Schools try to be more welcoming to parents

Orange Coast Middle College High School is the smallest site in the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District -- so small, in fact, that many

of its neighbors don’t even know its location. The campus, which

enrolls students seeking to learn outside the standard high school

setting, sits tucked behind the technology center at Orange Coast

College.

“It’s hard to find our school,” Principal Bob Nanneysaid. “It’s

been one of the best-kept secrets in town for a long time.”

In the near future, though, the school may be easier to find.

Earlier this year, administrators put new signs on the lampposts

around campus, and they hope to place additional signs on the two

major intersections by the college.

Also on the school’s docket this year are family potluck dinners,

student exit surveys and a newly furnished reception area.

Nanney’s campus is one of eight in the Newport-Mesa district

embarking this year on the Family Friendly Schools program, a

districtwide push to help parents feel more involved at their

children’s school sites. Over the next year, parents who visit

campuses may find more visible staff in the front office, more signs

pointing the way to different parts of campus, or even personalized

websites for their children’s teachers.

The net result, in the end, may be better grades.

“There are those families that are very engaged with the schools,

and those that aren’t,” said Cheryl Galloway, the district’s director

of program improvement. “We know from research that the more families

are involved, the more student achievement goes up.”

At the school board’s meeting on Aug. 23, administrators from each

of the secondary campuses in Newport-Mesa -- Middle College,

Estancia, Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar High Schools,

Ensign Intermediate School, TeWinkle Middle School and the Back

Bay/Monte Vista continuation site -- presented individual improvement

plans. The reports represented the end result of more than a year of

planning within the district.

In December 2003, at the annual convention of the California

School Board Assn., Newport-Mesa board members heard a speech on

family outreach by Steve Constantino, a former Virginia principal

whose work at Stonewall Jackson High School had earned it Time

magazine’s High School of the Year Award in 2001. After Constantino’s

presentation, the board members invited him to travel to Costa Mesa

and share his ideas further.

“What really piqued our interest was that he was talking about

secondary education,” said board president Serene Stokes. “We know we

have a lot of participation at elementary schools, but when

youngsters get in high school, we have a group of moms in the PTA,

but the majority of parents rarely have any contact with the high

school unless their child is in trouble.”

After Constantino’s visit, each site formed a Family Friendly

Schools committee and created plans for the next one to five years.

During the 2004-05 school year, Constantino served as a mentor to the

district, returning three times to deliver seminars on reaching out

to the community.

This fall will mark the official beginning of the Family Friendly

Schools program -- although some campuses, busy with Measure A

construction, may get a later start. Despite the large number of

changes outlined in the plans, the program will not likely cost the

district a great deal of money. Most of the proposals, such as

posting signs or sending out additional newsletters, can be achieved

at a minimal cost.

“We thought, ‘Ah, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel,’” said

board member Dana Black.

Some of the schools’ plans deal specifically with problems raised

by Measure A, a districtwide construction project that closed a

number of classrooms and put many offices in portable buildings.

Michael Vossen, principal of Newport Harbor High, said he wanted to

set two or three informational kiosks around the outdoor campus to

direct first-time visitors.

Guy Olguin, co-principal of Corona del Mar High, said he also saw

the need for better on-campus directions at the campus. “Corona del

Mar is a relatively large campus, so if they [visitors] are parked in

the front lot and they need to get back to the gym, they may not

recognize it as the gym compared to the boys’ or girls’ locker room,”

he said.

Many of the schools also sought measures to improve relations with

their English-learner communities. Ensign’s principal, Ed Wong,

mentioned a desire to translate the school’s website into Spanish,

while TeWinkle principal Dan Diehl said he wanted a bilingual call

system to send messages home.

In addition, Diehl said, the school hoped to convert its abandoned

woodshop building into a parent resource center, with community

liaison Tony Valenzuela -- an longtime advocate for English-learner

students -- in charge. For the moment, though, with the campus still

undergoing repairs, administrators may have to make do with posting

signs.

“As we move out of construction next year, hopefully we’ll do

something bigger,” Diehl said.