School’s Programs Will Stay

The alternative education programs at Monte Vista School are staying put, at least for now.

The decision not to move the alternative education programs to Davis Middle School, made this week by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board, reflects a recognition that nearly all district schools are overcrowded.

The original idea was to move alternative-education students from Monte Vista to Davis, then reopen Monte Vista as an elementary school to ease overcrowding at elementary schools near Newport Harbor High School.

But Newport Harbor is not the only overcrowded campus, officials said. Davis is near Costa Mesa High School, and most of the elementary schools around Costa Mesa also are brimming over with students.

“All the elementary schools in Costa Mesa already have a substantial number of relocatable classrooms on their campuses,” said Mary Hornbuckle, chair of the district housing and demographics panel. “We feel Davis is the only relief for the Costa Mesa zone.”

Newport-Mesa also is expecting an enrollment boom in the next few years that may have to be solved by opening schools shuttered when enrollment declined in the 1980s. It would cost about $1 million for each school that has to be reopened, officials said. Given that situation, the district will not move on Monte Vista until a broader plan is in place.