A lot of things can happen before summer

Tuesday’s deadly earthquake in Mexico may just be a chillingly

timed reminder that all is not well at Newport Harbor High School.

As part of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s bond-funded

facility improvement program, a general assessment of the district’s

buildings was completed last month.

It found that Harbor High’s Robins Hall and Loats Theater, which

are connected and house 15 classrooms, all of the administrative

offices, the library and food services, would not stand up under a

severe earthquake. A week ago, district officials approved plans to

start preparing the vacation of the buildings.

The troubling part is that relocation will not happen until the

summer. Officials say there is no place to move the students and

other school officials before then.

Given the possible danger, “no” is not an acceptable answer.

Better would be a rush to find a solution, a drive among district and

campus officials to consider any ideas, wild or nearly impossible,

about how to get students out as soon as possible.

Can they be moved to temporary buildings? Is there room at Corona

del Mar High? Perhaps space at an intermediate school? What about

empty classrooms at UC Irvine? Is there another library they can use?

Can food be brought in from another campus?

Perhaps none of these would work. Almost certainly money, given

the state’s budget crisis, will be difficult to find. But with life

literally at stake, these obstacles are ones that Newport-Mesa can

overcome.

Certainly there is a solution out there, and one that can have the

school’s students, teachers, workers and administrators out of harm’s

way well before summer.

While the possibility of a severe earthquake hitting us before

summer is hardly predictable, it is also conversely unpredictable.

With that in mind, we believe it is in everyone’s best interest, and

their safety, to find a solution sooner rather than later.