Science is a solution at schools

Science, it turns out, may be an answer to a few vexing problems in

the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

District officials have started an innovative plan at Eastbluff

Elementary to expand its science and technology curriculum as a way

to improve the teaching there and draw students to the campus, which

has struggled with enrollment for the past handful of years. Among

the highlights are outfitting a portable classroom with the latest

science equipment -- including the basics such as sinks and

microscopes, as well as high-tech media devices -- and providing

laptop computers to all fourth- and fifth-grade students.

“We will have some Arnold Beckmans here at Eastbluff, and we want

them to have a state-of-the-art lab, where they can learn science,”

Bonnie Swann, Newport-Mesa’s director of elementary education, told

the Pilot. Beckman, whose name adorns a center at UC Irvine that will

be part of the Eastbluff program, was a scientist and businessman

renown for his many inventions.

Having heard this, what would stop a parent from deciding to send

a young boy or girl with a healthy interest in science to Eastbluff?

The end result? The students win, Eastbluff’s enrollment rises, and

the district gets to see just how well such a program works.

The pilot project also will help district officials evaluate what

to do with the $282 million in bond money they hope voters will

approve next month. The Measure F list of projects includes similar

science classrooms for all the district’s elementary schools.

That might be the best rationale yet for supporting the bond,

which is at the center of a relatively quiet campaign when compared

to 2000’s Measure A, which was just a third the size. If the district

can show that the latest bond’s hundreds of millions of dollars will

go directly to improving our students’ classrooms and their

education, it will be much easier to sign on for a continuation of

Measure A’s bill -- which essentially is how the tax will come out of

our pockets.

The science curriculum sounds promising. What else might our money

buy?