Newport-Mesa Board Decides Not to Make Lincoln a Middle School

Under pressure from parents, the Newport-Mesa school board on Tuesday reversed its decision to reopen Lincoln School as a middle school and voted to establish a magnet program there.

The decision reversed an April vote that would have made Lincoln a middle school for grades four to six in Corona del Mar. Under the previous plan, Harbor View Elementary, Andersen Elementary and Eastbluff Kindergarten Center would have been changed to K-3 schools.

Tuesday night’s decision will mean that Andersen and Harbor View will remain K-6, that Eastbluff Kindergarten Center will close, and that parents may choose whether or not their children attend the Lincoln Magnet School.

The magnet school will have separate facilities for students in the K-3 and 4-6 grades, a configuration school administrators say will allow for special educational programs not available at a K-6 school.

The decision was greeted by a standing ovation from most of the approximately 120 parents who packed the board meeting. After the vote, more than a dozen parents thanked the board for reconsidering its position. Some parents, however, expressed reservations about the decision and questioned the closure of Eastbluff.

The compromise was proposed by board member Sherry Loofbourrow, who told the crowd that although she still believed that the K-3, 4-6 configuration would provide superior educational opportunities for the students, she felt there was not enough positive support from the parents to make it work.

Board member Ken Wayman, who called the new magnet school a “win-win situation,” said that the new plan satisfies both the vision of district administrators and the need for parents to have a say in the education of their children.

The magnet school would be open to all children living approximately west of MacArthur Boulevard and would open in the fall of 1992.