Editorial

Once upon a time, we opined on these pages that we were losing

patience with the official school district line as to why the Westside

schools consistently score below the curve on standardized tests.

At that time, some Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials said

we weren’t being fair. Westside schools have a huge disadvantages, they

said.

Often, the largely Latino students not only don’t speak the language,

but many come from migrant families that move from neighborhood to

neighborhood and have parents who themselves aren’t literate, they

pointed out. To compare Westside students with those in, let’s say Corona

del Mar, is apples to oranges, they said.

Still, we wondered, if the problem is known, why isn’t a solution

found?

Enter Sharon Blakely, the Whittier School principal who knows how to

find the solutions.

Blakely was recently honored by the Irvine Co. with its Principal of

Excellence Award in relation to her work in bringing up Whittier School

test scores, but even more, making the school a model for how to improve

academics even when the odds are stacked high against that goal.

Blakely, a former elementary school teacher, employed several

techniques. Responding to her teachers’ pleas, she was able to get a

state grant that allowed her to start a pre-kindergarten program. The

result was more students speaking English at the kindergarten level.

She spurred on parental involvement, another key to learning success,

and she now draws 100 to 200 parents to PTA meetings that once attracted

only a handful.

Finally, she used a tool that every good administrator knows, she

surrounded herself with talented teachers, who before avoided Whittier

but now clamor to work at her school.

And Blakely isn’t the only one. School district officials have

answered the call and are working hard to improve academic performance in

many other schools that face similar challenges as Whittier.

They have a long way to go, obviously, but with people like Blakely in

charge, we feel confident they know how to get there.

And further, we see Blakely as an example to others who have used the

poor-performing schools as a way to embroil the city of Costa Mesa into

divisive and even mean-spirited politics.

Some prefer to make the largely Latino residents of Costa Mesa the

scapegoats for all the city’s ills, especially the schools, instead of

looking for solutions like Blakely has.

We believe Blakely offers a different model that we all should

emulate. She shows that instead of losing hope in the Westside schools

that have a difficult challenge, there are ways to tackle those problems

and educate those young minds who are eager to learn.

We congratulate Blakely on her award and a job well done.