Ensign named a Distinguished School

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- In the gray light of dawn, long before students

arrived at Ensign Intermediate School on Tuesday, banners were being

strung around campus, declaring the campus a California Distinguished

School.

“We’re very excited for the staff, the kids and the community,” said

Mike McGuire, principal of the middle school. “And it’s a wonderful

accolade to the district as well.”

With the announcement, Ensign became the 13th school in the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District to earn the honor since the program

began in 1985. Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools each earned

the honor twice, Newport Harbor first in 1986 and again in 1998 and

Corona del Mar first in 1988 and then again in 1996.

The California Distinguished Schools Award is part of the School

Recognition Program, which was created to reward schools and provide

working models for other schools.

Each year it identifies and honors some of the state’s most exemplary

and inspiring public schools. Elementary and secondary schools are

recognized during alternate years.

The reward is also the precursor to earning the nations highest honor

bestowed on a school -- the National Blue Ribbon School Award -- an honor

Harbor View Elementary in Corona del Mar is vying for this year.

When a school is named a California Distinguished School, it is

automatically eligible to apply for the national honor the following

year.

It is a step McGuire said he and his staff would most likely take.

But for now, they want to just enjoy the feeling.

“The teachers are ecstatic,” said Sean Bolton, the English teacher who

took the lead with parent Lisa George in preparing the application.

“[Teachers] worked hard on the whole thing, they worked on a lot of

material for us to go off of. It’s a tangible piece of evidence,

something that defines us and defines who we are from other schools in

California.”

It was with some amazement when putting everything together, Bolton

said, that he discovered all the things students, staff and community

members do behind the scenes that made Ensign a Distinguished School.

“I think it’s really the community and the students and the fact that

we have a staff that has really come together this year,” he said. “I

think we had to overcome a lot of adversity -- in not knowing who our

principal was going to be, losing our vice principal, having three

teachers go on maternity leave and another one get cancer and then get

better. This gelled a fragmented staff.”

TEASE FOR ALL-STARS

Academic All-Stars

Newport Beach’s best and brightest high school seniors are featured

today in the Daily Pilot. The city’s top 30 students will be honored this

morning at a breakfast featuring Rep. Christopher Cox. See page 4.