Newport-Mesa Limits Public Visits to Classes

Wary of an ongoing effort by a traditional-values group to monitor sex education courses, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board unanimously voted Tuesday night to control classroom visits by the public.

The 7-to-0 decision came after scores of interested citizens and parents debated whether the new visitation policy would shut out a substantial number of parents who have an interest in their children’s education.

Board members and Supt. John W. Nicoll tried to reassure the audience that the district’s first classroom visitation policy is designed to protect the public’s right to view classes in action without disrupting the education process.

“We are concerned about security,” board member Roderick H. MacMillian said. “This policy is not restrictive but controlling. . . . It will maintain a good educational environment. We don’t want a circus atmosphere in the classroom.”

Under the new policy, prospective visitors must submit a written request to the district stating the purpose of the visit. Then, principals and teachers of the class to be attended will review the requests and decide whether to approve them.

The guidelines state that classroom visits generally will involve parents or guardians of students enrolled in the class. Principals will determine the number of visitors, and priority will be given to parents of students already in a class or soon to be enrolled in the course, and to members of the public on escorted tours of the district.

Opponents of the policy say the new regulations are another sign that the school board is shutting out parents, who have a vital interest in and a right to know what their children are being taught.

“Parents have found some things embarrassing to the district,” said John Gustafson, founder of the Committee to Restore Ethical and Traditional Education (CREATE), a traditional-values group. “This proposal sends an unfriendly, subtle message to parents that they are not wanted in the classroom.”

School board members said they wanted a formal policy to manage an increase in requests to visit classes from parents with schoolchildren or parents trying to decide whether to enroll children in the district.

They also said they were concerned about efforts by members of CREATE and their supporters to monitor sex education and psychology classes in the district.

Since last spring, CREATE has sent its members and supporters--some of whom have no children in the district--to watch family life and psychology classes taught by Mike Marino and Maya Decker at Corona Del Mar High School.

The group wants the sex education curriculum revamped because, CREATE members say, it serves impressionable children “a philosophical agenda” that teaches promiscuity and destroys family values. Part of their strategy has been the ongoing monitoring of courses.