CLASS, DAY ONE SCHOOLS OPEN FOR NEW YEAR.

Byline: Helen Gao and Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writers

At Sunland Elementary School, little boys wheeling Scooby-Doo backpacks and little girls with colorful bows and hair clips streamed onto the freshly blacktopped playground Tuesday, with their parents in tow, for the start of another school year.

``They've had their backpacks packed for two weeks,'' said Cheryl Powers of Tujunga, who brought her children, Christopher Schaefer, 7, and Jessica Phoenix, 8, to school.

``They kept asking me, When are we going to school?''

Another scene of first-day-of-school excitement and trepidation unfolded at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, where confused students jammed the hallways trying to find their way around the sprawling campus.

Students hastily exchanged hugs, high-fives and hellos with friends and teachers as familiar and unfamiliar faces streamed past on their way to homerooms.

The Los Angeles Unified School District on Tuesday welcomed the return of about 378,000 students to its single-track campuses, bringing its projected enrollment to a total of 756,600 students, up 9,800 from last year. (Year-round schools started July 1.)

Both Sunland Elementary and Verdugo Hills High are starting new student programs. Sunland has launched a high-ability magnet program for gifted students, and Verdugo Hills has become a multimedia magnet for those interested in video production, animation, computer graphics and other media.

The two programs are among five new magnets opening in the LAUSD this year to meet growing demand. The district has 160 of these specialized programs, serving about 56,000 students. About 33,000 students are on waiting lists to enroll in the magnets, which were created to promote racial integration in district schools, but which have grown into havens for academically motivated students.

``They need to know they are not alone,'' said Karen Handy, the magnet coordinator for Sunland, which will expand its program to include third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students.

``They are not the only ones who can answer the teacher first, not the only ones whose brains are running faster than the other kids or the adults around them. They need to feel good about who they are.''

Max Molina Sr. and his wife, Eugenia, drove their son, Max Jr., 7, all the way from their home in Tarzana to Sunland for the high-ability magnet program.

``It's quite a distance, but I think it's worth it,'' said Max Molina Sr.

``His other school didn't give him a challenge,'' added Eugenia Molina. ``He was faster, and he would finish his work and be bugging other kids.''

Later in class, Max Jr. rubbed his hands with glee as teacher Evelyn Wedel described to the children all the activities they would do this year: lots of math, learning about money, multiplication tables, tons of reading, a math-science lab and field trips.

``I like learning,'' said Max Jr., who loves math and the solar system.

Sunland's program serves about two dozen second-graders from Van Nuys, Arleta, Pacoima, Northridge and other San Fernando Valley communities. The Verdugo Hills program serves 89 students, some of whom are bused in from downtown.

Verdugo Hills art teacher Dain Olsen, who was the driving force behind the magnet, got down to business right away with his first class of ninth-graders. The warm-up assignment? Self-portraits of their hands so Olsen could assess his students' skills.

Olsen, who also teaches video production, sees the multimedia program as an enticing way to teach students reading, writing and math skills.

``Basically, it's like writing essays,'' said Olsen. ``It's a different form of essay writing, with images and sounds mixed in.''

Eric Abrago, one of Olsen's students, rode the bus from Los Angeles to Tujunga for the magnet program, already knowing what he wants to do with his life.

``I want to be in the entertainment industry - write movies and stuff and direct movies,'' said Eric, 14, who is already working on a screenplay at home - one about a secret agent.

The drawing class with Olsen is one of the fundamental classes magnet students must take before moving on to computer graphics and other technologically driven media.

Verdugo's magnet is built upon its multimedia academy, which offers students electives in the field. The school will run both the multimedia academy and magnet concurrently and separately, although they share some of the same facilities. The magnet program is more vigorous, offering honors and Advanced Placement classes.

Verdugo Hills is converting its old auto shop and former public television access bungalow into a studio and office space for the magnet program.

``We are one of the few high schools in the LAUSD without a magnet until this year,'' said Principal Cheryl Dellepiane. ``We are very excited about our multimedia magnet opening.''

Helen Gao, [phone]

helen.gao(at)dailynews.com

Lisa Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Merghedi Ayvarzian, 7, holds tight to her mother, Margaret, as she arrives for her first day of first grade at Sunland Elementary School Tuesday.

(2) Christopher Schaefer, 7, gets a pat on the head from his mom, Cheryl Powers, shortly before starting his first day of second grade Tuesday at Sunland Elementary School.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) Dimitre Ivanov, 15, looks at his hand as he draws it as a first-day art-class exercise at Verdugo Hills High School.

(4) The computer graphics lab at Verdugo Hills High School will be a home for media magnet school students in the future. For now, multimedia academy students use the room.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer