New school opens in Preserve

By Neil Nisperos

Staff Writer

CHINO -- After months of dispute, wrangling over enrollment and how the school should open, the Cal Aero Preserve Academy opened its classrooms to excited students on Monday, just as the district deals with the aftermath of school closures.

"That storm has passed," said interim Superintendent Wayne Joseph upon the opening of the Cal Aero Preserve Academy, referring to earlier controversies surrounding the Preserve school. "We are looking forward to just a great new school year out at the Preserve. As interim superintendent, everything I can do to make sure everyone is successful there, I will."

Hundreds of excited students and their parents filled a central quad in front a large Greek-columned main office to listen to principal Lisa Hall organize classroom assignments and welcome all to the school, which offers classes to K-8 students with high-tech amenities.

The school is in the Preserve, a master-planned community in southeast Chino.

"I just think that when you have a brand new school open, it brings a different level of excitement than going to just a regular school," Joseph said. "Everything is new and different and exciting and people naturally get caught up in that kind of exuberance."

Scores of students and Hall carried the school spirit by wearing red, which along with silver is the school's color.

Hall instructed hundreds of students on school rules on Monday morning in the school's gymnasium, which had red as its main color.

Jessica Frietze, who lives outside the Preserve in Chino, submitted an intra-district transfer for her children, a kindergartner and fifth-grader. Frietze said she is happy her children will attend Cal Aero through eighth grade.

"My kids needed a change and I requested a transfer to the Preserve," Frietze said. "My son said he really liked his first day, and he likes the teachers."

There are about 650 students enrolled at the Cal Aero Preserve Academy, with at least a third of them from outside the Preserve neighborhood, having enrolled through intra-district transfer, Joseph said.

The school's name pays homage to the old Cal Aero Field -- Chino Airport -- where several thousand pilots trained for World War II in the 1940s.

The board last year voted to have the school be an open-enrollment facility for students living throughout the district. Preserve residents rallied against the decision and the developer of the Preserve -- Lewis Operating Co. -- filed a legal challenge against the plan.

A judge ordered the district to open the Preserve school as a neighborhood school this year, though non-Preserve area students can apply for a transfer if space is available.

Meanwhile, another district school celebrated its own first day on Monday, just east of Central Avenue and south of the 60 Freeway.

Walnut Elementary School in Chino has more enrolled students this year after school closures last school year transplanted about 400 students from the now shuttered El Rancho Elementary School.

But Principal Dan Galindo said he doesn't want students to focus too much on the move and their old school's closing. Galindo said everyone at Walnut Elementary today is a Walnut student, period.

While the first school day was Monday, former El Rancho students visited Walnut this past spring on a field trip. They were welcomed into Walnut Elementary as new students on Friday during an open house with parents and faculty members.

The student population at Walnut Elementary rose from about 650 students last year to 966 students because of district budget reductions from state budget cuts, Galindo said.

Walnut has implemented more lunch time for students throughout the day, so students don't feel crowded. The school also offers similar programs to those that El Rancho had for students who need help with math and English, Galindo said.

Another concern from parents at Walnut was larger class sizes. The district had raised the district's student-teacher ratio for K-3 classes from 20 to 1 to 25 to 1 this year as part of budget reductions.

"We have a lot of experienced teachers so I know their experience will help them," Galindo said regarding the class size increases.

Patricia Schultz, a first-grade teacher at Walnut, said the school "started the year right" when it hosted a meet-and-greet with families, she said.

Still, Schultz voiced concern over the new challenge of a larger classroom.

"Kids need a lot of one-on-one time with teachers, and with the budget cuts, putting more kids in the classroom is a concern," she said. "We need to make sure we get these kids to where they need to go."

neil.nisperos@inlandnewspapers.com

(909) 483-9356