FLORY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MAGNET SCHOOL OPENING PARENTS AND TEACHERS ALIKE EXCITED ABOUT OPPORTUNITY.

Byline: Angie Valencia Staff Writer

MOORPARK - Students will go back to school Wednesday in Moorpark, but teachers who spent the summer training for the debut of Flory Academy of Science and Technology never really left.

Scores of them underwent special training and workshops to bone up on the school's new curriculum tied to a college preparatory program.

``Everybody has butterflies,'' Flory Principal Pam Hill said this past week as boxes and books were unpacked in classrooms and construction workers put finishing touches on their work.

The school, which last year operated as a fourth- and fifth-grade campus, has moved to the more traditional kindergarten through fifth grade. In doing so, the school will open its doors to more than 600 students, up from 460 last year.

Third-grader Peter Loya will be among the newcomers.

``Peter is very into science,'' said his mother, Flory PTA President Laura Loya. ``He knows every kind of snake on the planet.''

Sporting a green insect shirt, Peter quickly responded: ``Not every one. There's the anaconda, rattlesnake ...''

``They're going to get a well-rounded education, and it will give them an advantage when they move on to middle school and high school,'' his mother said. ``They need that science and technology background to be competitive.''

Dawn Moffett will be the school's science specialist. Her hands-on approach will come in handy in the school's newest science lab.

``It's a huge undertaking,'' she said. ``I go to bed just thinking of things. Since it's our first year, we're all flexible.

``I tell my students, 'You're all scientists.' It's a humbling experience to know that you can be the one who makes a child love science. Most schools give it the back seat. There are not too many schools like this.''

With its magnet school status, Flory now has a new wing with eight classrooms, computer labs and a science lab, a library/media center and a low-frequency radio station, as well as an internal television station.

``I remember when this was just a dream of the Vision 2010 committee,'' Hill said.

The committee, which oversaw growth and grade configuration issues, recommended the campus be transformed into a magnet with an emphasis on science, math and technology.

``To see it physically be there and be what we dreamed of ... It's just what we wanted,'' Hill said.

In addition to becoming Moorpark's newest magnet school, Flory is one of 50 schools nationwide named to the NASA Explorer Schools Program. The program, which will allow teachers to communicate directly with NASA scientists and astronauts, is designed to integrate mathematics, science and technology in the classroom.

The 7,800 students who will be attending the district's 10 campuses this year will find a number of changes.

Several projects funded through Measure R - a $33 million bond measure - were completed during the summer.

Construction of a new band and chorus room as well as an additional wing of classrooms is set for completion in November at Chaparral Middle School.

A much-anticipated Moorpark High School gymnasium project, not part of Measure R, also is expected to be completed by November.

Peach Hill Academy of Core Knowledge has a new auditorium with a seating capacity of 350 students.

Principal Donna Welch is especially happy with the school's multipurpose room. ``It's going to make a huge impact,'' she said.

Angie Valencia, [phone]

angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A worker tinkers with an electrical outlet Thursday in the science and technology library at the new Flory Academy of Science and Technology in Moorpark. School will start Wednesday.

(2) Teachers and staffers are getting ready for the opening of the technology-oriented, college preparatory magnet campus for kindergarten through fifth grade.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News