School Notes

District to feature OC Sheriff’s sergeant to provide issues facing parents and students with fentanyl

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) has planned a Parent Education Session titled, “What to Know About Fentanyl,” planned for Monday, Nov. 27 at Corona del Mar High School’s Learning Resource Center from 5-6 p.m.

Orange County Sheriff Department Sergeant Brian Gunsolley will be on hand to provide valuable life-saving information about the fentanyl crisis and how to reduce the risk of accidental overdose.

And, in case you didn’t know, counterfeit versions of fentanyl (a potent analgesic medication) have been known to be illegally sold to unsuspecting teens seeking relief from pain and anxiety.

Additionally, between 2019-2021, fentanyl-related teen deaths rose 1,800% in Orange County, making it the leading cause of death for minors.

To find out more, go to www.nmusd.us/parenteducation.

(Russian and Spanish interpretation, as well as childcare, will be available.)

Love Our Schools get to work to improve District Schools

On November 4, Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) was part of Love Our Schools Day thanks to Love Costa Mesa, a group that united community organizations to provide more than 400 volunteers to work on various campus beautification projects.

Schools submitted beautification project requests through the Love Costa Mesa website. Projects were approved based on feasibility and scale.

“Love Our Schools Day is about building relationships between our school sites and our community,” said Christy Flores, NMUSD Director of Engagement, Partnerships and Expanded Learning.

Volunteers from the community joined NMUSD families to tackle a variety of beautification projects at various school sites, including some of those in Newport Beach at the following school sites:

–Eastbluff Elementary: Repainted the United States map on the playground blacktop; deep-cleaned bathrooms, and refreshed landscaping by cleaning planters, laying mulch and adding new plants and flowers.

–Harbor View Elementary: Repainted the inspirational messages on the risers of the staircase that leads from the front of the school to the area where the school hosts flag deck.

–Lincoln Elementary: Restored an established organic garden, weeded and cleaned the garden and planted drought-resistant plants in stand-alone planters.

–Mariners Elementary: Painted ball walls on the playground.

–Newport Elementary: Replaced paper lining bulletin boards to be used for student artwork, plus cleaned and hung historic photos in the interior hallways.

–Newport Heights Elementary: Removed shrubbery and laid stepping stones to create a better walkway between two buildings, and added plants and flowers to the planters in front of the multipurpose room.

The partnership with Love Costa Mesa in these beautification projects complements the work of NMUSD’s amazing maintenance and operations team who manage nearly 60 square miles of district facilities.

Terrilee Stevenson, who worked for NMUSD for 13 years and is now part of Love Costa Mesa, praised the district for supporting the community partnership to beautify schools. “The heart of Love Our Schools Day is supporting the next generation of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, our youth,” said Stevenson.

After beautifying the school sites, volunteers were invited to a celebratory lunch that also featured children’s activities such as face painting, balloon artists and more.