School board votes in proposed changes

COSTA MESA — Newport-Mesa Unified School District board members voted unanimously Tuesday to make changes at three schools facing sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In front of a crowd of less than two dozen, board members opted to follow all the recommendations of a seven-member hearing panel that visited the schools in the fall. Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard promised to present an implementation plan at the March 27 board meeting to outline specific ways that the changes will be enacted.

Pomona Elementary School, Wilson Elementary School and TeWinkle Middle School are the first in the district to enter year three of the Program Improvement list, which targets low-income schools that have failed to meet federal requirements. The panel recommended lengthening the school year or day at all three schools, changing the English-learner curriculum at Pomona and Wilson, appointing outside administrators at Pomona and TeWinkle and giving the district authority to replace staff at those schools.

As the board voted, the schools’ principals — Janis King of Pomona, Candy Sperling of Wilson and Dan Diehl of TeWinkle — sat together. King and Diehl declined comment after the meeting, while Sperling praised the hearing panel for having listened to multiple opinions.

“March 27 doesn’t mean the end,” she said. “We are engaged in ongoing work. I see it as another step in the process.”

After the packed public hearings at the three schools in January, the meeting Tuesday was mostly quiet, with only a handful of speakers commenting before the vote. Board member Karen Yelsey urged the community to band together to help the schools, all of which are on Costa Mesa’s Westside and serve high numbers of poor students learning English as a second language.

“We need to reverse low expectations,” Yelsey said. “I personally believe kids will rise to the level where they’re expected to achieve.”

In the fall, the district and teachers union assembled a seven-member hearing panel to investigate the three schools. The panel, which consisted of Newport-Mesa teachers, principals and others, presented a draft report the day before winter break and submitted its final report earlier this month after holding public hearings at Pomona, Wilson and TeWinkle.

The schools entered year three of the Program Improvement list in August after their standardized test scores fell short of federal standards again. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, 24.4% of all students must score as proficient or above in English and 26.5% in math — and every significant subgroup of students, including whites, Latinos and English-learners, must reach the marks individually.

TeWinkle and Pomona both came up short in multiple categories this year, while Wilson missed only one: 24.1% of its English-learners passed the English test, missing the federal requirement by about one student.