WOOD RANCH ELEMENTARY OPENS DOORS AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF WAITING BY PARENTS, KIDS; FINALLY, A NEW SIMI SCHOOL.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer No sooner did teacher Lynne Schwartz's pupils arrive for the first day of class than the youngsters were out the door, taking a tour of their new school in Wood Ranch. And the third-graders liked what they saw. The 600-student Wood Ranch Elementary campus is bigger than any they had ever seen, they said. And best of all, they added as the sun poked through the clouds, the Clouds, The attacks Socrates and his philosophy. [Gk. Drama: Haydn & Fuller, 144] See : Satire classrooms have air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. . Never mind that yellow caution tape crisscrossed criss·cross v. criss·crossed, criss·cross·ing, criss·cross·es v.tr. 1. To mark with crossing lines. 2. the off-limits areas throughout the campus, construction workers were pounding away and there would be no playground equipment for days. ``As long as they're not jackhammering, I'm just glad it's done,'' said Jody Johnston, whose youngest daughter, Tessa, started third grade. ``We've been waiting eight years.'' A mix of excitement and anxiety ushered in the new school year in the Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. , which opened the first new school in decades and is welcoming its ninth superintendent since 1990. Across the 19,617-student district, thousands of youngsters said so long to summer and hello to academics as they filed into classrooms with new sneakers sneakers Noun, pl US, Canad, Austral & NZ canvas shoes with rubber soles sneakers npl (US) → zapatos mpl de lona; zapatillas fpl , backpacks and dreams to greet the school year. At Santa Susana High School Santa Susana High School is the third high school located in Simi Valley. The school campus is a middle school that was converted. The school colors are: silver, black, white, and teal. The school mascot is the Troubador. They are a school of the arts. , the young campus welcomed its first class of seniors to the magnet school magnet school n. A public school offering a specialized curriculum, often with high academic standards, to a student body representing a cross section of the community. , which now has students in each grade level. And at Valley View Middle School, the start of classes looked a lot like the end of last school year, with traffic problems still gridlocking cars as 1,300 students arrived for class at the district's largest middle school. At Wood Ranch Elementary School elementary school: see school. , it was a morning of mixed emotions over the start of the new school, which has taken more than a decade to open. ``Good morning, boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. , so good to see you,'' said Principal Karyn Crytser as she visited each classroom, where many of the children opted to wear navy, plaid and white uniforms. ``Is everybody excited about today?'' Crytser asked another class, winning a singsong sing·song n. 1. Verse characterized by mechanical regularity of rhythm and rhyme. 2. A monotonously rising and falling inflection of the voice. adj. Monotonous in vocal inflection or rhythm. affirmative from the youngsters. ``So am I.'' The $9.2 million campus is still under construction, filled with dirt mounds where one day there will be trees and cement slabs where an amphitheater is planned. The district is bringing in extra teachers to work the recess and lunch breaks to make sure the children are safe. Parents in the upscale planned community, many of whom expected to send their children to the new school long ago, gave the new campus a skeptical welcome. ``I had a son we thought was going to go here - he's in college,'' said Linda Kelly, whose younger children are now in fourth, fifth and sixth grades at the school. ``So a little bit of construction work is not a problem.'' Parents also expressed other concerns: The school is crowded, with seven portable classrooms taking up the playground space. There are no crossing guards to usher students across Wood Ranch Parkway, where the posted speed limit is 50 mph. And parents are having to hold a fund-raising drive at the local grocery store to buy soccer balls and jump-ropes for the children to use during recess. Johnston said Wood Ranch is among the campuses that have felt the management troubles at the district, where eight superintendents have led the district since 1990, when the school was being planned. ``It's been years and years, and there's been no control,'' she added. `It's definitely had an effect at this school.'' Many parents hope the newly hired superintendent, Joyce Mahdesian, will help bring new leadership to the district, and they are looking at the school board candidates in the November election to bring a truce to the divided school board. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Seven-year-old Sumy Hariharan clings to her father's hand on the first day of school Tuesday at Wood Ranch Elementary, parts of which are still under construction. (2--Color) Taylor Johnson, aided by teacher Vinda Erlandson, shows her lamb to her kindergarten class. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Special to the Daily News |
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