District looks to reinstate adult education

The Newport Mesa Unified School District plans on bringing back a semblance of its adult education program this fall, adding 12 English-language classes back into the curriculum.

Since the decision to eliminate the program was made in mid-February, district spokeswoman Laura Boss said the board of education and Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard have been trying come up with solutions to save a portion of the curriculum.

“The devil is still in the details. We will be bringing back English-language classes,” she said. “That’s for certain. The long-term goal is to develop an English-learning program that will be self-sustaining, so it won’t be threatened again.”

Since the district decided to lay off roughly 45 part- and full-time teachers at the Adult Education on Meyer Place in Costa Mesa for a savings of $848,000, there has been opposition from those who are losing their jobs and their adult students.

Gary Miller, a candidate for the Orange County Board of Education, has primarily led the charge. His wife works in the Adult Education’s High School Diploma Lab, and she is expected to lose her job.

“We’re going to continue our push to save the entire adult education program,” he said. “We’ve got a petition drive going. We’ve got people writing the school board. And we’re going to have a big town meeting in a couple of weeks.”

That meeting, expected to be filled with affected students, teachers and families, is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 30 in Costa Mesa, but a meeting site has not yet been reserved, he said.

Miller said he doesn’t think the district has handled the situation the best it could have.

He said the High School Diploma Lab, which was whittled down from at least a dozen employees to a pair for next year, has left hundreds of students “in limbo with nowhere to go.”

Boss said Chuck Hinman, assistant superintendent for secondary education with the district, would be in charging of putting together adult education curricula for the fall.

She said the district is looking at a base fee that the adult education program will charge for its classes, but insisted that the adult students would not be asked to pay anything.

“The board and the superintendent have shared their anguish over having to make these cuts originally,” she said. “But since then we’ve be able to look at our options and we believe we can fund a portion for next year.”