'RAIN BRINGS GOOD LUCK' OAK HILLS ELEMENTARY MARKS FIRST-EVER DAY.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

STEVENSON RANCH - Winnie the Pooh went to school Tuesday morning with Dora the Explorer as youngsters juggled character umbrellas with their backpacks en route to a rainy opening day at Oak Hills Elementary School.

Before being herded out of the rain and into the campus multipurpose room, parents - many of them carrying coffee cups and some pushing pupils' younger siblings in strollers - walked with the schoolchildren past landscapers making last-minute adjustments at Oak Hill Elementary's entrance.

The school, which serves the Westridge area of Valencia, is the third campus opened by the Newhall School District in the last three years.

``It's opening day of a new school,'' said the school board president, Suzan Solomon, wearing a bright orange vest as she welcomed early arrivals. ``There's nothing greater for a community. And rain brings good luck. That's what my dad said when it rained on my wedding day.''

Third-grader Kyo Kondo, 8, and his brother, first-grader Sho, held on to their father's hands as they approached the front doors.

``This is such a beautiful school,'' Masa Kondo said. ``We moved here from the San Fernando Valley about six months ago.''

Breaking away, Kyo said he was excited about starting school after a summer vacation made longer by the campus construction delays. The pupils were given a tour of the school on Monday so they could familiarize themselves with locations of classrooms, the cafeteria, restrooms and play areas.

Four hundred pupils will attend Oak Hills during its first year - about 42 percent of the number expected when construction is completed. A two-story classroom building on the south end of the campus is expected to be completed at the end of October.

School opening time was set at 8 a.m. to avoid traffic problems on Valencia Boulevard, where the new Rancho Pico Junior High and West Ranch High School are located. Newhall District Superintendent Marc Winger said that he and Oak Hills Principal Wayne Abruzzo observed traffic at its worst from 8:05 to 8:20 a.m.

``We've finally found the perfect size for a school,'' Winger said. ``This is a 10-acre campus, about two acres bigger than our others. ... This will be the last school we open for a while.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A parent carries her umbrella Tuesday as she walks a pupil to the first-ever day of classes at Oak Hills Elementary.

(2 -- color) Under a ``roof'' of umbrellas Tuesday, kids head into brand-new Oak Hills Elementary School.

By David Crane/Staff Photographer