EDUCATION Harbor View Elementary to open one...

EDUCATION

Harbor View Elementary to open one week late

District officials announced Tuesday that Harbor View Elementary

School in Newport Beach would start a week late. This prompted some

parents to ask the district to move the student body to another

campus since construction will also continue for the first few months

of school.

Supt. Robert Barbot said he didn’t think that was necessary, but

suggested concerned parents meet with an assistant superintendent to

monitor the situation.

Also this week, the school district has filed a lawsuit against a

state commission that licenses teachers to find out if one of its

teachers lied on his job application by withholding that he had been

accused of molesting female students at a previous job.

Craig Kinder, who taught industrial arts at Costa Mesa High School

for two years, was found not guilty of the charges in Missouri about

seven years ago.

But the Newport-Mesa Unified School District wants details of an

investigation into the charges conducted by the California Commission

of Teacher Credentialing, said Steven Montanez, the attorney

representing the district. Kinder was specifically asked in his job

application if he had ever quit or been forced to resign from a

previous job, and he answered no, he said.

“The school district has an obligation to students and their

parents to find out the truth,” Montanez said.

* Daily Pilot staff. To contact the newsroom, call (949) 642-5680

or by e-mail at [email protected].