EDITORIAL

What is the rush now?

The original deadline to open Newport Coast Elementary School has come

and gone.

So the students didn’t start the school year at their new campus,

first scheduled to open Sept. 5. And so they didn’t return from winter

vacation to move into the school Monday, which was a backup plan.

It has been an unfortunate and unpredictable dilemma. And to some

degree, it has been an embarrassing situation for the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District. Perhaps there has been much pressure to hurry

along with the school that will serve the tony Newport Coast community.

The delays -- mostly due to problems with window deliveries -- have

some parents and school officials itching to finally complete the campus

and start using the classrooms.

District officials have said they want to be completely sure the

construction is complete and the finishing touches are perfect when the

school opens -- this time for certain, hopefully -- on Feb. 26.

But what about the students?

Instead of trying to open Newport Coast Elementary School just for the

sake of actually having done it during this school year, we believe it

would be best for the students to stay where they are until fall.

The children have settled into their classes at Lincoln Elementary

School, where they are temporarily situated. When the construction was

not complete by September, the idea was to have the Newport Coast

students spend half of the year at Lincoln and then attend their

neighborhood school for the last half.

Now, it would only be disruptive to move them at the end of February

for the remaining three months of the school year.

The new school will still be there in September.

Leave the students where they are and let them start fresh in the

fall.