School officials bugged by assignment fallout

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- Several Newport Harbor High School students confess they

have spent the past months hunting bugs in the protected Back Bay area,

but also admit they were told not to do it.

“I know a lot of people have gone to the Back Bay -- maybe half [of the

students collecting] have gone there, looked and tried to collect,” said

Natalie Citro, a freshman who admits to snagging a few herself.

Citro is one of hundreds of students at Newport Harbor who at the

beginning of the school year was given the task of collecting 50

different insects to be studied and labeled.

And despite teachers’ warnings, Upper Newport Bay Regional Park officials

say students nabbed a portion of their catch within the protected park.

“Almost every year there are students out here collecting,” said Nancy

Bruland, a park ranger with Orange County. “Basically, you can not

collect on park property -- so it’s against the law.”

Barbara Barry, a biology teacher at Newport Harbor, insists that all 10

teachers make a point of telling students to stay out of all ecological

reserves -- and have done so over the 30 years the project has been in

place.

During that time, the bug collection project has become something of a

tradition at Newport Harbor, said Principal Bob Boies.

“This whole ecological thing was blown out of proportion,” he said. “A

small minority do go where they’re not supposed to, but the kids tell me

there aren’t even very good bugs there.”

Sophomore bug collector Jennifer Miller backs up Boies’ assessment. She

said she knows of a couple students who went there but found only

dragonflies, which are easy to catch on the school’s soccer field.

Miller said she enjoyed the project, which helped her overcome her fear

of insects.

“It’s also like a high school milestone,” she added. “You know you have

to do it.”

Biology teachers at Newport Harbor couldn’t believe the uproar.

“I don’t understand what the conflict is,” said Don Johnston, a biology

and marine science instructor at Newport Harbor. “We do not condone

students going in restricted areas.”

Not only do teachers warn students there will be consequences if they are

caught in restricted areas, Johnston said, but a couple years back,

students who were caught had to pay a steep fine.

Johnston said every year the school gets a few calls from both the Back

Bay and residents, complaining about students tromping through gardens.

“But what it comes down to is, you can’t control them,” he said. “A few

bad kids are reflecting on good kids.”