SANTA ANA : Kennedy School Dedication Today

John F. Kennedy Elementary School, 1300 E. McFadden Ave., quietly opened to approximately 840 students earlier this summer, but the Santa Ana Unified School District will celebrate the official opening of its newest elementary school today.

The district will begin ribbon-cutting ceremonies at 6 p.m. in the presence of Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, Superintendent Rudy M. Castruita and School Board President Audrey Yomagata-Noji. Tours of the new school will be available at that time. Entertainment for the evening will be provided by an elementary school troupe of Cambodian dancers and a choral group from Century High School. The public is invited.

Kennedy, a two-story, red-brick structure, is located on six acres of land near residential and industrial areas. The school’s 33,000 square feet contain 19 classrooms, a library and a multipurpose room.

Students attending Kennedy spent nearly two years attending classes at a temporary school site made up of portable classrooms. Classes at the new school will be year-round.

The opening of new schools will become common within the next few years as the district prepares to build 11 more elementary schools to house a population growing at a rate of about 1,000 students per year. Other schools recently opened include Century High School, which opened last fall, and Jose Andres Sepulveda Elementary, which opened in the spring.