Newport Heights will open on time

Deirdre Newman

Despite reservations about whether Newport Heights Elementary School

would be ready to open on time, officials confirmed Thursday that all

the kinks would be ironed out by Tuesday.

Elan Walsh, project manager for McCarthy Building Co., presided

over the last Measure A site committee meeting at the school before

opening day next week and deflected a number of questions about

potential pitfalls.

“We plan to have it buttoned up by the end of the day [Friday],”

Walsh said, referring to the construction.

At a meeting earlier this week, parents asked district officials

to postpone the school’s opening, as they have done for Harbor View

Elementary School. Harbor View’s opening was delayed because of

unexpected and severe problems with construction. But at Thursday’s

meeting, only one parent not on the committee showed up, and no

requests to delay the opening were made.

“By the lack of concerned parents tonight, that means their

questions were answered,” said Tom Holtom, the district

representative for the modernization effort. “The school is looking

good. I’m quite pleased.”

The school is one of seven under construction as part of Measure

A, the districtwide facility improvement program. Voters

overwhelmingly approved the $110-million Measure A construction bond

in June 2000. The funds have been spread out and applied to the

neediest areas at the schools.

Construction on the first schools began in April, but the bulk of

the work could not be done until the students cleared out in June.

During the meeting at Newport Heights, committee members,

including Principal Judith Chambers, asked Walsh a number of

questions.

The status of the bathrooms?

They will be in their permanent positions on Friday, Walsh said.

Electricity?

It’s back on for the most part, and the remaining glitches will be

worked out by Saturday, he said.

Fire alarm tested?

It could be finished by Friday. If not, the work could run into

Saturday, he said.

After the question and answer period and a short tour of the site,

many committee members said they were confident things would go

without a hitch on Tuesday.

“It has gone very expeditiously,” Chambers said. “As of late,

things are falling into place. If you had seen it before, you

wouldn’t believe it would happen.”

The power at the school had been out until Thursday because the

school had been given a complete power upgrade, including new Edison

power lines. On Thursday afternoon, the power was still intermittent

in some classrooms.

New ceilings, new windows and new ventilation units were put in

all the classrooms. New blue and white tile has been installed in

portions of the classrooms. Newport Heights boasts blue and white

tile and cabinets painted in Newport Blue.

Late in the afternoon, teachers were in various stages of

unpacking their materials.

First-grade teacher Shannon Jay stood in the middle of her room

surrounded by tons of boxes and desks loaded with crates and other

items.

“The rooms are gorgeous,” Jay said. “It’s just overwhelming. I’m

trying to get everything done.”

Next door, another first-grade teacher, Ami Hocker, was putting

the finishing touches on her room. She had already been in for a few

hours on Tuesday and had been slaving away all day Thursday.

“I’m still nervous about it,” Hocker said of the first day of

school. “I wish we had an extra day to make sure everything is

smooth. But I’m also excited for [school] to start.”

PTA president Julie Scharnell said she trusts the experts’

opinions on opening the school.

“I know all parents are concerned with safety, but they have

assured us it will be safe for the children, so I have to go off

that,” Scharnell said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.