Board Allows School Transfers--for Now

Trustees have decided to leave a Newport-Mesa Unified School District transfer policy alone, allowing middle and high school students to switch schools within local boundaries if they choose.

In February, the district renewed a moratorium on transfers in elementary grades and was reviewing its policy for older students, looking at a study of the 599 transfers this year by middle and high school pupils.

Responding to complaints from parents, the school board Tuesday decided against extending the moratorium to the higher grades. But board members said they wanted to look into reasons parents move their children and into ways of making neighborhood schools more attractive to them.

Many of the parents who spoke at the meeting said they wanted the flexibility to move their children if they didn’t seem to be getting an adequate education.

Costa Mesa resident and moratorium opponent George Cote, whose daughter is a sophomore at Estancia High School, offered another view: “I don’t want my daughter going to school with people who don’t want to be in her school.”