Schools
open smoothly
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here for more first day photos.
School opened smoothly on Wednesday, despite
temperatures that were in the high 90s.
At the high school you could say that students
surfed into a gnarly new year!
According to Supt. Lou Obermeyer, “We
had a wonderful first day of school! The high school opened
with its traditional pep rally and Principal Ron McCowan
entered on a surf board,” carried by four burly high
school seniors.
“It was exciting to see all of the
high school teachers, staff and students cheering in the
gym as ASB Director Rob Gilster led the pep rally,”
said Dr. Obermeyer.
At the Primary School, principal Patty
Christopher welcomed students as they lined up on the blacktop
ready to go with their teachers to their classrooms and
students waved goodbye to parents.
Mrs. Christopher told The Roadrunner, “Valley
Center Primary School enjoyed a very smooth day overall.
We always have some kindergarten students who cry and more
than a few parents that do too, but that's to be expected.
Children seem happy to be in school and we love seeing their
smiling faces back at the Bee School.”
Enrollment on the first day of school was
4,104 which is 112 below projected enrollment. The second
day enrollment was 57 down from projections.
“However,” said Dr. Obermeyer,
“enrollment usually increases daily until after Labor
Day when enrollment levels off and we have a better idea
of our enrollment will be for the year.
Surfer “dude” McCowan added
that the pep rally “had an Hawaiian theme with the
saying of aloha to summer and aloha to the school year.”
McCowan added, “In spite of the heat
students were enthusiastic throughout the day. They spent
the day meeting their teachers, learning the expectations
in each of their new classes, and getting reacquainted with
old friends.”
Wendy Heredia, elementary principal reported,
“Our first day was wonderful in spite of the warm
weather. We had many happy faces with big smiles eager to
return to school. One of the highlights on the day was the
new surface of our playground area. Our students enjoyed
testing it out. We had a great start to what we know will
be a great year!”
Shannon Hargrave at Lilac School reported:
“Lilac Lizards had a fabulous first day. We had over
five hundred beautiful smiling faces! We had a wonderful
start for a wonderful school year.”
Jon Petersen, middle school principal,
commented, “True to Valley Center tradition, the first
day of school was about the hottest day of the year! Fortunately,
the heat didn’t seem to bother the eight hundred and
thirty two students who arrived with lots of enthusiasm.
One sixth grader who raced past our assistant principal
on his way home shouted, ‘This was the best first-day
ever!”
The opening went smoothly without any serious
issues. “We’re expecting another ten students
to arrive in the next few days, which means our enrollment
will be the same as last year. That kind of stability helps
us develop a master schedule that best meets our students’
needs,” said Petersen.
He added that staff members notice that
this year’s students seemed to be particularly respectful
and kind. “Parents should be happy to know that their
children are studying in a positive, safe environment that
enables us to put all our efforts on academics. We’re
very blessed to have one of the best middle schools in the
county.”
