FOCUS: ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY NEWS : IRVINE
Moneka Broughton was just one of the 21,000 students who crawled out of bed, dressed up and arrived--happy or otherwise--for the first day of school Thursday.
But Moneka’s class at University Park Elementary School is distinct from most.
It is the only school in the Irvine Unified School District that has done away with most single-grade classrooms. Instead, fifth-graders rub elbows with sixth-graders and first-graders share their thoughts with those a year ahead of them.
Principal Craig Ritter introduced combined grades in 1991. “School is the only place where we separate kids by age,” Ritter said.
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