Martha Fluor is a bit different...

Martha Fluor is a bit different than the typical school board

trustee in that, for the most part, she didn’t attend American

schools growing up. She speaks fluent Spanish because she lived in

South America for a while. And in addition to Chile and Venezuela,

she also lived in Northern Africa -- in Liberia.

But Fluor, now a nearly 20-year area resident, certainly has

Newport-Mesa children, including her granddaughter, at heart. That’s

why Fluor, an 11-year school board trustee, serves the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District. Earlier this month, her board colleagues

appointed her president -- for the third time.

On Tuesday, City Editor James Meier met up with Fluor at Sonora

Elementary School in Costa Mesa to discuss her third one-year stint,

as well as some hot-button school district issues.

How will your third term as president differ from the previous

two?

Well, I think there are a number of issues. In my first term, I

was just entering my second term of office. I was a five-year board

member. That, in and of itself, I’ve learned so much. We were in such

a different state in terms of the district itself. We were working

with an interim superintendent at the time because John Nicoll had

retired, so we were in the process of a search. We had Dr. Bob Francy

as our interim. So we had that. So we have a different superintendent

now.

The second time I was president, we had Dr. Mac Bernd as

superintendent and we had finished with the [1992] embezzlement, but

we were then going through the Orange County bankruptcy, so a lot of

stress and strain on the district. Morale was not good. We were so

focused on getting through the county bankruptcy, trying not to take

too much from the classrooms. We were cutting.

So, this year, we’ve got a fantastic Supt. [Robert Barbot], morale

is terrific, our teachers are exceptional. If you judge strictly on

test scores, our test scores are exactly what Dr. Barbot predicted

they would be -- they’re steadily rising. Sonora school is one of

those that continues soaring up above. So you can’t tell me it’s the

kids and their backgrounds that are the problem because you have

schools like Sonora and College Park that are continuing to grow by

leaps and bounds in terms of academic performance.

We’ve got a major budget crunch looming, but this board has been

very, very strong in planning strategically and looking at the budget

and looking at major ways to protect those programs that are

essential. And we’ve been very actively engaged in capturing as much

of our tax dollars as possible both from the state and federal

government through writing grants. We send all of this money to

Washington D.C. and to the state of California, and we should be

getting it back, so we’re very active in looking at ways to improve

education.

So those are the major differences and focuses.

How will your presidency differ from Judy Franco’s?

I think Judy did a wonderful job. Well, one thing is the meetings

will be shorter because I won’t be talking as much. That’s the big

joke. My job will be more to run the meeting and not interject too

much, so I’ll be less vocal than I normally am. That’s the big joke

around.

I’m also an individual who really likes to solicit a lot of

information. And so, I’m already talking to Dr. Barbot about looking

into the possibilities of meeting with our principals and meeting

with our communities, whether it be in a forum atmosphere, taking it

one zone at a time and really just going out into the public and

opening it up and saying, “We’re here to hear from you.” So I think

those are a couple of things.

I’m really interested in hearing. We just had a major election and

while the turnout was really low, it’s really incumbent upon us as

trustees to inform and we’re in for some hard times. All of us are

going to be suffering with this major state deficit. So we need to

keep the focus on children and learning and still demanding

accountability, but listening to our constituency.

What would you like to see happen during your one-year term?

A couple of things. I hope that we can see a positive impact of

Measure A; it will be starting.

I would like to see us and community more engaged in our

decision-making. Not that they aren’t now, but I think there’s always

an opportunity to hear from them.

I’d also like to see our principals engaged in our decisions.

And I’m also interested in working with the Daily Pilot in

facilitating that. The Daily Pilot is the local newspaper. You do a

great service to our community and I’d like to see us work closer.

I’d also like to see us work closer with both of the city councils

of both cities to effectuate change and conditions to improve the

lives of children. That’s what we’re all about -- to improve our

communities and the lives of children and their educational

opportunities.

Does the district’s zero-tolerance policy need to be revisited yet

again?

Yes, and we are. I sat on a committee with Dana Black and Jim

Ferryman last year looking at zero tolerance and, while I agree with

zero tolerance and a policy, there needs to come ... I view the

zero-tolerance policy as an intervention. I view it as a wake-up a

call not only to the student, but also to the parents and to the

community that this student has a problem and got caught. But, given

that, I want to take it further. With intervention needs to come

support.

Under the current policy, you have no choice into what can or

cannot be done. Children that get caught and are automatically

transferred lose all rights and privileges. So, if you have an

athlete, a drama student or any student in an extracurricular

activity, that child, when transferred, loses all of those rights and

privileges. They are not allowed to participate in any of those types

of extracurricular activities. That’s based, one, on CIF rules, but

also on our rules.

So, here you have a child that you’re intervening in their lives,

and you may in fact be taking away that one thing that keeps them

engaged, so I know we’re looking at that. The principals have been

talking about it at the secondary level and we’re going to be

engaging the community in a series of meetings with them come next

year. I think it’s very critical that we take a look at that.

And the other thing is it needs to be applied consistently and

fairly across the district. Until we can get over the concept that

kids don’t want to rat on their friends, we have a problem, because

one child may be caught, but it’s not just one child. It’s rarely

just one child. It’s usually a group, so one child gets targeted and

identified while the others breathe a sigh of relief and don’t stick

up. And nothing happens to them in spite of our investigation.

So, yes, it needs to be revisited.

Is zero tolerance too strict?

I don’t think it’s too strict. I just don’t think it provides

enough options for both the principal and the needs of the students.

That’s my problem. It just doesn’t provide enough support or options.

Now that’s only in respect to drugs and alcohol.

When we’re talking about weapons and things like that, our policy

is absolutely firm on that. And that’s a good policy.

Will a skate park get built in Newport-Mesa?

Absolutely. The sooner the better.

Is Davis Elementary the ideal location at this point?

I don’t know if it’s the ideal location. In many respects, I think

it’s a good location, especially if we combine it with some sort of a

teen center or youth center and be able to utilize the space that’s

created for some educational opportunities for Davis school also.

That would be wonderful.

Of course, I would like to see skateboard parks in several

locations, but this is a start and I think the young skateboarders

and skateboard coalition are being heard finally and I hope that in

the next two years, we see a skateboard park built.

Will Rea Elementary see a CHOC Health Center at some point?

I don’t know whether we will or not. I can tell you right now that

we have the Health Start van going to Rea, Wilson and Whittier

[elementary schools] and it’s servicing the need. I know that CHOC is

still very interested in bringing health services to children in this

area. Costa Mesa has an underserved population that has needs. All

the documentation shows that children don’t travel out of their area

to go, so busloads of children are not going to be coming from San

Diego or Santa Ana or Huntington Beach. These are only the children

of our district.

So will it be built on Rea? I can’t tell you. I know that they’re

still talking, evaluating and assessing. They may go somewhere else.

Who knows? But I suspect that we will see some sort of CHOC facility

in Costa Mesa to service the needs of the population. A healthy

community wants healthy children.

How did you get involved with KOCE?

I’ve been involved with KOCE for 25 years. I’ve been on the board

for 22 years. Lot of changes. When I got involved, I belonged to the

Jr. League of Orange County and we did a project with KOCE to develop

teacher packets for some of the courses they were offering. That’s

how I got involved.

So what exactly do you do as part of the KOCE Foundation board?

The foundation is the arm of the television station that is

actively involved in raising funds and, right now, because of the

mandate through the federal government with the FPPC, we’re in the

process of converting to completely digital. We have four channels,

so we’re actively soliciting and raising funds for that digital

conversion because we’re under mandate to have it done by 2006. All

television stations have to be converted. And we’re well on our way.

We’re also in the process of working with the Coast [Community

College] District to take the foundation and KOCE to the next level,

which is to a completely public entity separate from the Coast

district.

We submitted a bit and we’re in the process of negotiating with

them. They’re also interested in looking at that.

Any final thoughts?

I’m just looking forward to working with the parents, the

teachers, administrators to see that -- like [Trustee] Tom Egan keeps

quoting -- “this is a world-class education in a world-class area for

all of the kids.”