Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Sharing Off to a Chaotic Start : Education: Royal opens its doors to cross-town rival Simi High, which was damaged in the quake. Student reaction is mixed.

On Wednesday morning, Simi Valley High School senior Jamin Huber arrived early for classes at Royal High School. Not that he was excited about the rival schools sharing a campus for the first time ever.

Jamin was lost.

Shortly after school let out for Royal High students at 11:35 a.m., Jamin and his friends looked at a class list posted on the library window and then scanned a campus map posted nearby.

“I’m in (Room) 9-2. Where is that?” the 17-year-old asked. “I don’t know where I’m going. I can’t believe--my senior year at Royal. I just hope I don’t have to graduate here.”

School officials don’t know how long the two schools will have to operate on a split shift under the same roof.

For at least a few weeks, until quake damage at Simi High can be repaired, Royal students will continue to start one hour early, at 7 a.m., and get out before noon so that Simi High can hold afternoon classes.

“I think we should do it all year,” said Aida Robles, 17, a junior at Royal who gave the thumbs up to shorter 40-minute classes as she headed home at midday.

The controlled but chaotic transformation from Royal High to Simi High occurred within a 45-minute buffer between classes. Shortly after Royal students and teachers poured out of the campus, the Simi students began to arrive.

The Simi High teachers came early for a staff meeting in the library, each toting identical boxes containing class lists and other materials supplied by school officials.

Math teacher Don Kyle said he was happy to be back at work as he settled into his temporary room to welcome his first-period class.

“This is my desk,” he said, waving his arm toward the small white box holding a dearth of materials. “We don’t know what we’re going to do for books right now. But we’re just going to do what has to be done.”

School board member Doug Crosse dubbed the scene “Simi Royal High School.” Others blended the names of the two schools’ mascots--the Simi Valley Pioneers and the Royal Highlanders--to create the hybrid “Pioneering Highlanders.”

“I think this has brought the community together,” said Vicki Spilka, president of the Parent Teacher Student Assn. at Royal, who helped direct the Simi High students around campus.

But not all of the students agreed. Kim Vanbuskirk, 16, stood in front of Royal waiting for friends to arrive and avoiding going inside for as long as possible. She wanted to return to school, she said, “but not at Royal.”

Her friend, Arianne Hartlove, agreed. “This is our cross-town rival. It’s depressing.”

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Royal student Kelly Nasser said some students resent the Simi invasion, but many don’t mind at all.

“A lot of them have tagged up the desks with ‘Simi sucks,’ but half the students really don’t care,” Kelly said.

The Simi High students had other concerns. If not for the quake, final exams would have been given this week. Instead, the semester was extended one week to Feb. 4, so teachers could reschedule tests. After that time, the students will face a new schedule of classes at an unfamiliar school.

“They’re good kids, they’re resilient,” said design and journalism teacher Peg Morris. “Once they figure out everything is fine, they’ll get back to regular, whatever regular is at this point.”

Traffic was the biggest potential problem that school officials worried about, said Royal Principal Mike McConahey. A handful of buses transported several dozen students from the parking lot at Simi High, and parents had been urged to car-pool.

Although lines of cars stretched for a few blocks, the scene remained fairly orderly as Simi Valley police officers directed traffic into and out of the school parking lot.

“I’d say it went pretty smoothly, given the fact that we just moved 2,000 people out and moved 2,000 people in,” McConahey said after the rush was over.

As Simi High’s 12:15 p.m. start time approached, crowds of students gathered around the lists trying to figure out where their first-period classes would be held. Guidance counselor Jody Melanson stood in the thick of things, waving a map in the air.

“You guys all right? You know where you’re going?” she asked students milling around the class lists.

“Some of these kids have never set foot on this campus,” counselor Harvey Webb explained. “They’re a little lost right now, but they’ll get there.”

Sophomore Brian McGrath said he was happy to be back at school so he could see friends. But he wasn’t so sure about negotiating a new school.

“It’s completely insane,” he said after waiting in line for directions to his first class. “They said my class is somewhere over there,” he said pointing uncertainly toward the next building. “I don’t know.”

Once students learn where they are going, they can start to get back into their routine with teachers and friends, officials said. Until then, they might be anxious.

By second period, Spanish teacher Merry Gunn acknowledged with her class that some tensions exist.

“We’re not on our territory,” she told the students. “This is not our school. But it’s a fantastic opportunity for you to realize you’re not just two campuses. You’re one community coming together.”

Times staff writer Stephanie Simon contributed to this story.

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