School district erred in banning speaker flier...

School district erred in banning speaker flier

It was with dismay and then disgust that I learned Newport-Mesa

school officials had decided not to let students know that Eric

Schlosser was speaking at a Newport Beach library.

Schlosser informed us that conditions in the meat-packing industry

are now as bad or worse than they were a century ago when Upton

Sinclair wrote “The Jungle.”

This information would have been a valuable addition to American

history for any student lucky enough to have obtained a ticket.

I notice that the group to whom the district surrendered included

Wendy Leece, an outspoken advocate of changing our laws to make

abortion a crime.

Yet, in urging you to suppress notice of Schlosser’s appearance,

she stated that no speaker critical of our existing laws should be

tolerated. To be consistent, she herself should stop speaking, since

she is critical of existing law.

ALLAN BEEK

Newport Beach

Newport Coast deserves its own school

I have been living in Newport Ridge since 1997. I have a

3-year-old son Jeffrey.

Until a flier arrived by my doorstep a couple of days ago

disclosing the secret operation conducted by the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District, I never had any doubt that Jeffrey would go to the

kindergarten at Newport Coast Elementary School in the fall of 2006.

I am strongly against the school district’s rezoning plan because

it would have great negative impact on my property value and my son’s

education.

Newport Ridge is the oldest community in Newport Coast. The

property taxes from Newport Ridge have contributed to the building

and functioning of Newport Coast Elementary earlier and longer than

have any other communities in Newport Coast.

Now that Newport Coast is mature, the school has been built using

our tax money, and overcrowded only after four years of operation

because of the school district’s poor estimation and bad planning.

Is it time for the residents of Newport Ridge to say goodbye to

Newport Coast Elementary? This is a totally unfair and irresponsible

decision made by the district.

What are the options other than district rezoning? Expand by

building up; divide students to different tracks (many overcrowded

schools do this); negotiate with the city of Newport Beach to build

classrooms in the proposed Newport Coast Community Center in the

Newport Ridge Community Park, to host kids of the kindergarten and

even the first grade of Newport Coast Elementary.

All we need is open communication and discussions involving the

residents in the community, the school district and the city

government. Or if rezoning is the only way, rezone any new community

currently under construction to another school. So buyers know the

fact before purchasing properties, and their precious property tax

won’t go to the wrong school for the longest time. And their

properties will not be devalued afterward.

Daily Pilot, thanks for bringing the secret of the Newport-Mesa

district into the sun.

Jim McGee and other members in the Newport Coast Advisory

Committee, thank you all for what you have done for Newport Coast in

the past and now. Your efforts are deeply appreciated.

City of Newport Beach, what can you do to help?

JENNY WANG

Newport Coast

District attorney out of line in truancy case

Re: the article in the Daily Pilot on Thursday, “Parents: Letter

lacks class,” about truancy letters sent out to parents from the

district attorney’s office.

Assistant District Attorney Lew Rosenblum was quoted as saying, “I

don’t think any of these parents got a letter who didn’t have a child

with three unexcused absences or more.”

My situation may be unique. However, if it happened to me, I am

sure that other similar situations exist.

My son is a seventh-grade “Special Day” student at Ensign

Intermediate School. He has high-functioning autism. He thoroughly

enjoys school and has never had an unexcused absence.

He did, however, have eight unexcused tardies, none of which

amounted to more than a few minutes. I was totally unaware that he

was arriving late to class, and I never received notice of his

occasional tardiness.

This lack of notification is odd to me because I speak with his

Special Day class teacher almost weekly. My son’s Special Day class

teacher was also unaware that these unexcused tardies were

transpiring, and she was surprised that she had not been alerted of

this fact.

Had I been warned that my son was getting to class late, I would

have dealt with the matter in an appropriate manner. Instead we were

called into a huge, crowded hall full of some pretty rough-looking

kids, complete with multiple face rings, tattoos, and multicolored

hair (although some looked like basically good kids), with numerous

police standing around the perimeter of the room.

The speaker in charge discussed jail time and monetary penalties

being imposed, as well as truants being criminals involved with

drugs.

My son is very naive, immature and innocent. He is a far cry from

a truant or a rule-breaker. The reason he is getting to class late is

still unknown as he could not clearly answer why this is occurring.

But he clearly got the message that his getting himself to class on

time is of the utmost importance and he must assure that he does so.

As part of my son’s program toward independence and in compliance

with his IEP goals and objectives set by the school district, and

with the encouragement of his psychologist, he has been riding his

bike to school.

He leaves our house in plenty of time to arrive to class on time,

but he occasionally gets delayed and loses track of time, which is

very typical of children with his disability.

His delay is probably always quite innocent. For instance, if he

could not get his bike locked and he knows that he must lock his

bike, he would struggle with the lock until he succeeds, totally

losing track of time. Or he might have to return a book to the

library before school, but he can’t remember exactly where the

library is located, so he wanders around aimlessly until he finds it.

These are indicative behaviors of my son’s disability and part of

what we are all working very hard to help him overcome.

Upon receipt of the letter from the district attorney’s office, I

immediately called my son’s school counselor and I never received the

courtesy of a call back.

I am deeply offended by the way this situation was handled and

that a very innocent handicapped child has been labeled by the school

district and the Orange County district attorney’s office as a

“truant.”

I feel strongly that the district needs to be more careful with

parental communication and notification prior to alerting the

district attorney’s office, inferring parental neglect and

threatening disciplinary action to my son and to us as his parents.

The disciplinary action threat included, but was not limited to:

fines, jail time and loss of custody. My son is handicapped, but he

is a far cry from a rule-breaker.

KRISTY NEUBO

Newport Beach