Late November is hardly the time to begin at a new school, but Sunnybrae Elementary students and faculty started the week yesterday with brand new buildings, classrooms and facilities. The new Sunnybrae opened at 1031 S. Delaware Street after a year and a half spent in temporary placement at the district's Knolls facility on 42nd and Alameda de las Pulgas, while construction for the permanent site was underway. Last week students enjoyed a full five days of vacation while school staff packed up boxes and made the move. Sunnybrae's faculty and 392 students had mostly positive reactions to their new environment.
"I think the new school is gorgeous. It's all new, it's all clean. It's a fresh start," said Darlene Nordson, a 15-year third and fourth grade teacher at Sunnybrae.
"I think it's really good because there's a bigger library, and we have all new computers," said nine-year-old Haley Dilibero, one of Nordson's students.
The new Sunnybrae has made a number of improvements from the old school. Not only are the buildings now seismically safe and completely rid of asbestos, the school also has a larger library that can hold more books, a multimedia computer lab with 20 new iMac computers and three new sets of playground equipment for different age groups.
The school is also now set back from Delaware Ave. with a parking lot in front - a safety improvement, district officials say. And there is a fence around the school to keep students on school grounds and the general public out.
Sunnybrae Principal, Genevive Johnson, said one of the nicest aspects of the new school is the outdoor courtyard, which will be used for small group instruction.
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"It's just a different method of reaching a child. Being outside sometimes may increase a child's level of reading," Johnson said.
The district initially did not expect to open the new Sunnybrae so late in the school year, but the board's decision last February to put in a full sprinkler system set construction a few months behind schedule.
Sunnybrae is the only school in the district to get a complete overhaul - the other schools on the district's modernization plan are getting new facilities and partial construction to bring them up to code. The district decided that modernizing the old Sunnybrae would not be cost-efficient or safe - they opted for the $8 million re-construction of the school instead.
"What we had to do with the seismic would have been a safety hazard," said Tish Busselle, assistant superintendent for the district.
School staff still have a bit of work to do setting up the new school. And the heating system is not working yet, according to one teacher. Although many students were apprehensive about being in a new place, they are settling in well, said Nordson.
And students are already thinking ahead - yesterday they were asked to think about what they would do make the school a better place. Aisea Ramirez, age 9, answered, "To keep the school clean and obey the new rules."
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