Local News in Brief : New School Begins Class

Classes began Tuesday at the first elementary school to be built in 17 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The $10.5-million Montara Avenue School in South Gate, which can hold up to 1,000 students, will operate year-round because of a shortage of classroom space. Other unique features include connecting classrooms to facilitate team teaching and office space for kindergarten teachers who share classrooms, said Principal De Whayne Gallups. The school also will serve hard-of-hearing and deaf students in the district’s southeast region. It has three specially equipped classrooms for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and all classrooms have flashing fire alarm lights.

Montara is the first of 12 new schools that will be completed over the next five years, district officials said. The area encompassing South Gate, Huntington Park and Bell is one of the most severely crowded regions in the district, with about one-third of the district’s 90 year-round schools located there. Year-round schools can accommodate more students than a traditional-calendar school because many students attend classes during the summer.