District 1, Arizona Western College open doors to students

Summer officially ended for students young and old Monday as Yuma Elementary School District 1 and Arizona Western College started a new school year.

A schedule change for start times for schools in District 1 presented minor challenges but nothing administrators could not overcome the opening day of school, officials said.

Woodard Junior High School Principal Alex Sullivan said the first day was actually going quite well.

"Any time we have changes we have to make adjustments, but it is not anything we didn't anticipate," Sullivan said.

To cut school busing costs, District 1 elementary schools are starting at 7:45 a.m. each day this year, while middle and junior high schools start at 7:30 a.m.

Woodard had an additional issue to deal with this year - $150,000 in damages in a vandalism attack last month. But Sullivan said everything was repaired by Monday's first day. Most computers lost in the attack were replaced and those that haven't been are on order but it has had no impact on the start of school, he said.

Woodard added an eighth-period class this year to accommodate a one-hour reading class in addition to the required language arts class for all students. Therefore, each class was reduced from 56 minutes to 46 minutes.

"We are very excited about our potential and hope to see great dividends," Sullivan said.

Lara Dinsmore, an eighth-grade reading instructor, noted Woodard is placing more emphasis on reading this year, especially with the "high point curriculum," which is a more structured discipline aimed at ELL students.

"We believe in not making excuses but in doing our job," Dinsmore said. "Our goal is to make sure students exceed state standards."

Candy Werley, an eighth-grade math teacher, noted that despite having to work with a budget that is $1 million less this year, the district did an excellent job of retaining teachers.

Bill and Olivia Manary, parents of sixth-grade student Bryan, 11, had to drive their son to Woodard when the bus failed to show up at the stop that is just a block from their home on 14th Avenue, they said.

"They said they wouldn't count anybody tardy," Manary said. "It's a little bumpy start but no problem. We got my other son in kindergarten at O.C. Johnson without crying."

Everything went smoothly at Gwyneth Ham Elementary School as well, Principal Rebecca Kuechel said. The school's focus is on the district-wide four R's - rigor, relevance, relationships and relentlessness.

"We want to increase comprehension and have students use vocabulary they learn in their writing, in content areas such as math which is more than just computation," Kuechel said. "They have math logs to keep. We try to tie everything together so they'll be more successful that way."

School is also a time to reunite with old friends. Fourth-grader Carmelina Ramirez, 9, who enjoys reading and tether ball, is glad to return to Gwyneth Ham for another year.

"I like science because you get to work on experiments and they're fun to do," Carmelina said. "But on the first day I get kind of nervous because the teacher asks something and I get kind of embarrassed."

At O.C. Johnson Elementary School, Principal Jose Cazares also said it was fun to have the children return to school. Little by little over the previous years, they have been raising achievement standards, he said.

Thanks to an outstanding teaching staff Rolle School said it expects to meet the district's goal of at least 80 percent of students exceeding state standards within two years, Principal Mark Cunningham said. And because of parents who have shown patience and understanding earlier start times went off very smoothly, he said.

And despite registering five new students, staff at Gila Vista Junior High School had them all in class within 40 minutes, Principal Rusty Tyndall said. The school also welcomed four new teachers along with returning staff who are "the experts we count on," he added.

Since start times were only 20 minutes earlier than last year at Ron Watson Middle School the first day began flawlessly, Principal Donna Franklin said. The school is also implementing a more rigorous curriculum and they expect to have students exceed standards by April exams, she said.

Although the first day went "amazingly smooth" at Otondo Elementary, the main challenge was the road construction along 24th Street between Araby Road and Avenue 9E, Principal Mike Taylor said.

He said he asked all parents whenever possible to use U.S. Highway 95 to take their children to school, because it connects with Otondo Drive. But once students arrived, they were "rolling," he said.

"The traffic delay is our only challenge today but there is not a lot we can do with that," Taylor said. "We're continuing to improve our achievement and we always want to be a little better than we were. Our goal always, is to maintain consistent improvement."

Today was also the first day of classes at Arizona Western College, where enrollment increased by more than 6 percent over last year, according to Veronica Garcia, registrar. The administration is very excited about its new science and agriculture building, as well as its child development learning laboratory which opened this fall, Garcia noted.

Liz Renaud, an AWC early childhood education professor, said she feels empathetic toward the students and sees herself as a facilitator who helps them meet life goals.

"The first day I found the students anxious and curious about what the semester would hold," Renaud said.

Jordan Bouchard, an anthropology major from Phoenix, said AWC was the best place for her because it is more affordable than other universities and helps fulfill her ambition to become a forensic anthropologist.

---

William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.