School district expands local preschool services

Michael Miller

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has expanded its preschool

services for the upcoming year, creating two new sites at Costa Mesa

schools that are struggling academically.

Preschools will open this fall at College Park Elementary School

and Pomona Elementary School, the two Newport-Mesa schools that

scored lowest last year on the state’s Academic Performance Index.

Incorporating early childhood education at these sites may improve

academic performance in the future, said Susan Astarita, the

district’s assistant superintendent of elementary education.

“We recognized many years ago that an intervention we needed to

provide for English-language learners was education at a young age,”

Astarita said. “That was definitely our goal. It was part of our 1999

strategic plan, and it remains a part of it in 2005.”

Newport-Mesa had no preschool services at all until 1999, when a

program opened at Whittier Elementary School, a low-performing school

in one of Costa Mesa’s less affluent areas. Since then, the district

has opened Harper Preschool on the east side of Costa Mesa and also

added preschool classes at Wilson Elementary School.

The two new sites will service neighborhoods that, like those of

Wilson and Whittier, have traditionally scored lower on the API.

Pomona was listed as a school that did not make adequate yearly

progress for two years in a row -- under the No Child Left Behind

Act. College Park is listed as at risk for the coming year.

“You’re looking at areas where the vast majority of students do

not have access to a preschool,” school board member Judy Franco

said. “By placing them on campuses where you know that youngsters do

not have that access, you are increasing the likelihood that they

will be better prepared for school when they enter kindergarten.”

In the past, Newport-Mesa has received funding for additional

preschools through state grants. This year, the district applied

again but did not receive any funds. Terry Miller, funding manager

for the child development division of the state Department of

Education, said the state had passed on Newport-Mesa this year,

because the district was deemed less needy than others.

According to Miller, the state had allocated $1.6 million for

Orange County preschools this year; the Garden Grove Unified School

District, designated as a top priority, received the entire grant.

Newport-Mesa, which had requested $292,557 to service 96 children,

was designated as second priority.

“While the need is still in a priority two area, other areas have

been identified as underserved or unserved,” Miller said. “That would

be priority one.”

Lacking a state grant, Newport-Mesa created its new sites by

transferring children from Harper Preschool, which services all of

the district, and placing them at schools in their respective

attendance zones. In all, 56 Harper students have moved to Pomona and

24 to College Park for September.

The district has hired six new teachers for the sites, four of

them at Pomona. Apart from regular instruction, the Pomona preschool

will also feature an extensive special education program.

All five of Newport-Mesa’s district-run preschool sites, which do

not charge tuition, are in Costa Mesa. The Child Development Center,

an outside education agency, contracts with Newport-Mesa to run

fee-based preschools at several sites in Newport Beach, including

Lincoln, Eastbluff and Newport Heights elementary schools.

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at michael.miller@latimes.com.