EDUCATIONALLY SPEAKING

gay geiser-sandovol

A recent article talked about the widening gap in California

between the haves and the have nots. We need look no further than the

boundaries of our own communities to find recent immigrants struggling to

raise a large family on $10,000 a year. Nor do we need to look far to

find some of the wealthiest people in the state. Our school district is

asked to meet the needs of both ends of the spectrum, plus everything in

between.

Some people hold the perception the schools with the haves are more

likely to get the resources they need. This perception may have an effect

on the passage of a bond measure, so it is time to get it out in the

open. Since the haves are much more likely to vote than the have nots,

maybe a bond will pass if they think the money will improve their

schools at a greater rate. Maybe the schools with the have nots will ask

what will be done to ensure money will be used to fix their facilities.

Three years ago, class-size reduction affected grades one through three;

that was the year the district needed more elementary school space, and

they needed it fast. Since some schools already had a lot of portable

classrooms, there would be no playground space if more portables were

added. It was decided in the late spring two former middle schools that

were being used for other purposes would open as large elementary schools

in the fall. Money from the sale of property at Costa Mesa High School

would finance the reopening.

Those two schools opened in the fall 1997. Davis School opened with 657

students at a final cost of $1.5 million. Rea School opened with 421

students for $2.3 million. It now houses 670 students in grades four

through six. Davis School, which now houses students in grades four to

six, has an enrollment of about 865 kids. So, two schools, which house a

total of 1,535 students, were revamped for $3.8 million.When it was

decided Rea School would be converted to an elementary school, the

tenants who were at the site were told they needed to move in a few

months. Some with special hardships remained for the first year Rea was

used as an elementary school. Contrast this with the reopening of

Eastbluff School.

When it was determined that Eastbluff would reopen, a private elementary

school was leasing the facility. Instead of giving the private school a

year to find a new site, and then revamping the school in the summer

months, which was the time spent on Davis and Rea, the district moved the

private school to a different district site and spent more bucks to make

the private school happy. They spent a year with an empty campus on the

revamping process.

Eastbluff got a major overhaul for its 256 students. The original price

tag was $3.5 million. The money was to come solely from Mello-Roos funds,

which cannot be used for schools outside of its boundaries. In addition

to Eastbluff, money from Mello-Roos was to be used for projects at Corona

del Mar High. The projects were designated and a rough price, which would

come within the amount available from Mello-Roos, was determined.

Sometime between the planning stage and the completion stage, prices

increased for the Eastbluff project. At that time, the school board had

three choices. First, they could have scaled down the project and

revamped the school for the amount originally allocated. Second, they

could have reallocated all of the Mello-Roos money to the Eastbluff

project, and put off the projects at Corona del Mar High until a later

time. Third, they could have revamped Eastbluff School to the tune of

$5.4 million and counting, as well as spend $1.6 million at Corona del

Mar. The school board chose the third option.

The school board’s explanation for the difference in price and scope of

the reopening of Davis and Rea versus Eastbluff is that we got a new

superintendent whose philosophy is to do things right. The school board’s

explanation for giving funds to Corona del Mar High for the items that

were once to be paid for with Mello-Roos funds was that those items had

been promised to the school, and it wouldn’t be right to back out on

them. Those are valid reasons.

My concern with a large amount of bond money is that we might start on

some schools, and decide to “do them up right,” leaving the last schools

without any funds. The Citizens Facilities Committee has some

recommendations to keep that from happening. I would like to see those

guarantees in place to ensure schools get facilities that aren’t

distinguishable by their address.

I was glad to see a prominent local citizen gave $60,000 to help four

local elementary schools. I bet you can’t guess which of the elementary

schools listed above will receive a portion of the funds. Here is hoping

he will make a similar donation to the Newport-Mesa Schools Foundation,

or some of the other district schools that haven’t seen that much money

in their entire fund-raising history.

Newport Beach made the front page in a story with regard to students who

may be taking advantage of the SAT testing process by having the school

label them as needing a special accommodation. They then have unlimited

time to take a three-hour test, which is used by colleges as an indicia

for admission. So, when you are factoring the results of our local

schools with respect to average SAT scores, don’t give the teachers all

of the credit. While some schools have a number of kids who don’t speak

English as their first language taking the test in three hours, they are

not the only ones causing the disparity.

Know that one of our district schools was named in the top five public

high schools in Southern California with the highest percentage of

students receiving special accommodations on the SAT.

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs Mondays.

She can be reached by e-mail at GGSesq@aol.com .