EDITORIAL

* Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part editorial series on the

need for a bond issue to fix Newport-Mesa’s crumbling schools.

If you have children attending Newport-Mesa schools, you already know the

horror stories.

At one elementary school, the plumbing in kindergarten classrooms backs

up on a regular basis.

At one junior high school, there are physical education classes

throughout the school day, but no showers.

At one high school, ceiling tiles drop on student’s heads in the

classroom.

This is the condition of the facilities in the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District -- something that only $150 million can fix.

Parents, students, teachers and district officials have known about

Newport-Mesa’s crumbling infrastructure for years. The unified district

is approaching 30 years old, and the oldest schools have been around for

nearly 70 years.

Over the decades, maintenance has not been a high priority. But the

phenomenon is by no means unique to Newport-Mesa. Most aging districts

across the state are facing the same problems. As budgets have tightened

in this post-Proposition 13 world, school districts have been forced to

spend their money on the front lines of education -- teachers, programs,

improved technology -- rather than on maintenance. It has been a

difficult, but conscious choice on the part of district officials and the

school community.

Newport-Mesa officials, recognizing that something must be done, have

commissioned a top architect to study all of the facilities and assess

the damage. The price tag -- which in earlier years was estimated at $15

million -- has now soared to $150 million.

The repairs -- all basic needs -- include replacing electrical, sewage

and drainage systems at most schools, installing new lighting, new

ventilation and flooring systems and painting classrooms. They range from

as simple as replacing a kindergarten gate at Adams Elementary School to

as complex as $6.2 million in renovations on buildings at Newport Harbor

High School, which has been ravaged for decades by wet, salty air.

So far, Newport-Mesa has made all the right moves. In addition to the

architect, officials hired Larry Tramultola, an expert at getting bonds

passed. And more importantly, they formed a broad-based citizen’s

committee to review the work and lead the charge for a bond.

This has been years coming. No one likes the idea of a bond, especially

in this conservative neck of the woods. But the district is out of

options. Leaders have squeezed whatever they could out of the budget,

they’ve lobbied politicians in Sacramento for more money, but they’re

still millions of dollars short.

As board member Jim Ferryman has said, “If someone has a better idea,

please tell me.”

Of course, no one has come forward because no one has a better idea. The

school board will most likely vote to put a bond measure on the ballot

within the next two months. We encourage them to do so.

In the meantime, we’d encourage Newport-Mesa residents to start seriously

thinking about the community’s obligation to give its children a quality

education.

Our children shouldn’t have to go to schools where the bathrooms

routinely back up, where ceiling tiles drop on their heads and where the

showers haven’t worked for years.

And we, together, can get it fixed. It’s a once in a generation

obligation. For Newport-Mesa, the time is now.