PALMDALE – Representatives from Anaverde Hills School, Westside Union School District, the City of Palmdale, and Anaverde Hills HOA cut the ribbon Thursday morning to signal the opening of the new Anaverde Hills School campus.
“The Anaverde Hills community has eagerly awaited a school of their own, so it’s a really exciting event,” said Principal Kristin Gellinck-Frye.
The concept for the new campus was laid out about 20 years ago, but the realization of that concept was stalled by many factors, including the housing collapse, according to Westide Union School District officials.
“It’s taken a lot of work from community stakeholders – the [Anaverde Hills Homeowners Association] HOA, the school district, the city,” Gellinck-Frye said. “Everybody worked to put this school campus here in Anaverde Hills, and the community is super excited about that.”
The new campus is home to more than 400 students from grades K-7 this year. It will expand to include eighth-grade students in 2014, Gellinck-Frye said.
The school’s motto is “A STEP above the rest.”
Gellinck-Frye explained how the school came up with its motto:
“The ‘A’ stands for AVID, which is a college readiness and academic program school wide; the ‘S’ stands for science, we have a science lab on campus for all of our students; the ‘T’ stands for technology, we have SMART boards in every classroom and we’ll have iPad use and student interactive systems; the ‘E’ stands for exploration through the curriculum, including the humanities; and the ‘P’ stands for project-based learning,” Gellinck-Frye said.
The new school also has many extracurricular programs, including ballroom dancing, a robotics team, Mathletes and sports teams.
Perhaps most important for the eager students is the school’s location. At 2902 Greenbrier Street in Palmdale, the new school is right in their neighborhood.
“They don’t have to be bused anymore, it’s a walk to school,” Gellinck-Frye said, “and that’s a huge benefit for this community.”
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Melissa says
this neighborhood is getting better people in it, finally. Hopefully this trend keeps up and the new school will have functional students from functional families that actually value education!
Jay says
Your snobbyness is showing. hen expalin to me Why Knight High has the second highest scores in the district and its on the Bad side of town
Memememe says
Boom!