Community Commentary -- Doug Sutton

James Doti, the president of Chapman University, ended a recent column

with “The message is clear: The quality of K-12 education provided many

minority students is deplorable and in need of radical improvement.”

Costa Mesa Mayor Linda Dixon and our judge wannabe Councilwoman Karen

Robinson disagree. Both have argued that our schools are “fine.”

The Daily Pilot, in its Jan. 24 editorial (“Some Newport-Mesa API

scores spark celebration”) took a similar stance, concluding:

“Newport-Mesa is a desirable place to live in large part because our

schools are so good.”

Bravo to Doti for stating the obvious. The views of Dixon, Robinson

and the Pilot may play well in Pleasantville but are unsupportable and do

a grave disservice to Costa Mesa.

I have no doubt Newport Beach schools are “good,” they’re getting

enormous city and community support and everyone seems pleased with the

product. This is not so in Costa Mesa. We don’t even seem able to

articulate what we want or expect of our schools. Assuming standardized

test scores fairly depict our composite school performance, our Costa

Mesa leaders and communities should be embarrassed.

Yes, Estancia High School provides top Advanced Placement classes and

has a few students well-qualified for our country’s best colleges. Yes,

Costa Mesa High’s recent academic decathlon participation and performance

was off the charts. And yes, there are more examples of those who are

doing “fine.”

But, it’s deceptive to generalize from the performance of a few,

especially when it encourages community complacency on such an important

issue. The performance of Costa Mesa schools is better measured by the

percentage of students who are doing well. Even if we limit this universe

to students who are proficient in English, and that excludes many

students, our schools are not “fine.”

I’ve argued for a year that Costa Mesa schools are doing the best they

can given our socioeconomic profile, our number of first-generation

Latinos, California’s school funding guidelines and our limited city and

community support. The school’s aren’t failing, it’s our City Council.

It’s the council members’ jobs to unify and lead us to act for our city’s

best interest.

Why aren’t they actively and aggressively following the lead of major

cities across the country by funding and rallying the community to

citywide kindergarten through eighth-grade after-school programs? The

wide and strong evidence of the value of extended schools goes way beyond

academic improvement. This issue is as important to Costa Mesa’s

long-term well-being as fire and police protection.

The efforts of Mesa Verde resident Mirna Burciaga to raise our

schools’ commitment to our limited-English proficient students and their

families speaks to the larger problem (“TeWinkle failed some students,

U.S. finds,” Oct. 30). Why did she have to wage such a monumental

struggle to win the most basic concessions that are sure to benefit our

community and schools alike? Was the implementation cost such a perceived

threat to our schools’ well-being? Is our community so divided and our

City Council so myopic we can’t define common interest?

There is no dirty little secret about Estancia, it’s not an anomaly.

The simple truth is: Like many of California’s city schools, its

demographics and needs have changed at a faster pace than the school

district has been able to adjust to without dramatically increased

community support. The school day is just not long enough for our schools

to do the job we require. While many groups and individuals have tried to

step up to fill the void, their efforts are minimal to the enormity of

our need.

The school district and Costa Mesa City Council made a strong gesture

when they jointly proclaimed support for Costa Mesa’s after-school

efforts. Further, they made a good decision to form a consortium of

interested groups to collect and forward information and efforts.

But without funding these acts are toothless. It’s unrealistic for our

council to expect the community to do any more until the city first makes

a substantial funding commitment. My recommendation is for the council to

direct $400,000 annually to after-school efforts with a stipulation

requiring matching funds, a low student-to-teacher ratio and an emphasis

on improving academics. Home Ranch will generate three to four times this

amount for the city, and Costa Mesa has no greater unfunded need.

It’s time to elevate the school argument. The City Council should

assign the Planning Commission to take the information gathered by the

consortium to our true city leaders -- our resident teachers, police and

fire personnel, our fraternal organizations, our nonprofit and for-profit

corporations, our church elders and our retired seniors who work

relentlessly to make Costa Mesa a better place to live and raise

families. Let’s get beyond blame and self-interest.

Doti’s assessment is accurate. It’s up to us to use it as a wake-up

call.

* DOUG SUTTON is a Costa Mesa resident.