As campuses around Anaheim welcomed students back on Wednesday, Aug. 6, for the start of the new school year, blue and white balloon columns framed the front entrance of the Orangeview Western School, celebrating the first day of classes.
Student leaders, administrators and co-principal Lorena Moreno formed a welcome tunnel near the gate, cheering as students entered — some ducking past the fanfare and others stopping for hugs and greetings. Anaheim districts are the first public schools in Orange County to call back all their students for the new academic year.
Orangeview Western is the Anaheim Union High School District’s first non-selective campus serving grades seven through 12, one of just a few of its kind in Orange County. The new school model was created following the school board’s decision to consolidate Western High and nearby Orangeview Junior High.
Orangeview Western was created in response to declining enrollment and financial challenges. While the district’s Oxford Academy also serves grades seven to 12, it’s a smaller, academically selective school that requires an entrance exam.
Moreno said the change adds about 600 seventh- and eighth-graders to the campus, bringing the total student population of the school to just under 2,000.
Some parents said the change made them nervous. Vianney Montes, whose 12-year-old son, Damien, started seventh grade Wednesday, stood just outside the gate, pacing quietly moments after he had gone inside.
“When I heard the school was going to be combined, I didn’t like it because my kid was going to be with the biggest kids. That was my main concern,” she said. But Montes said she felt reassured after learning more about how the integration would be handled.
Ritz Aguilo, another parent of a seventh-grade student, said she was also feeling anxious.
“This is the first time he’ll start to be independent,” she said of her son, Matthew. “The most important thing is that my son has a good and safe environment. My only thing is that he is safe.”
Others said the model felt familiar.
Cristine Grospe was excited for her son, Jayce, 12, to be starting middle school.
“I’m not really worried,” she said. “In the Philippines, it was like this. Up to 12th grade, it was all together. That’s how I went to school.”
Still, the transition is a big one for students, staff and families. Moreno said district officials have made adjustments aimed at easing the shift.
“The first year is a critical year because everyone’s anxious, both students and parents,” she said. “We understood through our town hall meetings and our coffees with the principals that some of the seventh- and eighth-grade parents’ anxiety was the safety and the interaction with the older kids.”
To help create separation, the school designated a junior high-only restroom and junior high-only physical education periods so younger students aren’t sharing locker rooms with older teens.
“It’s difficult to have 100% separation,” Moreno said, “but we really tried to do our best being intentional about the first year.”
Students of all grades share a lunch period, but Moreno said there are supervised, designated eating areas for junior high students. Some flexibility is built in for families with multiple students.
“We’re not going to stop them from eating with their sibling,” Moreno said. “But we’ve assured parents that there’s going to be supervision at lunch and we’re going to encourage our seventh- and eighth-graders to go to their designated area.”
Junior high and high school students will also have separate student leadership programs and will not mix for prom and other upper-grade dances.
“We heard from our families that they really wanted a distinct separation in the beginning,” Moreno said. “So we’re keeping two separate ASB courses, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be collaboration. Some things will be developmentally appropriate for the junior high … but in the first year, there’s going to be a clear demarcation.”
Moreno said that could change in the future, depending on feedback from students and parents.
District officials say the new setup also offers major advantages for the students.
Seventh- and eighth-grade students will have access to electives — including career pathway classes — that Moreno said typically aren’t available in junior high. Because some pathways take two years to complete, younger students could start one early, finish by the eighth grade, and begin a second one in their high school years.
The school also launched a new block schedule, giving students longer class periods and more flexibility for interdisciplinary and project-based learning.
“We’re hoping that we reengage the kids and the learning process because it’s going to be fun again to learn,” Moreno said.
Enrollment is higher than expected, but Moreno said the campus is equipped to accomodate the student population. She said Western has hosted some 2,000 students in the past, and the district increased staffing to match this year’s needs.
“We’ve gained additional teachers, we’ve increased our campus safety from three to five, there’s a co-principalship model where two of us are leading the school together,” Moreno said. “We’ve increased in social workers, we’ve increased in counselors.”
Bindi Crawford, the principal of the old Orangeview campus, is the other co-principal of the new school.
Facilities have also been updated. Moreno said the campus now has a new perimeter fence, upgraded classrooms and restrooms, HVAC improvements, new artificial turf and a renovated gym.
As students arrived for the first time Wednesday morning, restorative practices coordinator Ignacio Gutierrez said the school’s goal was to make them feel welcome and supported.
“These are big, exciting changes,” Gutierrez said. “It’s natural to have worries, but we’re all here to make sure they feel as comfortable as possible.”