New trustees take oath

COSTA MESA — The Newport-Mesa Unified School District swore in its three new trustees at a brief meeting on Thursday afternoon, starting its new era of leadership on a quiet note.

At 4:30 p.m. in a conference room in the district headquarters, Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard inducted Michael Collier, Walt Davenport and Karen Yelsey to the board of trustees. The meeting had been posted online late Wednesday afternoon and was open to the public, but no one attended other than the trustees and district officials.

“So it begins,” school board President David Brooks said after the trustees took the oath. “The journey has officially begun. It’s unceremoniously begun, we should say.”

On Tuesday, the district plans to hold the official ceremony for the new trustees at its regular meeting. That night, the board will also select its president, vice president and other officers for the upcoming 12 months.

The Thursday meeting consisted of a brief study session to recap the matters that the new trustees had discussed with administrators earlier in the day, followed by a closed session to address private district matters. Administrative assistant Laura Boss said the district had opted to swear in the new members because otherwise they couldn’t participate in the closed session.

During the staff meeting earlier on Thursday, Hubbard and others had filled the newcomers in on district policies and gone over some of the issues for Tuesday’s meeting. When it came time for the public session — what there was of it — classified personnel director John Caldecott maneuvered an American flag into the conference room for the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Hubbard administered the oath.

As he read out loud, Collier, Yelsey and Davenport stood with their right hands raised — a difficult task for Davenport, who had his arm in a sling after an accident — and repeated the words. Outside in the lobby of the district headquarters, the turnover showed itself in another quiet way. The seven portraits of the trustees, which have loomed over the boardroom door for years, were replaced by a stretch of empty wall.

Boss said the space would be filled before long — perhaps in a way that stresses solidarity.

“We’re looking at doing a group photo,” she said.