After the long wait, after all the controversy, Ann Sobrato High
School opened last Tuesday with only few glitches.
After the long wait, after all the controversy, Ann Sobrato High School opened last Tuesday with only few glitches.
Students from San Martin to San Jose traveled by bus and car to be the first students at the new school, which is still under construction.
Burnett Avenue in northern Morgan Hill was packed as parents dropped off their teens at Morgan Hill’s second comprehensive high school. Traffic, however, moved well despite the increased number of cars on the two-lane road. Monterey Road also was much busier than usual all last week.
As the students moved from the car or bus to the campus grounds, they were greeted by teachers, administrators and friends. Many compared schedules; others went around looking for their first-period class.
School staff was on hand to make the day easier and by the time the bell rang, the majority of the students were in class, or lined up to go in. About 700 students were on hand for the first day of school.
Principal Richard Knapp, formerly Live Oak High’s principal, made a point to travel around to classes following a broadcast announcement to greet everyone and officially open the new school year.
“We are here to support you,” Knapp said to the students during his announcement referring to the entire Sobrato staff. “We want you to remember that as we go forward.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better opening,” Knapp said Monday afternoon following a staff meeting. “Things went well. The kids were positive and excited. Their behavior was exceptional.”
Knapp noted that the Sobrato staff put in countless hours before classes started in order to be ready for last week’s opening.
Sobrato opened only to freshman and sophomore students; juniors and seniors will be added over the next two years.
Students were not too disappointed about not having the upper classmen at the school.
Freshman Austin Gavin said everyone was on the same page since everyone was starting at a new school for the first time.
“You can’t feel like the odd man out,” Gavin said. “Everyone here is new.”
Some students, on the other hand, thought having upper classmen would allow for a more traditional high school experience.
“Homecoming night will not be homecoming because there won’t be anyone to come home,” said freshman Isela Bañuelos.
For former Live Oak English teacher Terry Bernard, the “newness of it all,” was his main focus for his English-9 class.
“It’s going to be nice here,” Bernard said. “The students have an opportunity to start fresh in a new institution. The district should be commended.”
Students each had their own newness to focus on.
For freshman Kaylen Merten it was the brand-new desks.
“We don’t have to worry about a desk that is broken, all we have to do is ask for a new one,” Merten said.
For freshman Justin Hain, the aesthetics were the best part of Sobrato.
“The school looks nice with the trees and everything,” Hain said.
But for all that went right on the first day, there were things that still needed a little work. Most of the campus just east of Monterey Road was still under construction, including the locker rooms and the gym. Clocks and air conditioning through out the school were also not working properly.
Students, however, took it all in stride.
Freshman Tristan Sellers, son of Councilman Greg Sellers, said construction was nothing new to him coming from the Charter School of Morgan Hill that saw construction of its own.
“I’m used to it,” Sellers said. “At the Charter School, they didn’t start building it and we had to go to the YMCA.”
While the first week of school went relatively well, the phone system went down Friday afternoon was out of order all day Monday. A repair crew was still working on the system Monday night in hopes it would be operating this morning.
In reviewing the opening, Knapp said he would liked to have more of the athletic facilities ready to go. The gym is not targeted for completion until mid-December.
