High schools set to merge

Newport-Mesa Unified School District students have two programs to choose from if they don’t feel they fit a traditional high school education and are open to taking college classes. By 2010, they will have one.

In a late-afternoon announcement Wednesday, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District announced it is merging Orange Coast Middle College High School and Early College High School for the school year starting in fall 2010, a move officials say will save money.

The decision came as a recommendation from Newport-Mesa Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard as school leaders review all district programs, officials said. While it hasn’t been formally voted on and won’t likely be discussed till next school year, board members support the move, board President Dana Black said.

“The costs [of the schools] are exorbitant for not just Newport-Mesa but the universities as well,” said. “We’ve started looking at what are the options we have. We’re still working the details out. But we decided to put this out there now, because we want the students not to be worried; we want them to be learning.”

Middle College High School meets on the OCC campus and lets 11th- and 12th-graders take college classes there as part of their curriculum, while Early College High School is a much newer program that partners with Coastline Community College and starts in ninth grade; the latter was put in place in 2006 after the district found enough grant funding, including money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“It is due to the successful implementation by [both] learning communities that the district can now move forward with plans to merge these two programs onto one campus and solidify the opportunities for our students,” Hubbard said in a statement released to the media. “We feel confident that the merging of these two successful programs will prove to be an incredible opportunity for our students.”

In the meantime, Orange Coast Middle College High School won’t enroll a new junior class next year, and district staff will immediately start the 18-month process of planning how to merge the two schools, according to a district news release. That merger will probably put all students on the Early College High School campus, 2990 Mesa Verde Drive, officials said.

Efforts to reach school principals were unsuccessful. The district released statements from the head of each school.

In his statement, Middle College High School Principal Bob Nanney said, “This is a great opportunity to share and enhance our Middle College spirit with a broader spectrum of students. [Early College High School] is a wonderful program, and we look forward to working together and being able to merge our best practices.”

“The merge will provide choices for students to experience expanded high school and post secondary offerings,” Early College High School Principal Kathy Slawson said in her statement.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.