TEMECULA - Asked if he was excited about his first day at brand new Temecula Luiseno Elementary School, 6-year-old MacIntyre Griggs shrugged his shoulders and said, "Not really."

His dad told a different story.

"At 6:45 this morning, he was dressed and asking me if it was time to go," Rick Griggs said.

When the gates opened at 8:45 a.m. Monday, MacIntyre, a first-grader, and 676 other students filed onto the campus, the district's 18th elementary school, to begin the academic year.

"We had people here waiting at 7:30 this morning," Principal Andree Grey said. "Some of them said they weren't sure what time school started; others said they didn't know if school started today."

As students arrived, Grey and her staff stood near the school's driveway directing traffic, answering questions and helping smooth out any first-day jitters.

The school has 60 employees, including 28 teachers, Grey said.

Temecula Luiseno is in the newer Wolf Creek development off Pechanga Parkway in the southern part of the city. Located on Wolf Creek Drive North, the school is named in honor of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, who have lived in the Temecula Valley for more than 10,000 years.

Parents, students and staff had to wait an extra year for the new campus to open. The school was built and ready to go a year ago, but board members decided to put off the opening while more homes were built in the area to increase the student population. The decision, officials have said, saved the district about $500,000 in operating expenses.

"We were supposed to go here last year," said Michelle Griggs, MacIntyre's mother.

The family lives just a block from the new school. Their son attended kindergarten at Red Hawk Elementary School.

There was no shortage of students Monday and the new school's opening enrollment is about the average of the district's other elementary campuses, district spokeswoman Melanie Norton said.

District officials said 27,688 students returned to 33 Temecula schools Monday, an increase of 630 students over last year's opening day enrollment.

Temecula Luiseno parents, many of whose children attended schools across the district last year, were happy to have a campus closer to home.

"Now, he can ride his bike to school and he thinks that's great," said Karen Dungan, mother of third-grader Jacob Dungan, who attended Nicolas Valley Elementary School last year.

Fourth-grader Baily Jenkins, a former Helen Hunt Jackson Elementary School student, was excited to get the day started.

"Everything is new," she said. "And we're the first kids to go here."

- Contact staff writer John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603, or hunneman@californian.com.