coast Priority School is a state-certified nonpublic school

which serves children who have learning disorders, emotional problems, or

are developmentally disabled. Many of its students are foster children

who live in group homes, and Sewell’s organization, which is nonprofit,

also runs four group homes in Costa Mesa.

The school also has a campus in Newport Beach, and serves children

from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District who do not perform well in

public school. Tuition at the school varies from student to student, but

can be as much as $20,000 a year, Sewell said. Local public school

districts pay the tuition out of their special education budgets.

Foley, along with Commissioners Chris Fewel and Katie Wilson, were

concerned that the site is not large enough to handle 50 emotionally

disturbed, developmentally disabled students, and that opening the school

would be “a burden” on neighbors.

They were also concerned that the students could pose a threat to

neighbors or to property.

Sewell has seven days to file an appeal with the City Council.