The issue erupted last week when it was reported that Santa Ana wanted to educate its hearing-impaired students in the district to save money. Withdrawing the students would take the majority of students away from Newport-Mesa.
By next school year, parents and guardians of students living outside the district will have to use a different program, while Newport-Mesa students will be taught individually.
“We initiated a conversation with Diana Casato [Newport-Mesa’s director of special education] looking at the kids we have over at Newport-Mesa,” Santa Ana assistant Supt. Doreen Lohnes said.
The majority of students enrolled in the program at Kaiser Elementary were Santa Ana students. When the district decided to pull its students back, Newport-Mesa then decided to reevaluate the program, officials said.
After that evaluation, the district decided to serve only students living within its district on an individual basis, officials said.
Parents and teachers have spoken out against the move because they fear the program in Santa Ana will not compare to Newport-Mesa’s program, which specializes in students with hearing aids or cochlear implants who do not use sign language or lip reading.
Santa Ana officials say their program at Taft Elementary will be comparable to Newport-Mesa’s.
“I am open to continue the dialogue with our parents so that we could work with them and have a mutual understanding and trust,” Lohnes said.
Parents are blaming budget issues for the moves made by both districts. Neither district denies that money is a concern, but officials say those budget concerns don’t drive the decisions.
