Opinions Mixed on School Proposals
A plan to cope with rising enrollment in Newport-Mesa Unified School District drew mixed reviews this week from parents attending a study session.
Though parents “basically supported a proposal to establish a high-energy, high-tech elementary school” in Costa Mesa, said Jim de Boom, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Trustees, they were less enthusiastic about a plan to shift students from Abraham Lincoln Elementary School to Harbor View Elementary School.
Lincoln and Harbor View are in Corona del Mar.
The proposals are part of a five-year plan to deal with a projected enrollment increase of 1,000 students.
The high-tech school would occupy the former Rea School on Hamilton Street. The site is now used as a community center. Half of the student body would come from the local neighborhood, De Boom said, and the rest from voluntary transfers, starting with the 1998-99 school year.
There was less support at Tuesday’s meeting for the plan to redraw the boundary between Abraham Lincoln and Harbor View elementary schools, De Boom said. Though current Lincoln students would be allowed to stay where they are, future enrollees from Balboa Island and Irvine Terrace would be required to attend Harbor View.
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