BACK TO SCHOOL : NEWPORT BEACH : Principal Sees Bright Future for Lincoln Jr. High

As school was coming to a close last spring, the main issue facing the Newport-Mesa Unified School District was the reopening of Lincoln Junior High.

With overenrollment expected at all Corona del Mar elementary schools, and with vocal parental opposition to the establishment of a central middle school for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders, the decision was made to reopen the Lincoln campus with separate facilities for primary-school students and for the middle-school grades.

Since that decision, newly appointed principal Bruce Crockard has been touring the Lincoln campus with a growing enthusiasm. Crockard, opening long-locked doors and discovering musty rooms, is excited about what he called the educational possibilities of a school of this size.

“It’s going to be like Disneyland in here when the (students) come in,” Crockard said during a recent tour. “It is so exciting to think what we’re going to be able to do for these kids.”

The site will need about $5 million dollars worth of construction, initial maintenance work, furniture and supplies before the doors open to students in the fall of 1992. This fall, Crockard’s biggest responsibilities will be working with the architect and looking for teachers and administrators to eventually staff the site.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for providing things for upper elementary kids that normally are only found at the junior high school level,” Crockard said, pointing out the existing science laboratories and huge media and library center.

About 600 students from kindergarten to sixth grade will attend Lincoln, which once housed as many as 1,300 pupils.

The school’s available space will be used for activity rooms, math and language labs, and for long-term projects for primary or upper-level teachers.

“Maybe for a while, you could use the space for a math situation for, let’s say, three weeks, and then if you want, create stores, so that students could use some real-life experience,” Crockard said, leaning against the wall that will one day be part of the office.

The primary grades will also have their own science laboratory, and all students will share an art room.