It's back to school in the San Dieguito Union High School District

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer | Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:40 AM PDT ∞

La Costa Canyon High School is one of nine San Dieguito Union High School District campuses where students returned from summer break Monday. Officials estimated the school's enrollment at 2,450, about 80 fewer students than last school year.
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From La Costa to Carmel Valley, the ring of school bells Monday morning signaled the end of summer for thousands of San Dieguito Union High School District students.

At San Dieguito's five high schools and four middle schools, Monday was the first of 180 instructional days appearing on a school calendar that shows June 12, 2008, as the final day of class.

For many students, that date seemed a long way away.

On the first day of his senior year, Brad Vorce, 17, found the bright, horizontal light of early morning somewhat foreign. Brad said his summer wake-up time was somewhere between 10 a.m. and noon.

"Go out late, come home, sleep, and do it all over again," was how he described his summer routine.

Brad and the rest of the district's nearly 12,360 students can look forward to one-week breaks in November and April and a two-week break in December.

Officials said Monday that enrollment patterns in the 85-square-mile district are flat or, at some schools, declining. State reports show La Costa Canyon's enrollment was 2,532 last school year; enrollment on Monday was estimated at 2,450.

In response to the decline, officials this summer ordered the removal of eight portable classrooms. Crews shipped them to San Dieguito Academy, where eight other portables needed replacement.

The bell that sounded at 7:45 a.m. at La Costa Canyon marked a milestone for Brian McPherson, 14, a freshman who said he was starting high school a bit sleepy. The restless night wasn't because he was excited but because the mosquitos were biting, he said.

Brian said he had misplaced his cell phone and was beginning his high school career with no personal electronic equipment.

All around him, though, students gabbed on cell phones or trudged to class with headphone wires dangling from their ears.

Monday also was momentous for Craig Lewis, La Costa Canyon's new principal, whose career as an administrator has taken him from Santa Monica to Santa Cruz before reaching La Costa Canyon earlier this summer.

"I feel really good about being here," he said.

Lewis' boss, Superintendent Peggy Lynch, said she had visited each of the district's schools Monday morning and that the day began smoothly at all of them.

"How quickly it all falls back into place, with teachers doing what they're supposed to be doing and kids back in class," she said.

For La Costa Canyon's Jen Stromm, 16, getting to class involved fighting traffic for nearly 20 minutes to reach the campus from her Encinitas home, she said.

A back-up of vehicles stretched from the school's driveway to Rancho Santa Fe Road, about a quarter-mile away.

Jen said she hadn't paid for a parking permit, so she parked the pickup she'd borrowed from her brother in the lot at Stagecoach Park, across from the school's entrance.

Once at the school gate, a shrill scream greeted her.

"Jen!" yelled three girlfriends at once, as the greeting turned into a four-way embrace.

New by the school's gate is an electronic marquee, which bore the directive: "No skateboards."

La Costa Canyon was one of several district schools that received improvements over the summer, said Steve Ma, associate superintendent of business services.

San Dieguito Academy received new paving and a new paint job; Earl Warren Middle School received a new computer lab and improvements to its track; Oak Crest Middle School's science labs got a makeover; Torrey Pines High School received a dance room where the textbook room used to be; Sunset High School received new fencing, curbs and sidewalks and landscaping is on the way, Ma said. The improvements total $2.4 million.

"We spend a good part of the year planning it all," Ma said, "then when school's out, we do a 100-yard dash."

-- Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 901-4074 or akaye@nctimes.com.

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Pre-Registration Comments[-]Go to Top

Encinitas Resident wrote on Aug 28, 2007 8:02 AM:Unfortunately I drive the same route from Encinitas as most of the high schoolers, and I have already seen some of the most dangerous driving technics of any of the past 10 years I have been living here. Students are passing on the right shoulder, speeding, talking on the cell and making abrupt lane changes without signalling. PARENTS, get your childrens driving habits under control or we will have more memorials by the side of Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Jennifer wrote on Aug 28, 2007 9:08 AM:The traffic at the schools is awful. It took me 30 minutes to drive 1 1/2 miles to pick up my daughter at San Dieguito Academy. There needs to be better bus service. The school district needs to figure out a way to improve this. With 2 working parents, it is a nightmare to get your kids to and from school.

Alf wrote on Aug 28, 2007 9:28 AM:"Encinitas Resident", don't you mean Santa Fe Drive? Regards, Alf.

Alf wrote on Aug 28, 2007 9:40 AM:ATTENTION PARENTS: After your budding drivers observe you roll stops, after your budding drivers notice that you do between 35 and 45 in a 25 zone more often than not, after reading your letters to the editor about how unfair it is for the police to ticket you for the above offenses and after reading your letters and comments blaming everything and everyone from the pedestrian to the city of Encinitas and the state of California instead of the driver who killed a fellow San Dieguito student, WHAT HAVE THEY LEARNED FROM YOU? They learned the driving behavior that you now so vehemently criticize, you know, the very thing that you do every day. THINK about it. (The SHOUTS were on purpose.) Regards, Alf.

Alf wrote on Aug 28, 2007 11:47 AM:To shorten and reiterate my previous post not here at 11:38AM - Kids see driving habits of their parents and emulate them. If you get a ticket for doing 35 in a 25 zone(that you've done hundreds of times in front of your kid) give the cop a bunch of lip and write a letter to the editor complaining about your ticket, what does your "budding" driver learn? Disrespect for the law, disrespect for his/her elders and an overall attitude of disespect. I hope my previous submission gets posted before next Friday. Regards, Alf.

to Jennifer wrote on Aug 28, 2007 11:52 AM:Get a grip - 1.5 miles? Tell them to walk a few blocks and pick them up someplace less crowded. Why in the world can't kids in high school walk? Maybe we would have fewer obese kids if the parents didn't indulge them so much.

To Alf from Encintas Rez wrote on Aug 28, 2007 3:39 PM:I do mean Rancho Santa Fe Road, it runs through Encinitas and intersects with Camino De Las Coches,the turn to La Costa Canyon High School. At Rancho Santa Fe Road & Calle Acervo is where I see the craziest teen driving on my way to work, and on the northwest corner of that intersection is a memorial to a driving related death that I have been passing for at least 8 years, I always use it to remind me to take it easy on the road. I absolutely agree on your "do as I say" driving parents in the Encinitas area, it is full of the lousiest SUV driving, cell pohone yacking while speeding parental drivers in the county. I refuse to ride my bicycle around there anymore because of their poor attention to safety on the road.

Jennifer wrote on Aug 28, 2007 3:59 PM:To: Get a grip We live 4 miles from school. That would be an 8 mile walk each day. I had to leave work to pick her up. I'm lucky that I work so close to school and home. Most people don't

To Jennifer wrote on Aug 28, 2007 4:49 PM:What is wrong with a kid walking 8 miles a day!?!?!? I had to do it when I was a kid (uphill both ways - heehee). Or have then walk to your work - that's only 1 1/2 miles, and you could get more done at work. There is bus service, as well. It may be inconvenient for the kid, but so what? All my kids walked to school from 5th grade on up. Didn't get them a car until they went to college, and then only when they were out of the dorms AND they could pitch in! And to Encinitas Resident, yea, that's LCC for ya - the kids have much better and faster cars than at the Academy. It's beyond me why some (most?) parents think their kid needs a car - especially if they're not working - and then to go an buy them an "entry level" BMW, MB, truck or Lexus. Just 'cuz you have the money don't mean you hafta spend it!

to jennifer wrote on Aug 28, 2007 6:23 PM:Hmm - seems to me you live close to LCC. Maybe your daughter should go there then walking wouldn't be such a problem. And I still see nothing wrong with having your daughter walk to a more convenient location for you to pick up. That way, you won't be part of the problem of parents who feel it is absolutely their duty to pick up their kids right in the front of the school (or in the student parking lot - a terrible idea! ) The more people who stay away from the entrance of the school before and after school, the better for everyone. I know - I live 3 blocks away and getting out of my driveway in the morning is almost impossible! And before you say anything, all three of my kids walked to and from school until they had a job and bought their own car. Yes Jennifer - it CAN be done!

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