OCEANSIDE - Now that Principal Rodney Goldenberg has hired five teachers to help him get Vista Unified School District's new magnet high school campus open in August, he said he's excited to start putting together the schools' curricula.

"You need creative and dynamic teachers around you," he said.

The school board hired Goldenberg last month to lead the two magnet schools, which will share a campus on 66 acres near the intersection of Highway 76 and Melrose Drive in eastern Oceanside.

One of the schools, which are collectively known as Mission Vista High Schools, will focus on arts and communication, the other on science and technology.

This month, Goldenberg hired five teachers who specialize in different areas related to the two themes.

"It's great to have individuals who are experts in their field," he said.

Roger Royster will leave Rancho Buena Vista High School to focus on visual arts, Anne Fennell will leave the Vista Academy of Visual and Performing arts to specialize in music and technology, Carol Jones will come from Vista High School to teach theater, Steve Post will leave Vista Academy to teach science, and Dara Rosen will leave Rancho Buena Vista to focus on chemistry.

They will all continue in their current teaching jobs while they work to put together the academic plan for the new schools.

"All five of us have a pretty full plate," Royster said.

As part of the founding faculty, they will be responsible for putting together the vision, academic focus and schedule for the schools.

"It's an opportunity to start with a clean canvas, and to work with a close-knit group of teachers to create something that will be unique to our district," Royster said.

They don't have much time. Goldenberg said he plans to start recruiting students for the schools in February with meetings and letters to parents of this year's eighth-graders.

The campus is expected to open in August for 500 freshmen, expanding with one class each year until 2,000 students are there in grades nine through 12. It's the centerpiece of the district's $140 million bond measure approved in 2002 and expected to cost roughly $91 million.

Goldenberg said he doesn't anticipate any problems getting that many students to sign up, especially considering the overcrowded conditions at the district's two comprehensive high schools. He said he's not trying to compete with those schools, but working to offer some opportunities not available there.

"What I'm looking for it giving parents options," he said.

- Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.