NEWPORT BEACH : New Parent Group Attacks School Plan

Three weeks after the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board voted to reopen Lincoln Elementary School for fourth, fifth and sixth grades only, more than 100 parents attended Tuesday night’s board meeting to ask members to reconsider their decision.

Speaking for a newly formed group, Newport-Mesa Parents for Quality Education, Don Danks told the board that “full and open consideration” was lacking before the board acted on the issue on April 17.

At that meeting, the board voted 4 to 3 to alter the grade configurations of schools in the Corona del Mar High School zone. Prompted by increasing enrollments at Andersen and Harbor View elementary schools, the board designated those two schools, as well as Eastbluff Kindergarten Center, for kindergarten through third grade, beginning in 1993. All area students that year will attend Lincoln for grades four through six.

The parents have been objecting to the new plans because they like the continuity of kindergarten through sixth grade in neighborhood schools, and say that not enough research has gone into the proposal to group all the older elementary-school children onto one campus.

Danks asked the board to begin the process of looking into possible alternatives for the three schools affected by the move.

Danks was one of five people to speak to the board on the issue. Since the Lincoln reopening was not on the agenda, the board was restricted from responding to the comments under state law. Board President Judy Franco asked audience members to return for the May 22 board meeting, when staff members are scheduled to report on implementation plans to reopen Lincoln as the new middle school. Lincoln has been closed for six years.

Expressing frustration, parents gathered outside after the meeting and Danks indicated that Tuesday’s attendance was necessary to demonstrate continued commitment to the issue.

“We need to remain very calm and rational. . . . All we wanted to do is to let the school board know that there is a large contingent of parents concerned about this,” Danks said, adding that the group hopes to draw a large crowd of supporters at the May 22 meeting. “We want to fill the room and have them coming out the doors.”

Danks said the parents group has raised about $20,000 in pledges, which will be used for parent education, direct mailings and other administrative costs.

The group is examining the possibility of legal action should the board refuse to reconsider its vote, Danks said.