Educational victories

His parents had noticed the warning signs. The boy had trouble balancing and reading basic words. He often paced back and forth. He could recite facts about animals and sea creatures, but only at his own prompting. When asked questions, he could rarely articulate an answer.

This year, James and Lisa Eddy discovered the truth: Their son Lex, a third-grader at Paularino Elementary School, was diagnosed as autistic. As a result, he would need to be in a classroom better suited to his needs. In the past, the family had paid a speech therapist to work with Lex. Now, they were prepared to look into private schools.

“I would have been desperate enough to pay anything to find a school,” Lisa Eddy said. “I wouldn’t have sued the district. I just would have done without.”

Then, two things happened. At the start of the school year, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District hired a batch of new therapists to work with special-education students ? and, in doing so, provided Lex with a speech therapist at no extra cost. Meanwhile, the district implemented a new autism program at Killybrooke Elementary, where Lex plans to go after leaving Paularino.

With services now available in-house, the Eddys can give their checkbook a bit of a rest. Their story is not unusual here. A year after the district was hit with 73 legal cases regarding its special-education services ? the third-highest of any district in the state ? Newport-Mesa has set out to bolster its programs for special-needs children, hiring new faculty, installing classes and offering more training for teachers.

Whether its special-education programs are better than a year ago, Newport-Mesa is prospering on the numbers page. This year, the district has: