New Schools Break Ground Next Week

New Schools Break Ground Next Week
By Stephanie Jucar

FAIRFIELD - Two new elementary schools break ground within the next few weeks, which means talks will begin about which schools Fairfield and Suisun City students may enroll in by fall 2007.

The two newest schools joining the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, located in the Rolling Hills and Cordelia area, are named Rolling Hills Elementary School and Cordelia Hills Elementary School.

Phase two attendance boundary public discussions began Thursday night at Crescent Elementary School. More meetings at different schools may be scheduled based on community request, said Bill Luna, the district's director of administrative services.

The district split discussions about attendance boundaries into two phases. Phase one attendance boundaries were passed by the School Board in December for David A. Weir Elementary School, Fairview Elementary School and Bransford Elementary School.

Phase two includes the rest of the elementary schools in Fairfield and Suisun City.

The goal is to eventually even out each elementary school's enrollment in the district to range from 700 to 750 students, which is the planned enrollment at both new schools, Luna said.

"We don't want to pack these kids in like sardines and not have art, music and special ed or any special programs," he added.

From now until April the boundary committee - comprising school administrators and a parent representative from each school in the district - will meet to sort out attendance boundaries for the rest of the schools that weren't included in phase one.

Two public hearings will be held in April to allow community members to contribute their opinions on possible boundary options, Luna said.

Both new schools were originally planned to open by this fall, along with the reopening of David A. Weir Elementary School on Pennsylvania Avenue.

David A. Weir currently serves as the Fairfield-Suisun School District office and will be turned back into an elementary school.

Because initial bids for the two new schools were significantly more expensive than administrators projected, the schools' openings were set back a year.

Both schools won't be as large but model two other newer school buildings in the district, Green Valley Middle School and Crystal Middle School.

Cordelia Elementary School will have updated features such as data outlets for computer and Internet access, cable television and video projection capabilities.

The campus will also include soccer, football and baseball fields.

Rolling Hills Elementary School is located at 2025 Fieldcrest Ave. and Cordelia Hills Elementary School is at 4770 Canyon Hills Dr.

The ground-breaking ceremony for Cordelia Hills Elementary is scheduled at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The official date for ground-breaking of Rolling Hills Elementary was rescheduled due to weather conditions.

Reach Stephanie Jucar at 427-6955 or sjucar@dailyrepublic.net.