A look back ...

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT-MESA -- Everyone was young once -- even the people who run

the School District. And from the offices and boardrooms where they now

make decisions governing the education of Newport-Mesa’s 21,000 students,

district officials recalled their fears, their excitement and their

special back-to-school clothes from the long-ago days when they were

young pupils eager to learn.

MARTHA FLUOR, school board member

I remember my plaid lunch box, and getting all dressed up in my brand

new clothes. I remember my patent leather shoes and my haircut. That

takes me back to first and second grade. And then my most-recent fondest

memory is waving goodbye to all my children on their first day of school.

SERENE STOKES, school board president

I remember my senior year at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.

Back then it was a neighborhood a lot like Costa Mesa. I got back to

school and found out I was gong to be the assistant editor of our school

newspaper, The Bull Dog.

DAVE BROOKS, school board member

I went to a lot of different schools, and I oftentimes registered

late. But when I went to school in Florida, it was most unusual. We had

to buy our own books, paper and pencils. And we did that on the Friday

before Labor Day. We went school and got our classes and then they would

set up a student store and you’d buy your textbooks. You’d buy

everything.

WENDY LEECE, school board member

I was thinking about this the other day. When madras came out in the

1960s, it was this new thing: when you washed it, it changed. When I was

in high school, I made myself a long-sleeved dress, and I was going to

wear it on the first day of school, in Arizona. And it was so hot, and I

was determined to wear the dress. It was a fad. That was on the first day

of school. It was so incredibly hot, but I was in style with madras.

JUDY FRANCO, school board member

I remember riding my bicycle to kindergarten and parking it in the

superintendent of schools’ front yard. You weren’t supposed to ride to

school, so I left my bike in his front yard. He lived across the street

from the school. My father was a principal, and it was his first year,

too. The superintendent’s wife called my mom and said, “I don’t know if

you know about this or not ...” My mother could have died.

DANA BLACK, school board member

My mom walked me to kindergarten and she kissed me goodbye, and I

stood in the midst of absolute chaos as the teacher was trying to console

students, so I grabbed my little snack and grabbed my coat and walked

home and nobody knew I was gone and I walked into my mom’s kitchen and

said, “They’re just really busy.” She walked me right back. This was in

the San Fernando Valley. I don’t know about the rest of the year --

that’s the only thing I remember.

JIM FERRYMAN, school board member

I grew up in Springfield, Ohio, and I went to a Catholic school in

first grade, and it was clear across town. The reason I went there is

because my mother had gone there. I remember the first day she dropped me

off at the steps of the school, and I was just crying my face off because

I didn’t want to go. I was afraid. It turned out great. The nuns were

pretty strict, but it turned out fine.

ROBERT BARBOT, superintendent

My most vivid memory is walking into a classroom when I first came to

the United States, and being very afraid to go to school. I walked into

the classroom and I was expecting it to be a very negative experience.

Instead, I found a very welcoming teacher, who put me right on track.