Final school forum focuses on Costa Mesa

Deirdre Newman

The most telling moment during the second and final community

forum Tuesday for Newport-Mesa Unified School Board candidates

occurred when the candidates discussed how to engage more

non-English-speaking parents in the educational process.

While the incumbents touted the success of preschool and adult

education programs, Ed Loyd, challenging Trustee Serene Stokes, found

a criticism by looking out into the small crowd that had come to look

around the room at the Neighborhood Community Center in Costa Mesa.

“We have a large ethnic population, yet we don’t see many Latin

American or other ethnic groups here tonight,” Loyd said. “Evidently,

we’re not reaching parents, because they’re not participating in this

forum.”

Loyd said he would try to interact more with people of diverse

ethnic backgrounds, to make them feel more comfortable with the

educational process.

Loyd’s comments echoed a common theme articulated by the

challengers during the forum -- the board is doing a passable job in

its varied duties, but could do a much better job with an infusion of

new ideas.

The incumbents again defended their record and responded with more

fervor than in the previous forum to what they considered false

accusations from the challengers.

“I don’t know where Ron Winship gets his misinformation from,”

said Stokes in rebutting a question about the candidates’ priorities.

“We teach English at all of our schools. I checked with the assistant

superintendent, and they said the number of bilingual classes being

taught is zero.”

The forum took on a more contentious tone as Winship, in his

opening statement, quoted from actor Adam Sandler.

“It’s difficult to soar with the eagles when you’re surrounded by

turkeys,” Winship said, reiterating his claim that the district is

saddled with 19 “nonperforming” schools. Those 19 did not meet the

target in the state’s Academic Performance Index, but the state does

not consider them nonperforming.

A question about a proposed health center at Rea Elementary School

-- an idea put on hold earlier this year after Westside residents

criticized the school district and Childrens’ Hospital of Orange

County for not including them in the decision-making process --

provoked some of the most divided responses of the evening.

Wendy Leece expressed her adamant opposition to the proposal.

“No study has been done to show that a CHOC clinic -- mobile or

permanent -- would increase student learning,” Leece said. “I’m all

for healthy children, but there are plenty of places for people to

take their sick children.”

Her challenger, Tom Egan, illustrated his inclusive philosophy

with his answer.

“As a community activist, it’s a perfect example of how all

stakeholders should be involved,” Egan said.

Trustee Judy Franco said the clinic is necessary because funding

for Healthy Start -- the program currently at Rea -- is running out,

and the district is not sure whether it will continue.

The question about how to improve high school graduation rates

showed that the challengers, while expressing good intentions, were

short on specifics.

“We need a safe, learning environment and programs to prepare them

for college and the workplace,” said Shelby Cove, Franco’s

challenger.

Egan had a few more details, suggesting individual learning plans

for students, involving parents and technology.

Winship said teaching needs to be modified to reflect the

realities of the cyber-world, including more emphasis on visual

learning.

And Loyd said he didn’t trust the graduation rates given by the

incumbents for Westside high schools, but didn’t offer any of his own

opinions for increasing them.

In contrast, incumbent Stokes provided a litany of ways the

district is working to up graduation rates.

“Not everyone likes high school,” Stokes said. “Some students are

at Middle College High School [on Orange Coast College’s campus]. Our

[high] graduation rate is there because we have tutorials and

Advancement Via Individual Determination and our teachers are

interested in our kids.”