Chance to regain class credits

Angelica Sonora was having so many problems at home she started to slip badly at school. She failed her classes as a sophomore at Newport Harbor High School and basically had given up.

But then a friend of hers who had similarly fallen behind credits managed to make them up with help from a program designed to assist struggling high school students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. So Angelica figured she’d give it a try.

“I thought it was going to be the same like a regular school,” she said. “It’s different because the teachers support you a lot and they help you a lot. They’re there to make sure you don’t give up.”

Now the junior is quickly making up for last year’s failings and has regained her zest for learning at the district’s new Credit Recovery Center. Wednesday marked a significant achievement for her as she finally completed all of her English class credits for sophomore year.

She’s not the only success story. On Wednesday, the students there all appeared to be hard at work.

For the first 10 minutes of one class, for example, English teacher Christine Christopher didn’t leave her desk.

While most of the students found a seat and began assignments in their workbook, she only had to call out to a couple of stragglers.

“Do you need to use the restroom now before class begins?” she asked one student. That boy, she said, has a convenient habit of waiting a few minutes till after class starts to ask for a restroom break.

“Are you going to sit next to him?” she asked another boy across the room. “You know the rule” she said, “find another seat.” The boy and his friend like to talk during class.

Another boy wore his hat slightly to the side, likely not permitted by the dress code, but it was no big deal.

“They have taught me to be a new teacher. You have to pick and choose your battles,” Christopher said. “Some of them need tough love, some need you to be caring and understanding.”

The center acts like another small high school. It has three full-time teachers, an assistant principal, academic counselor, support services coordinator and social worker. They are devoted to 45 freshmen to seniors who previously struggled in the district’s standard high schools.

You won’t find kids here who have failed a class or two and need summer school. These students are semesters or even years behind in credits.

“Our vision here is rehabilitation socially, emotionally and academically,” said Liz Lovett, the center’s assistant principal.

The center works at a different pace than district high schools. Students have eight, 42-minute periods. If they’re on par academically with where they should be, they’ll study subjects they would be learning at a regular school. When they catch up they get to take a test that proves it so they can gain credit for the class.

The 45 students together have already made up 437 units, Lovett said. They can also catch up by taking adult education classes after school and they can also earn credits through a work-internship program.

“It’s seems really accelerated, but it’s a pace that works for them,” Christopher said.

Most students here have come from the county’s program to help faltering students. Some Orange County students who have been suspended, expelled or failed at their district schools go there. The center will take the most-behind Newport-Mesa students under its wing for the semester and then send them back to their original schools.

“The biggest thing is they want you to believe in them and not give up,” Christopher said. “No matter what I’m not going to let them fail or give up.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].