Newport-Mesa district gets into the details of Signature Academies

With the new Signature Academies set to roll out to ninth-grade students this fall, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board Tuesday reviewed a typical class schedule and discussed ways to attract students to the new initiative.

The district also revealed the process of applying for the academies, including the method for students who want to transfer to a school to participate in its program.

Each of the district’s four high schools will offer one or more of the academies, which were approved last fall to allow students to specialize in a specific subject — perhaps performing arts, engineering or business.

Students can request an intradistrict transfer to the high school offering the academy that interests them. The academies will accept up to 10 district students from outside a high school attendance boundary, district spokeswoman Laura Boss said.

Three-person panels at each high school will choose the academy members, and students can apply to more than one school. Each academy will have a separate application.

The district hopes to attract and keep students whose parents might be tempted to send them elsewhere in the belief that they would receive a more challenging education.

Admission for grades 10, 11 and 12 will be phased in over the next three years. And the academies will eventually roll out at middle and elementary schools.

Principal Sean Boulton said students who want to attend the Newport Harbor High School academy would take a combination of traditional and new classes, such as a Global Connect course from UC Irvine, as part of the International Baccalaureate academy.

Estancia High Principal Kirk Bauermeister said the Signature Academy at his school will emphasize engineering and design, with plans to add coursework in animation and biomedical engineering in the 2016-17 school year.

Corona del Mar High students have two academies to choose from, one in global studies and the other in performing arts and multimedia.

The application period for the academies will run from Feb. 23 through April 15 for the upcoming school year, Boss said. Applications can be completed online and resources will be made available to eighth-grade parents, she said.

Kathy Scott, principal of Corona del Mar High, said the academies will offer new, more rigorous classes, such as AP Comparative Government, rather the current AP World Government.

“One of our big tasks is to not only market these academies to our students but to college admissions officers,” Scott said. She said the academies would demonstrate the district’s emphasis on high-caliber education.

Boss described plans to generate interest among parents and students through brochures, ads, videos, mailers and social media.

Trustee Martha Fluor encouraged the district to run ads and extensively market the academies. She added that it was perhaps the perfect opportunity to make a YouTube video describing how students could apply.

— Staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.