When it really is the first day of school

It’s not every day that Willie Nunez shows up early to school. But on Thursday, the 14-year-old with the black “Metallica” T-shirt and dreams of becoming a musician arrived more than an hour before the first morning bell.

It wasn’t that it was the first day of school, although that was part of it. It’s that it was the first day for the school. Everything at the sparkling $36-million school was brand new and meant to last for generations. That is, except for its name -- Valley New High School #1 -- which is expected to last a month until it gets a real one.

Moments before Nunez arrived, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s top officials held a press conference hailing the day as a new era in education for the city. They touted its location on the Cal State Northridge campus and its significance as the first high school opened in the Valley in 33 years. And they lauded a close relationship between the two institutions that will allow the high school to mirror the college’s three “academies”: education; arts, media and communication; and health and human development.

All that sounded just fine. But on this morning Nunez had a concern more immediate and as old as a one-room frontier schoolhouse. “This place is really cool,” said the ninth-grader, standing in the school’s courtyard. “But I hope I fit in.”

In outward appearance at least, he could have easily meshed with the sizable portion of students who favored nearly all black clothing. They stood in contrast to the other noteworthy sub-groups -- the athletes and their imitators, cheerleader-types, and the largest contingent, the Old Navy-Gap-Abercrombie & Fitch crowd. Of course, psychologically, everyone shared a key trait that took the edge off the time-honored first day of high school jitters.

“I’m not that nervous,” said Emily Abad, 15, a 10th-grader. “Because I know no one knows hardly anyone around here.”

English teacher Sue Gordon told her students she was in the same boat. She left her post at nearby Monroe high and told her morning class she knew only two other teachers.

“I left my husband who is a teacher at Monroe,” Gordon told the students. “The lure of teaching in a brand-new school is that strong. I don’t know if you can imagine how phenomenal it really is.”

Both students and teachers came from more than half a dozen nearby high schools and middle schools, most of them aging, all of them overcrowded. At Valley New High #1, that’s not going to be a problem anytime soon, school officials vow. This first year, the school will serve about 600 students, just ninth- and 10th-graders. By 2006, with all four grades represented, there will be about 1,000 students -- roughly one-fourth of the average at most LAUSD high schools.

“It’s kind of cool,” said 10th-grader Zack Marshall, 15. “You get to feel like you’re a senior even though you’re not.”

The absence of upper classmen didn’t seem to bother Leana Burkardt either. The ninth-grader from Northridge has heard of their menace. “Eleventh- and 12th-graders try to intimidate you. They always want to give you a swirlie and stuff,” she said of the classic head-dunking-in-the-toilet move.

Valley New High #1 is part of an ambitious and unprecedented campaign to relieve jam-packed conditions in one of the nation’s largest school districts. It was one of eight new schools unveiled Thursday, the most in LAUSD history on a single day. Nine more schools will open this year, an additional 40 next year and approximately 100 more in the coming five years.

The first to be trumpeted on this $1.3-billion construction spree was Valley New High #1. Instead of an old-fashioned intercom, LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer welcomed students over the school’s state-of-the-art video projection system, which broadcasts into each classroom.

“You are all part of this experiment,” said Romer. “We need to learn from you about how to do this. So, if you were to do this over again, how would you change this?”

Added Principal Connie Semf: “We’re the guinea pigs.”

Less than 48 hours before, the atmosphere here resembled a version of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” with everyone scrambling and time running out. There was no landscaping, not even trees in the courtyard planters. There were no lunch tables for the students or a security fence around the campus. And construction trash and dust was everywhere, even caking over the main office’s windows.

But work continued nearly around the clock. Semf stayed until 11 p.m. the night before the opening and then arrived before sunrise the next morning. But even she was surprised at what she saw: “Oh my gosh, there’s a lawn! How did that get there?”

In addition, more than 4,000 plants were put into the ground, the tables were assembled, the grounds were clean and ready to greet the new students. The school’s bright shine was enough to break down the unspoken adolescent code of behavior -- never show excitement of any kind, especially to an adult.

“This place was dirt and rocks and I didn’t think they were going to finish,” said Burkardt. “I have to admit, it’s pretty cool.”

Still, there is work to be done. The gymnasium floor needs to be laid, the fourth-floor science labs and library aren’t finished either. But these are minor inconveniences and will be completed within the next several weeks.

Still, the day brought its disappointments in things that won’t change. The school won’t have a football team. Probably ever. There’s simply not enough room.

“What’s a high school without a football team?” asked one student during a morning question-and-answer period with school officials shown throughout the school. And, more important, asked other students later, does no football team mean no homecoming dance?

There will be homecoming dances and other sports are on the way -- basketball, volleyball, maybe even golf and swimming -- school officials said.

Perhaps the most exciting task left undone is naming the school. Students, parents, teachers and other school officials will collaborate in the coming weeks on selecting a new name, school colors and a school mascot.

It won’t be soon enough for Annoushka Ranaraja, 14, a ninth-grader from Northridge. “Right now, I just tell people I go to the high school at C-SUN,” she said. “It’s too weird to say Valley High #1.”

A decision is expected within a month or so.

“They are going to be setting the traditions and culture for their grandchildren,” said Semf, a first-time principal. “They’ll be making history.”