Two ‘distinguished’ schools celebrate

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- Balloons and banners on two elementary campuses

Wednesday morning heralded the schools’ selection as California

Distinguished Schools.

The state honors went to Sonora Elementary in Costa Mesa and Andersen

Elementary in Newport Beach.

The criteria that determines California Distinguished Schools is based

on academic excellence and an extensive application.

For Sonora, the honor was especially sweet because the school received

a Title I award for high Academic Performance Index scores based on its

student population just last week. About 70% of the school’s students

qualify for free and reduced lunch rates and 56% are English-language

learners.

“It’s been a really good couple of weeks,” said Sonora Elementary

Principal Lorie Hoggard.

Hoggard said the application took a couple of months to complete and

involved the participation of staff, parents, community members and even

the student council.

“It validated a lot of things we were doing and gave us a lot of great

ideas for next steps,” Hoggard said.

Validators from the state came to check out the school as well and

were impressed with the multitude of enrichment and intervention

programs, Hoggard said.

The camaraderie between parents of different ethnicities also knocked

their socks off, she said.

“The validators were crying after the parents met with them -- [there

would be] an African American parent sitting next to an Anglo parent

sitting next to a Latino parent with their arms around each other talking

about baby-sitters that they share,” Hoggard said, “and talking about how

lucky they feel to have their kids at a school like Sonora.”

The school board president, Judy Franco, said the honor reflects the

diligence of everyone involved with the distinguished schools.

“You need to have principals, staff, parents who are willing to take

the time,” Franco said. “It’s an exciting time for those two schools.”

Andersen Principal Mary Manos was unavailable for comment.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .