Jim De Boom

Enrollment projections for Newport-Mesa Unified School District show that the district, because of declining property values and a fast-growing student population, soon will be eligible to receive state funding. Newport-Mesa has not received money from the state because of its relatively high property tax revenue.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District will consider proposals to put a curfew on board meetings. In proposing the time limits at last week's board meeting, Trustee Edward H. Decker said votes to borrow money to invest in Orange County's troubled pool and to roll that money over after the first year of investment were both taken in the wee hours, when board members were tired. "That vote for the rollover was taken sometime around 12:30 a.m.," Decker said.

Trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District may consolidate board elections with general statewide voting, a change that would save money but would also give each board member an extra year on their current terms. The board is expected to discuss the plan on Tuesday. Board members are elected to four-year terms, with half of the members up for reelection every two years.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has decided to spend $33,000 for a study to evaluate prospects for its first fund-raising campaign. The study will test the fund-raising climate in Orange County before the district decides to go ahead with an effort to raise $1 million, possibly in the fall, officials said. The study will be paid for with interest earned on a $2-million donation from the Irvine Co. for education enhancement programs, said board member Jim de Boom.

Police were still searching Tuesday for vandals who painted anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi slogans such as "Hitler Lives" and "Feel the Heat of the Ovens" on the walls at Adams Elementary School on Club House Road over the weekend. "It was pretty anti-Semitic," said Newport-Mesa Unified School District Supt. John Nicoll. "We have a lot of problems with graffiti, but I don't recall this particular brand being reported to me in the past."

A plan to cope with rising enrollment in Newport-Mesa Unified School District drew mixed reviews this week from parents attending a study session. Though parents "basically supported a proposal to establish a high-energy, high-tech elementary school" in Costa Mesa, said Jim de Boom, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Trustees, they were less enthusiastic about a plan to shift students from Abraham Lincoln Elementary School to Harbor View Elementary School.

The Newport-Mesa school district has shuffled its Board of Education by choosing a new president, vice president and clerk. In the annual ritual, Edward H. Decker, a member of the board for two years, was elected president Tuesday night by a 7-0 vote of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education. Judith A. Franco was elected vice president and Jim de Boom will be the clerk. The president's job is a ceremonial one that lasts for one year.

Re "Guilty Plea in Fatal Drunk-Driving Case," Dec. 9: Ruben Quiroga and Sonia Ruiz might be alive today if Fernando Quezada Perez's automobile had been sold after his second conviction for drunk driving. Instead, they lay dead while Perez pleaded guilty to his fourth DUI, this time with two counts of second-degree murder attached. The California Legislature needs to look at the "zero tolerance" found in Alaska for second-time drunk drivers: They sell the car the person was driving.

In the wake of a financial scandal that has hit the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the new president of the Board of Education promised this week to do "whatever is necessary" to improve the quality of education. Jim de Boom said district administrators have been directed to review management practices and develop new policies.

Bowing to parental pressure, trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District voted this week not to combine kindergarten classes at three district elementary schools. The decision, which will cost more than $500,000, means that the district's budget reserve is likely to fall below state-mandated levels. "It means there will be no money for anything else for the rest of the year," said Trustee James M. Ferryman, who voted against the measure. "It makes me very nervous."