Make way for arts high school in Newport-Mesa

STEVE SMITH

One of the great casualties of our society in the last generation is

our inability or our unwillingness to think and plan long term.

Just about everything in America is now directed toward the quick

fix, instant gratification and the need to satisfy a particular

audience with immediate rewards. Think here of Wall Street and

corporate America’s quarterly dividend cycles. Think of politicians,

who the moment they get elected, are forced to think and act not with

regard to what is best for their constituency, their region or their

nation, but what is best to help them get reelected in the next

contest. And as a nation, we spend our money as soon as we get it, as

well as lots of money we have not yet made, and put little money away

in savings accounts for rainy days.

The vision everywhere is severely shortsighted.

But I am very pleased to report that the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District Board of Trustees has restored my faith.

As you may have read or heard, the district unveiled its strategic

plan, a long-term document with specific goals and timings. Under

normal circumstances, these plans are made and forgotten. But this

school board wants to reach for the sky, and I for one completely

support one particular dream they have.

The new plan calls for the establishment of an arts high school in

the district.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, here is how it works

at the Orange County High School of the Arts, a similar school in the

Santa Ana Unified School District.

At that school, kids go to classes from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., students attend all of the academic classes

that a standard school has. They learn history and science, even

suffer through geometry and calculus.

But at 2 p.m., they study their passion in one of eleven different

conservatories, including music and theater, instrumental music and

creative writing. And they study it not only with other kids who

share their passion, but with teachers who are professionals in a

particular field.

Walk through the high school’s halls after 2 p.m., and you are

likely to hear two or three students running lines from “Hamlet,”

five or six practicing dance moves, and many more designing or

creating stage elements for use in a future production or rehearsing

a musical number on a favorite instrument.

That it is an arts high school is important not just because our

arts emphasis has dwindled to hardly anything at all, but also

because it provides a home for like-minded children.

That is the best part about this dream, that it breaks the mold of

placing all students of different interests, personalities and

intelligence in a room together to be taught one way. (No fault of

the teachers or district here. I’ve written several times about the

ridiculous state-mandated curriculum.)

Instead, kids who are yearning to be different, who want to do

something else, whose craving for an outlet for their creativity is

so great that they travel long distances each morning to satisfy it,

finally have a home.

Sorry to gush here, but you have to see it to believe it. I’ve

seen it, I believe it, it works, and our kids deserve a similar

school here in the district.

School board president Dana Black believes it too, and she’s ready

to take on anyone who dares to say that it’s a pipe dream. “We

started to put together some dream building, and we have enough

background,” Black told me, with a firm commitment in her voice.

This won’t be the district’s first attempt to start an arts high

school.

Several years ago, when the art high school announced plans to

move from its former location in Los Alamitos, the Newport-Mesa

district made some serious attempts to woo them here.

Even though their bid failed, they learned what it will take to

successfully operate such a school, even where it may be located.

“Since then, we’ve learned a lot,” Black said. “We’ve watched what

they’ve had to do, and we’ve watched other academies and programs.”

The district’s due diligence is not over.

“Yes, it’s a big undertaking,” Black said. “Is it going to happen

overnight? Probably not. But it is something that would go along with

our secondary restructuring.”

Black agreed that there is a huge demand for an arts high school.

I believe that there is also a need for other specialized schools,

such as industrial arts or science, but that’s another mountain to

climb. We should be thrilled to start the process with a good arts

high school.

There are more than enough people who will offer their negative

opinions.

They’ll tell us that there is no money, that teaching arts is a

waste of time and resources, and that it’s the wrong way to realize a

dream in the district.

To the naysayers, I offer this old quote: “If you think it can’t

be done, get out of the way of those who think it can.”

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664.