August 2002

Ran:  as a supplement to the Corridor News, Poway News Chieftain and Rancho Bernardo News Journal
Thursday, August 22, 2002

go WEST young man

Poway Unified opens its newest high school next week west of PQ
By Thor Kamban Biberman

When Westview opens Monday, local teens will be privy to state-of-the-art facilities and an education designed for the 21st century.

Westview High School, which sits just west of Rancho Penasquitos, will serve roughly 930 freshmen and sophomores in its first year. Although it will be the Poway Unified School District's fourth comprehensive high school, it is in many ways a first for the area.

Teachers and students will operate on a four-by-four block system, with each class lasting one and a half hours per day. Students will enroll in four classes per semester, allowing them to take eight classes per year rather than the standard six. A built-in tutorial program, called Wolverine Time, will also give students the opportunity to meet with teachers twice a week for extra help or to make up a test or lab missed due to an absence.

Integrated into the block system will be a 20-minute homeroom period. The students will remain enrolled in the same homeroom class throughout their high school career, allowing them to form a close bond with their homeroom peers.

Connection is just one of four driving forces behind Westview High, according to Principal Jerry Leininger. The other three are communication, collaboration and flexibility.

Planning for Westview began in 1998, when district officials decided to build the school before constructing Del Norte High, which is slated for the growing 4S Ranch community. The multimillllion-dollar project was designed by NTD Architects and build by Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc., a local general contractor known for building schools and hospitals.

Funding for the project came from a combination of state and Mello-Roos funds, which are assessments or fees paid by developers and homeowners in new housing subdivisions. About two-thirds of the $70 million-plus needed for the school's construction came from Mello-Roos funds.

According to former PUSD Superintendent Robert Reeves, 1998 district plans for the new high school called for it to feature the latest educational innovations from across the country. Leininger, who was Poway High's principal at the time, was selected in the spring of 1999 to study such innovations. Selecting a principal so early in the planning stages was unusual, but Reeves said he thinks it has paid off based on the feeling of the new campus and its unique course schedule.

Built as a circle Westview's campus is designed to bring a sense of community to students, faculty and staff, Leininger said. A covered walkway connects each classroom, leaving an open congregating area 100 yards in diameter. The area comes complete with amphitheater seating ad grass for students to gather on while they enjoy lunch.

The gymnasium is build with raised ceilings that will filter natural light in the room. On the north and south ends of the building are classrooms to be used by various physical education classes.

The classrooms are separated by mobile doors that can be raised and closed in a matter of minutes, turning one classroom into three and vice versa/ Leininger said this will be used to transform the room from a wrestling, dance or gymnastics practice room to lecture classrooms where students can learn about fitness.

School athletic programs will utilize a stadium-style football field and a 25-meter, 12-lane, gutterless swimming pool.

In the academic classrooms, the Westview philosophy continues.

The only academic wings on campus designed to one discipline are the two science wings, where students will have stat-of-the-art lab equipment.

All other classrooms are designed similar to those off the gymnasium. The rooms are made with the same mobile doors that will let teachers interact when lesson plans call for it.

For example, English classes will mix with history classes to teach about the time period in which a novel took place.

The school's library sits atop the school's administrative offices in a two-story building with picture windows to the east and west. Students will have access to multiple data ports for the school's 40 laptop computers.

The east side will be called the treehouse, a place where students can read and study on comfortable couches and cushioned chairs, Leininger said.

There will also be a student cafe inside the library where students can drink a latte while they read. Cheri Tomboc-Brownlie, the school's librarian, said she plans to start an open mid day during the week where students can bring in instruments or read poems to their peers.

Leininger said it took several dozen meetings with students, faculty and district administrators to make Westview a reality, but the end result was well worth the time spent.

"I prefer not to dwell on what may have been a challenge or obstacle for us," he said. "When you look at the finished product, you have to be in awe of what the last two years have produced."

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