Community Commentary -- Tim Cromwell

I’d like to get on an upcoming school board agenda so I can discuss

the possibility of selling Estancia High School for use as a private

school.

The Latino community on the Westside needs to be embraced by the rest

of Costa Mesa and it’s never going to happen the way our current high

school enrollment exists. Very few people want to send their kids to

Estancia.

In my neighborhood of Mesa Verde, there are kids going to Costa Mesa,

Newport Harbor, Mater Dei, Calvary Chapel, Edison and Huntington Beach

high schools. What kind of neighborhood school spirit is that?

With the exception of the private high schools mentioned, the reason

they attend these public schools is so they do not have to attend

Estancia.

It’s like Costa Mesa’s dirty little secret that nobody (especially

real estate agents) wants to mention.

Why else would our homes be so much cheaper than those across the

river in Huntington Beach?

Sorry, but it’s our schools.

True or not, we have lower real estate values because of the

perception that our schools are inferior.

So what can we do about it?

How about creating a “super school” at Costa Mesa High School?

Here’s how we do it.

We sell the Estancia site to an interested private school -- Catholic,

Christian or nondenominational.

You put those funds directly into the expansion and improvement of

Costa Mesa High.

What do you end up with?

I’d say a student body that now excels in every sport. A student body

that has a music and arts department that is second to none. A student

body that will have pride in their academic accomplishments, thus

creating a desire in area residents to send their kids there. A student

body that will have the ethnic mix that is of equal percentage to the

city in which it lies.

A student body that will compete with Newport Harbor High School in

academics, the arts and athletics.

By the way, wouldn’t you love to see that football game?

Let’s put Costa Mesa on the list of great high schools.Let’s bring

back city pride.

Let’s learn to understand and live peacefully with all our neighbors.

All of this could be accomplished if you merged the two schools.

The school district had an opportunity a couple of years ago and

should have made Estancia the new Orange County High School for the Arts.

Now, that school is in Santa Ana and has kids begging to get in while

we have kids begging to go elsewhere.

Let’s not pass up the next opportunity.

I’d love to send my boys to Costa Mesa High School because they sure

aren’t headed to Estancia.

* Tim Cromwell is a Costa Mesa resident.