Newport Mesa Unified School District

Orange Coast Middle College High School is the smallest site in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District -- so small, in fact, that many of its neighbors don't even know its location. The campus, which enrolls students seeking to learn outside the standard high school setting, sits tucked behind the technology center at Orange Coast College. "It's hard to find our school," Principal Bob Nanneysaid. "It's been one of the best-kept secrets in town for a long time."

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District may not end up shifting attendance areas in the Corona del Mar zone next year, due to a large number of children found ineligible to attend Newport Coast Elementary School this fall. Susan Astarita, the district's assistant superintendent of elementary education, said Tuesday that the district had found 56 children enrolled last year at Newport Coast Elementary who lived outside the school's attendance area.

EDUCATION Local students post high marks on standardized tests For mid-August, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District had a busy week. On Monday, the state announced results for this year's standardized test scores and high school exit exam, and Newport-Mesa bested state averages on both. Seventy-six percent of the district's students passed the English and the math sections of the exit exam; the state average was 65% for English and 63% for math.

COSTA MESA Hundreds gather to support Cindy Sheehan Hundreds of Newport-Mesa residents participated in simultaneous vigils Wednesday evening to support Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier who had camped out at President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch until Thursday. She was demanding answers from the president about his administration's handling of the war in Iraq. At the corner of Newport Boulevard and 19th Street, in front of what used to be Triangle Square's Niketown store, more than 90 people lined the sidewalks with signs and candles.

o7"The magic of it all, the secret, is hard work -- making sure standards are taught at every grade level. As we've all learned, it's just a lot of hard work and concentration."f7 -- Robert Barbot, Newport-Mesa Unified School District superintendent, on standardized test scores released by the state Department of Education that showed gains in English and math proficiency at every grade level o7"We are so joyous. We believe that God has relieved us and delivered us from this legal battle."

When we first heard the news we were, admittedly, taken aback. And the price tag, frankly, took our breath away. A little more than five years after getting overwhelming community support for passage of Measure A, the $110-million bond initiative to repair local schools, Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials announced that they are going back to the voters for more, specifically $282 million more. That's nearly three times the cost of the Measure A bond.

When the Newport-Mesa Unified School District voted unanimously last week to approve a $282-million bond measure -- recently christened Measure F -- some in the community furrowed their brows at the plan for more site renovations. The Measure A bond, approved in 2000, allotted $110 million to clean and upgrade Newport-Mesa's schools, a construction project that is still continuing, with completion expected within two years. Those who helped to conceive Measure A claim that even as the district laid out that plan, it foresaw a second round in the future.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District showed gains in most of its standardized test scores this year, with English and mathematics scores rising even as high school science scores took a distinct drop. District administrators hailed the scores as a sign of progress, noting that schools showed growth in English and math at every grade level and that some schools more than doubled their percentages of proficient and advanced scores from a year ago. "The magic of it all, the secret, is hard work -- making sure standards are taught at every grade level," said Supt.

1. The Irvine Co. announced this week that it is taking over the management of which Newport-Mesa hotel? A. The Four Seasons B. The Ali Baba C. The Marriott D. Motel 3 2. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is going to put a bond on the November ballot seeking how much money? A. $110 million B. $163 million C. $200 million D. $282 million 3. A sea lion named what was returned to the ocean this week after it likely swam north in the San Diego Creek?

With the Newport-Mesa Unified School District having approved a November ballot measure to fund more campus renovations, the community soon may be reliving recent history. Five years ago, voters in the district passed Measure A -- a $110-million bond measure to pay for the cleaning and repair of school sites -- by a resounding 72%. That followed months of intense campaigning by supporters and strong opposition from several anti-tax groups. Those same groups are still in town, and few, if any, have changed their position on taxpayers footing the bill for school repairs.