Community Commentary -- Meridee Thompson

I am writing out of concern for the lack of intelligence our local

custodians of education use on a regular basis.

Let’s see, for history, we could refer to a past superintendent at

Newport-Mesa Unified stating after Stephen Wagner’s arrest for embezzling

some $8 million that he just thought Wagner “was really good at managing

money.”

That was after some red flags popped up. I really loved the bit about

the mink-lined bathrobe. That must have cost us a few computers or

something. Then there is the fact that salaries for teachers were so low

that young, excellent teachers went to other districts because the pay

was so much better.

All this time we thought they were looking out for the education of

our children. Ha.

The latest is the proposal to join with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian

Church to build a parking structure in front of the high school pool. It

sure does make a lot of sense to build it where a severe amount of

congestion already exists off 15th street to add to the traffic and

safety issues already rampant there.

I thought a few years back when St. Andrew’s demolished a whole row of

homes to build its back parking lot and built that huge sanctuary and

installed that car lot-sized cross that they had already compromised the

neighborhood enough.

This is just another Band-Aid approach to a bigger problem that no one

wants to address. No. 1, there are too many kids at Newport Harbor High,

while other schools (Estancia for one) has a lot of room. I have visited

all of the high schools in Newport-Mesa, and I am shocked at the

stupidity of letting inner district transfers take place that remove

students from the attendance areas of Costa Mesa and Estancia high

schools to attend Newport Harbor. It is time to inform people so they can

get over racist-based misinformation.

Costa Mesa and Estancia are excellent schools staffed by caring and

excellent teachers. The district is letting Estancia in particular wane,

while catering to these requests for transfers.

No. 2, set up some guidelines regarding students who do not really

need to drive to school at all. Some of these kids are driving

gas-guzzling super-sized SUVs and trucks to school from homes less than

two blocks away.

I suppose they have to dash out during the 35-minute lunch break to

grab some food off campus. It’s really important to pollute the

environment and use up our natural resources for such endeavors.

Want to solve the parking problem? Think about it.

* MERIDEE THOMPSON is a Newport Beach resident.