Educators take on the first day in a new district

Principal Laura Sacks made her way through Mariners Elementary School, ready to greet each class on the first day of school Tuesday morning.

At her first stop, Cass Powell’s sixth-grade classroom, she asked the students, “Is this the first day at Mariners for any of you?”

A hand was slowly raised by a boy sitting at a corner desk. Sacks smiled.

“All right, me too,” she told him.

He smiled back. He wasn’t the only new kid at school.

In addition to welcoming nearly 22,000 students this week after summer vacation, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District also welcomed new two principals and about 50 new teachers to the district.

“I’m learning to find my way through a new school, just like many of the students,” Sacks said. “I’m meeting a lot of new people, but there’s a great sense of warmth and community in this district.”

While Sacks is new to Newport-Mesa, she has served as a principal at two other schools.

Costa Mesa High School math instructor Rachel McMillen, a new addition to the district, taught algebra to students in eighth through 12th grade for a year at Brethren Christian, a private school in Huntington Beach.

“There’s a lot of nerves whether you’re a new teacher or a new student,” McMillen said. “I’ve gotten lost on campus a couple times already.”

McMillen will teach advanced math to students in eighth and ninth grades. She is one of seven new teachers at Costa Mesa High.

McMillen said she remembers “loving” the first day of school as a student.

“I loved shopping for school supplies, like getting a new backpack and choosing new highlighters,” she said. “I remember decorating the front of your binder with pictures from your summer was a huge thing. Then on the first day, getting to look at each other’s binders was a big deal.”

Much like her old school binders, she put her own touches on her classroom at Costa Mesa High, stapling a vibrant purple fabric onto the bare walls and hanging a gold and cardinal-red banner from her alma mater, USC.

As far as school supplies, the teacher is still doing her shopping. She brought a pencil sharpener, a hole punch and a giant triangle ruler to use as a hall pass for her students.

Principal Michael Halt starts his new position at Estancia High School this year. As a student athlete, Halt said, he anticipated one thing on the first day of school.

“When I was in high school, I looked forward to the start of the season for football,” he said. “As a student, that’s what I most looked forward to. But I found my love for education later in life.”

Halt has been a principal for the last 13 years, having served West Tisbury School in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and most recently San Clemente High School in the Capistrano Unified School District.

For Halt, becoming a new principal has involved meetings with and learning about Estancia’s students, parents, faculty and staff. This included attending the school’s freshmen orientation last month.

When addressing the incoming class at orientation, Halt made sure to let the students know that they all had one significant thing in common.

“As I was speaking with them, I wanted them to know that we’re all starting new,” he said. “The start of the school year is exciting for the students who come here and the adults who work here. It’s a chance to reinvent yourself.”