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 .
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