BELLINGHAM - Hundreds of kids armed with backpacks - and school maps - descended on brand-new Cordata Elementary School Wednesday morning, Sept. 7, marking the beginning of another school year.
"Look at all the smiles," said Principal Dave Adams, standing outside the school greeting families. "Kids are excited about the building. I think this is the first time many have had anything close to this."
Wednesday was the first time many of the school's 425 students had been able to see the new building, which is tucked into the woods along Aldrich Road and was completed less than a month ago. Exclamations of "it's so big!" and "it's so nice in here" could be heard up and down the school's main hallway as students and parents walked into the doors.
Dozens of school staff and volunteers, wearing new Cordata Bobcats shirts, were scattered around the building, handing out maps and helping students and families navigate to their new classrooms.
"Which way do we go?" asked one fourth-grader to his friend while standing at the bottom of the stairs, a common question at Cordata Wednesday morning.
"I know where to go!" exclaimed the friend, quickly heading up the stairs to where the upper elementary classes are located.
The two-story school has 25 classrooms and houses one of the Bellingham School District's two elementary Life Skills Programs for disabled students. The school also boasts a regulation-sized gym, complete with electronic bleachers and multiple basketball hoops that can be lowered for young elementary students.
About half of the school's students are displaced Birchwood Elementary students. That older school is closed for at least the next couple years so it can be updated, using funds from the 2006 bond that were originally earmarked for seismic upgrades to the district office. Decisions about what to do with Birchwood Elementary have not been made, although the plan is to reopen it within a few years.
The other Cordata students are mostly drawn from Sunnyland and Alderwood elementary schools.
Many of the school's 60 staff members are from Birchwood, which means many students recognized faces even though they were in a different building.
Music teacher Lis Jansen, who taught at Birchwood for five years prior to the 2010-11 school year, was in her classroom for only a moment before former students came in to say hi ... and play on the new African-style drums lining the walls.
Jansen's lesson plans for her first four classes included working with students on creating a song for the new school, possibly incorporating aspects of the Alderwood, Birchwood and Sunnyland songs.
"The first day of school, it's the best!" she said, later adding, "I'm nervous the first day, but that's what makes it fun."
TOUR THE SCHOOL
Students, parents and community members are invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Cordata Elementary School at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at the school's main entrance. Tours of the new school, 4420 Aldrich Road, will be offered until 6 p.m. Parking at the school is limited, so people are advised to carpool, or they can take a shuttle from the main parking lot of Shuksan Middle School that will leave at 4:15 p.m.
