Fields need more than just mowing

Grass and dirt is sometimes more than meets the eye. As we’ve seen

recently in Costa Mesa, upkeep -- or the lack of it -- of sports

fields can mean the difference between a perception of equality and

discrimination.

That’s why it’s good to see the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District and city officials begin to look for ways to better maintain

the ball fields in Costa Mesa.

District and city officials’ talk of a committee that would deal

directly with deteriorating fields at Costa Mesa and Estancia high

schools is a hopeful sign. They are also talking about improving

lines of communication between schools and the district. Safety

hazards and cosmetic field issues are being tended to. We hope to see

the dialogue, and action, continue.

We only wonder why it had to come to this.

We join, perhaps belatedly, the lament of local coaches, residents

and students in what has been a building refrain: that the lack of

maintenance of local fields, unwittingly or otherwise, has at the

very least led to an image of inequality between the closely

manicured lawns of Newport’s public school ball fields and the

patchy, shoddy surfaces of Costa Mesa’s.

Through a joint-use agreement with the district, the city

maintains the fields, but critics claim that the agreement is as

shoddy as the fields -- leading to a lack of defined responsibilities

for the lawns, sniping between coaches and city officials, and

complaints of ruts, holes and safety hazards.

Ultimately, it took a concerned parent to claim last month that

the neglect of the languishing fields discriminates against schools

in Costa Mesa that have predominately Latino student populations.

District officials have denied claims of discrimination.

Why did it take a discrimination complaint to the U.S. Department

of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to shine the light on this

problem?

The district needs to step up and lead an effort to draw clear

lines of responsibility and communication for field upkeep while

ensuring that maintenance is on par with fields in Newport Beach,

which is part of the same district.