NEWPORT BEACH

Students enrolled at Newport Coast Elementary School this fall will have to wait until January to move into their new classrooms. The Newport Beach school, on the corner of Newport Coast Drive and Ridge Park Road, was scheduled to open Sept. 5 with 350 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

With only two months until the campus is scheduled to open, the school is only about 57% complete, said project manager Jim Reed. Because of delays in construction, those children will now spend the first four months of the term at Lincoln Elementary School in Corona del Mar. When students return from winter break on Jan. 8, they should be able to occupy their new school. Although disappointed, Newport Coast parents said they understand.