Halls of Learning : From a New Visual Arts Magnet for 1,000 Elementary Pupils . . .

The pomp and ceremony surrounding the official dedication of Zamorano Elementary School on Thursday weren’t completely lost on sixth-grade students Joe Zales, Isauro Inocencio and Alfred Egaran.

The speeches by various San Diego city school district dignitaries may not have been the most stirring events to sit through, but once they were over, the proud kids got the chance to show off their new facility, at 2655 Casey Street in Paradise Hills, to hundreds of parents and guests.

They highlighted the art studio, the graphic arts studio, the photography darkroom and the special computer center, all part of the unusual visual arts specialties that the school offers to all of its nearly 1,000 students--kindergarten through sixth grade--under the district’s magnet academic enrichment program. The visual-arts magnet is one of only two statewide offered to elementary school students, the other being in Santa Cruz.

There was pupil Shawna Kent learning how to mold pottery on a wheel, under the supervision of artist-in-residence Sherry Dann. Some third-graders were busy painting dinosaurs on Styrofoam, preparing for printmaking with the help of another guest artist, Donna Davis. Another third-grade group was being shepherded in the computer lab by instructional aide Tim Suanico, picking up on word processing fundamentals before starting Dazzle Draw and other computer graphics.

“This school is great, where kids can focus on art and create something for themselves,” said Suanico, a UC San Diego graduate in visual arts who left a theater costume design job in New York to return to San Diego, where he is working on an education credential at San Diego State University to become a full-time teacher.

As student Henry Oliva grabbed Suanico’s arm and called him “the coolest teacher in the school,” Suanico added, “Next year I hope to student-teach here--even though I will do it for nothing--because it’s so rewarding.”

The modern one-story campus, with its many patio spaces, could be one of the last the district builds for a while, given the budget crunch faced by the city school board due to potential state funding shortages. It was named for Augustin Vicente Zamorano, an artist of Spanish descent who became California’s first textbook printer in the 1830s.

“I’m just glad that we got this one through,” board member Dorothy Smith said after the dedication ceremonies, where parents and children marveled at the release of balloons in the Zamorano colors of red, white and black, each containing a note about a particular class, which students hope will be found and returned from where they land.

Smith said that, despite the board’s recent actions to cut almost $11 million in programs, she found Zamorano’s dedication “a way to think positively about what we have left and the ability to substitute community and parent power for (funding) power.”

Supt. Tom Payzant called the dedication highly symbolic.

“A school like (Zamorano) represents the best you can provide for future learning and underscores the view that education has to be a high priority (in the state),” Payzant said. “That was part of what I was saying to the kids: it’s the old message of expectations. If you aim high, you will achieve in that manner.”

Payzant took pride in what he called “the incredible mix of kids” at Zamorano, where about 46% are Filipino, 33% white, 10% black and 8% Latino. Of the 940 students, about 100 are bused in from outside the neighborhood because of the visual arts emphasis and to bring in more Caucasian students. While arts are emphasized, all students also receive a full load of basic instruction in math, science and English, including use of computers in teaching writing.

Waiting List

Despite being open less than a year, the school already has a long waiting list of non-neighborhood pupils wishing to bus in for the program, coordinator Richard Flores said. While the total may be increased to 150 next year, it cannot grow beyond that because of the large resident population--the school has 200 more students than were expected when it opened in September.

The school already has strong involvement from parents, who are pleased not only that a new school was opened in their rapidly expanding neighborhood of one- and two-story houses but that it has become a popular magnet as well.

“I had never heard of a (public) arts school,” said Vangie Egaran, whose son Alfred enjoys the weaving-on-cardboard classes, taught by Carol Marshall. “And I really like it.”

Other students have focused on photography courses, where they learn not only to compose pictures but also to develop film and make prints.

“They let us go out into the (next-door) park and take still-lifes and do pannings,” said sixth-grader Isauro Inocencio. His friend, Joe Zales, enjoys pencil drawing of robots “or whatever goes with my mood at the particular time.”

Even Band

Because of the school’s size, it offers electives not usually found at the primary school level, including band, which is being cut back at other schools next year because of budget problems.

Chris Williams on the xylophone and trumpeter James Billingsley were just two of the band students that teacher Beverly Tesch guided through “America” and “Rigadoon” during the dedication ceremonies. Both Williams and Billingsley hope their Zamorano experience gives them a leg up in eventually becoming members of the Morse High School marching band, which made a guest appearance Thursday and set the audience to foot-stomping with its rendition of “Sun Cat.”

The school even hopes to begin a student newspaper soon, which student Cuong Pham wants to be named the “Zamorano Zinger Times.”

But only time will tell if the school will go for his suggestion, he conceded.