Newport-Mesa Unified ditches 4x4 secondary school plan following widespread opposition

Parents and students stand in front of Corona Del Mar High

By Sara CardineStaff Writer

July 28, 2020 6:27 PM PT

Following a week of opposition and questions, which culminated in an in-person protest Monday, Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials have announced they will not move forward with a districtwide 4x4 learning model for secondary school campuses in the upcoming school year.

In a letter sent out Tuesday to teachers and parents, Interim Supt. Russell Lee-Sung explained the reasoning for the reversal of a July 21 school board decision to adopt a new form of block scheduling that would have had students taking half their courses in the fall and the other half during the spring semester, instead of taking all classes year round.

“Since the 4x4 model was announced we have heard and received a large number of comments, some in support and many opposed to this model,” Lee-Sung said.

“While all of the features of the model are intended to support students during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he continued, “there are wide differences of opinions on the features and challenges that come with this model, and the necessary support for success is not evident at all school sites.”

Except for Estancia High School — where officials say the plan was met with more support by parents and teachers — middle and high schools throughout the district will continue to operate under the six- or eight-period models they used last school year.

The news came as a relief Tuesday for many in the Corona del Mar High School community, where about 200 people protested the board decision. There, students shared concern the concentrated class model would cause undue stress for AP students and create conflicts between academics, electives and possibly sports.

“I was so excited — it was really nice to have our voices be heard,” said incoming senior Gabi Gomes, who helped circulate an online petition to recall the 4x4 plan that garnered 2,156 signatures. “As students, a lot of times our opinions and what we have to say gets lost in translation with adults. Having [the district] listen was a really powerful thing for me to see.”

Corona del Mar mother Jen Schafer organized Monday’s protest alongside fellow parent Kristen James and kept an open line of communication across parent groups. In a meeting Sunday with Lee-Sung and Corona del Mar High administrators, the pair broke down the model’s issues and sought clarity on how it would accommodate vastly different student groups.

Organized protest at Corona del Mar High School on Monday

Schafer said she believes the district’s reversal on the 4x4 plan was not a direct result of any one comment, meeting, or even Monday’s protest, but of all the actions and input provided by district stakeholders throughout the past week.

“There were so many components to this,” she said Tuesday. “There was the willingness of the community to speak up, the willingness of the district to meet with us and of Kristen and I to take this on. If each component had not been there, it would not have elicited change.”

Following Tuesday’s announcement, Estancia High School will be the only campus moving forward with the 4x4 plan. The schedule will be in effect whether students are learning online, in person or in a hybrid mix throughout the pandemic and the 2020-21 school year.

Estancia Principal Michael Halt introduced the new model at the July 21 meeting, where a panel of principals and teachers explained the plan would let kids concentrate on fewer subjects at a time and reduce student populations for teachers who will likely have to start the new year on Aug. 24 online.

“The benefits for students are significant,” Halt said in his presentation. “Because they are only taking three to four classes a semester, they are able to go deeper in each class [and] they have fewer total demands being placed upon them.”

While Halt did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, Newport-Mesa Unified spokeswoman Annette Franco said the principal will work closely with teachers and parents in the coming weeks.

“Estancia wants to do it, and the principal believes they have the community support for it, so he’s going back to the school community to make sure there’s support for the model,” Franco said.

Tamara Fairbanks, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, said when union representatives were first introduced to the 4x4 model on July 17, they had many questions that still hadn’t been answered when the board adopted it four days later.

“We weren’t opposed to the model, but we didn’t endorse the model at all, because we saw it had a lot of holes,” she said. “We didn’t have ample time to really have good quality input from the staff.”

Fairbanks said she hopes Tuesday’s reversal will allow more time for that input to be collected from across diverse stakeholder groups. In the meantime, NMFT representatives will communicate with Estancia teachers and solicit their views on transitioning to the new schedule.

“Our job as a union is to talk to all of those teachers and see what’s best for them,” Fairbanks said. “We’re willing to fight for them for whatever they need. If that model works for them, we’ll work on their behalf to make sure the plan has been thoroughly vetted.”

Unhappy parents and teachers protest against the 4x4 learning schedule in front of Corona del Mar High School on Monday.

Estancia High School math teacher Valerie Smith said she still has some concerns about how the condensed schedule will impact course pacing and students’ retention of lessons but says there could be benefits as students deal with fewer classes and work with teachers daily.

“That, to me, is consistency, and our kids need that … especially in this pandemic,” Smith said. “There are some teachers who are really opposed to this and others who are willing to try it. I was a little in shock at first, then I thought, you know, we are a different school. Our students are different. So, let’s try — let’s just go with it.”

Responding to whether undoing the board’s 5-2 vote on the adoption of the 4x4 model would require further board action, Newport-Mesa spokeswoman Franco clarified Supt. Lee-Sung consulted with Newport-Mesa Unified’s board leadership before repealing the plan.

Vice President Karen Yelsey, who represents the Corona del Mar community and who voted against the plan alongside Trustee Michelle Barto, said she was proud of the district for being willing to change course.

“Revising something after you’ve already decided on it is tough for everybody, but it shows a lot of caring on [the district’s] part,” said Yelsey, who says her phone and email inbox have been filled to the brim since the July 21 vote.

“I’m really relieved we’ve made a decision,” she continued. “Now, I just want to move forward — we have so much work to do before school starts in a month. Actually, less than a month.”

Orange County coronavirus cases down, COVID-19 deaths up

Orange County Health Care Agency on Monday reported 187 new cases of coronavirus and 15 deaths from COVID-19.

With about 399,424 tests issued — and a current positivity rate of 11.1% — the number of Orange County residents who’ve recovered is about 21,066, officials estimate. About 640 people are currently being hospitalized due to the virus, with 203 being treated in intensive care units.

Here are the latest cumulative case counts and deaths for select cities in Orange County: