Costa Mesa High fix needs to be priority

In addition to the four families you mentioned, many others

(including the Baume family) have suffered and “bled green” for

decades -- two sons, Steve and Gary, graduated in the 1970s, and two

grandsons, Dan and Sean, in the 1990s -- and all the while, Costa

Mesa High School was seemingly on the short end of district

priorities.

When the Costa Mesa High School agriculture program was shut down

and the property sold to the city (because students, it was

reported, weren’t interested in taking such vocational training

programs), parents were told that some of the money from the sale

would be used to help build a 50-meter swimming pool at the school.

Whatever became of those funds? When a bond issue was passed and a

50-meter pool was built at Newport Harbor High it was to be a

“district pool,” but schools other than Newport Harbor had scheduling

difficulties during normal hours.

This isn’t the first time Costa Mesa has been short a varsity

football coach right before the season opened. When Myron Miller left

for Tustin High School, Jerry Howell was hired just prior to opening

day and had to scramble to put together a staff. Now we are less than

three weeks away from “Hell Week,” and nobody appears to be in a

proactive position.

Incidentally, I remember Bob Packer and his all-around support for

the sports side of education. Maybe they don’t make them like that

anymore.

Field maintenance has been neglected for years, maybe at the

district level. If it weren’t for the Costa Mesa High coaches, who

knows what the fields would look like or how many lawsuits the

district would have faced for dereliction. John Carney used to use

his truck to drag the track to smooth out the winter rain ruts; Doug

Deats manicured the baseball infield, with the help of the team; Dave

Perkins had help from a Pop Warner parent for the upkeep on the

football field; and, apparently, basketball coach Bob Serven cleaned

the court.

Do the coaches at Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor cut, weed,

sweep and clean? I think the Costa Mesa High parents would like an

answer to that question. I believe they would also like to know what

exactly maintenance crews do? Officials Jaime Castellanos, Ken Sipes

and Tim Marsh should be worried; Castellanos is concerned but appears

to put more blame for the problem upon the coaches, regarding the

joint-use agreement, than finding a solution to the cancer.

I suggest that the administration, starting with “the glass house

on Baker,” begin to pay attention to a serious situation in Costa

Mesa. We know another bond issue will be forthcoming to take care of

problems not met by Measure A -- mainly some serious ones at Newport

Harbor High School. Passage depends not only on Newport Beach, but

also Costa Mesa, with its sizable taxpaying population.

There’s plenty of room for blame to go around. District, school

and city can all point a finger at one another, but they all share

responsibility. Either become part of the solution, not part of the

problem, or get out of the way! While adults voice “concern,” the

kids continue to be short-changed during this brief time in their

education! Pontification may seem to have a place in a board meeting,

but to continue to expound in a like manner concerning our youth is

nothing short of a smokescreen. Sorry for the length of this --

brevity should rule -- but I couldn’t find the right words.

ED BAUME

Costa Mesa