Investigation is a chance to improve

For the second time in five years, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District will be investigated because of a complaint about alleged

racial discrimination.

But it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it may turn out to be just the

opposite.

The complaint the district faces was brought by a familiar name:

Mirna Burciaga. It was Burciaga who in 2000 filed a complaint with

the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, arguing

that the district -- at TeWinkle Middle School, in particular, where

the latest complaint also focuses -- failed to teach non-English

speaking students well enough by focusing too much on English classes

at the expense of other subjects. The Office of Civil Rights agreed

with the charges, a decision that forced the district to lay out

clear plans for how it would educate English learners.

Today, those plans have made the district a better one. Much of

the problems the federal civil rights office discovered have been

handled by the district, under the direction of Karen Kendall, the

district’s head of English-learner programs. The work to integrate

English learners into the schools more productively has earned praise

from state officials and, more important, from parents and students

in the district.

Now the district faces a similar situation, and there is reason to

think there’ll be a similar result -- if the district even is found

at fault.

This time around, the Office of Civil Rights will look into

charges that district officials violated policy when they interviewed

parents in an intimidating manner after the parents first voiced

concerns about TeWinkle.

“I’m confident, from everything I’ve seen, that the process was

followed,” Supt. Robert Barbot told the Pilot. “We’re not here to be

completely defensive. We’re here to correct problems.”

In the past, the district certainly has done that. District

officials should make certain they continue their laudable track

record.

We, and the parents of this community, trust that they will.