TELL THE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO SCRAP ITS SCREWBALL SOCIAL ENGINEERING EXPERIMENT IN COSTA MESA!
At the Tuesday March13,2007 School Board meeting, the board will vote to keep or change the present screwy school configuration system in Costa Mesa.
Tell them you want to go back to K-6, then a 7-8 Junior High and finally a 9-12 High School just like Newport Beach!
Remember when you were a little kid how you probably went to your neighborhood school from kindergarten through the 6th Grade?
In fact, your parents may have bought a home in that neighborhood because they liked the school and wanted the best for you.
Remember how as you got older and more mature and were heading toward adulthood, you may have then gone to a Junior High School for the 7th and 8th Grades and then finally to High School for the 9th through 12th Grades, and how these latter two schools may have been further away from your neighborhood and had kids from all over the city, but that this wasn't much of a problem because by then you were older and could take care of yourself a little better?
That's pretty much what most of us experienced with some minor variations. That's a system--a configuration--that's stood the test of time because it worked best for the kids themselves.
Newport Beach's configuration: K-6; Jr High 7-8; High School 9-12 is what works and it's what we should have in Costa Mesa.
Remember, that system is still being used in the Newport Beach part of the School District, but not in Costa Mesa! Who do they think we are--a city full of apathetic citizens who can be pushed around?
In Costa Mesa, we have schools all over the board on this. We have one school that is K-2, many that are K-3 others that are 3-6, 4-6, K-5. It's a big mess in Costa Mesa!
Check the school scores of the kids in Newport Beach and you'll find that not one school in Newport Beach is in danger of being taken over by the feds. Compare that to Costa Mesa where we have many schools that are in danger of being taken over by the feds.
Many parents and others have been demanding that Costa Mesa go back to the old system. At it's March 13th meeting, the School Board will vote whether they're going to go back to the old system that has worked for at least a hundred years in this country or keep going down the present path that isn't working.
The School Board is being pulled in two directions. Some vocal teachers and administrators in Costa Mesa want the present screwball system because it's more comfortable for them. Most of the parents, however, want the same system as Newport Beach that works for the kids.
Some parents are saying things such as, "We worked hard and bought the best home we could find in the best neighborhood we could find primarily so our kids could go to the good school next door, only to find that the school district is busing our kids to a failing school out of the neighborhood where we don't think they're safe or getting the best education."
Please help with this important improvement issue for Costa Mesa even if you don't have kids in the schools now. This is your city. These are your schools. These are your neighborhoods.
Here's contact information for you to use. Remember, you need to send out emails. and faxes and make your phone calls between now and Tuesday, March 13th. The vote of the School Board is on the 13th. Don't be shy about calling any of the following people. They work for you and you're paying them. You are the boss.
Sorry folks, the CM PRESS software may or may not make the following email addresses live for you, but if a click doesn't do it, you can just cut and paste them if you want to shout out to help stabilize our neighborhoods via a school configuration like the one in Newport Beach.
Judy Franco, Board President, Newport Beach Representative, (949) 675-2603
jfranco@nmusd.us Fax: (949) 673-3657
Dave Brooks, Costa Mesa Representative 714-545-1150 dbrooks@nmusd.us Fax:
(714) 545-9456
Michael Collier, Costa Mesa Representative, (714) 556-4408
mcollier@nmusd.us Fax: (949) 209-0996
Walt Davenport, Costa Mesa Representative, (949) 645-0875
wdavenport@nmusd.us Fax: (949) 548-7581
Dana Black, Newport/Costa Mesa Representative (949) 650-4988
dblack@nmusd.us Fax: (949) 650-5094
Martha Fluor, Newport Beach Representative, (949) 251-9170 mfluor@nmusd.us
Fax: (949) 660-4945
Karen Yelsey, Newport Beach/Corona del Mar Representative, (949)640-9591
kyelsey@nmusd.us Fax: (949) 721-9112
Superintendent Jeffrey Hubbard, jhubbard@nmusd.us (714) 424 - 5030
Asst. Superintendent of Secondary Education, Chuck Hinman, chinman@nmusd.us
(714) 424 - 5030
Asst. Superintendent of Elementary Education, Susan Astarita,
sastarita@nmusd.us (714) 424-5009
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO: Daily Pilot: dailypilot@latimes.com;
michael.miller@latimes.com The Current: msales@ocregister.com
joverby@ocregister.com
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
