Final report in for sanctioned schools

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District's hearing panel has issued its final report on three schools facing sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act, with some suggestions added to the previous version and a few crossed off the list.

The final draft of the report, issued late Friday afternoon, recommends extending the school year or day at Pomona Elementary School, Wilson Elementary School and TeWinkle Middle School, adopting a new elementary English-learner curriculum and appointing outside administrators at Pomona and TeWinkle. Each of these items appeared in the first draft of the report, which came out the day before winter break.

Other recommendations in the report are new, however, including giving the district the authority to replace school staff at Pomona and TeWinkle and instating single-gender classes at Wilson. The report also eliminates some items from the earlier version, including cutting the afternoon recess at Wilson and starting a full-day kindergarten at Pomona.

Tonight, the district plans to hold a public hearing on the final report before the school board votes on it Feb. 13. Buses will depart from each of the three schools — Wilson at 5:30 p.m., Pomona at 6:15 p.m. and TeWinkle at 7 p.m. — so parents and staff members can offer their views to the board.

Susan Astarita, Newport-Mesa's assistant superintendent of elementary education, praised the district and teachers' union for working together on the report.

"I don't know of any other district in the state of California that's been forward-thinking enough to work with the union and come up with a procedure to handle the Program Improvement sanctions the federal government has implemented," she said.

"To have teachers, classified employees, parents working with the administration in this effort is really to be commended."

Pomona Principal Janis King declined comment on the final report, while Wilson Principal Candy Sperling and TeWinkle Principal Dan Diehl did not return calls.

The seven-member panel, which consists of Newport-Mesa principals, teachers and others, crafted its final report after public hearings at all three schools in January. A number of teachers and parents took issue with parts of the draft report at the hearings. Some defended recesses and urged the schools to hold more field trips, while others argued that unmotivated students, rather than teachers, were the main problem.

Pomona, Wilson and TeWinkle are on year three of the Program Improvement list due to their standardized test scores repeatedly falling short of federal requirements.

The schools must show adequate progress for two years to graduate from the list. Next year, if their scores again miss the federal benchmarks — 24.4% of students proficient in English, 26.5% in math — they must prepare plans for state takeover or other corrective action.