Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
This weekend, I met with Chris Keener, local activist and sponsor of the Save Our Summer campaign for the Newport-Mesa School system. Recently, the school board has been trying to shorten summer vacations in order to “reduce stress” for students in Newport-Mesa– to the tune of chopping out a whopping 2 weeks off the end of the longtime summer, according to Keener.
This effects much more than the summer in the sun, though. School sports on both ends of the shift are affected, as they are neither starting nor ending at the same time as other schools, causing serious disruption amongst those parents– many of which are school booster parents (the generous parents who donate large sums of money to the schools).
According to the petition, 61% of school employees want to keep the summer as-is, and 75.6% of the community wants it to remain the same, too, but the school board has said things in the meetings that indicate that this is an administrative decision, rather than one that is designed to be good for either the students or the teachers.
The petition– Keener’s first– has already gathered hundreds of signatures. If you want to sign it, please do so (and share), here: https://www.change.org/p/teachers-and-parents-of-newport-mesa-i-s-d-save-our-summer
Remember, this isn’t affecting just the kids currently at Newport Mesa– but it rearranges their schedules to conflict with other districts, and this change will be permanent. So whether you have kids in the school district, kids surrounding the school district, kids not yet in the school district, or you’re planning on having kids that go to this school district or any of the adjoining ones, this will affect your kids and their friends.
Plus, who didn’t love the summertime as a child? Why anyone would want to take this from our youth is beyond the comprehension of this writer. I signed.
