Del Norte opens to 798 students
Del Norte science teacher Juli Cheskaty uses the Promethean Board in her classroom to annotate a PowerPoint. Every Del Norte classroom is equipped with these.
After years of planning and construction, Del Norte High School has officially opened its doors as the fifth high school in the Poway Unified School District.
With a founding class of 524 freshmen and 274 sophomores, the high-tech school with striking architectural similarities to Westview will eventually house around 2,200 students, mostly from the 4S Ranch area.
But for now, the school has settled in with a relatively small group of students from throughout the region; students from middle and high schools throughout the district had the option to attend Del Norte, and some students even bridged over from other districts.
“Since I’m a freshman, I barely notice the size of our student body,” said Del Norte student Jessica Zhou, who previously attended Black Mountain Middle School. “Some of the sophomores have pointed it out though. I think the smaller population benefits us in that it will promote closer relationships between the students.”
For quite some time, the Del Norte staff has been making plans for the new school’s grand opening.
“Basically, I’ve been game-planning for August 20th for the better part of 18 months,” Principal Gregory Mizel said. “I’ve been busy working on multiple fronts: creating a mission and a vision for Del Norte, communicating it out with the community, meeting with prospective students and hiring my staff.”
Many of the teachers who are currently on staff have also been involved in the planning of Del Norte, including former Westview math teacher, Jim Krenz.
“I got on the leadership team last October,” Krenz said. “It involved designing some components of the school, such as math sequencing and professional collaboration requirements.”
One of the aspects of the new school that makes it unique within the district is its use of cutting-edge technology in the classrooms; many of the gadgets Del Norte classrooms come standard with are found nowhere else in Poway schools.
All teachers are equipped with Docucams and Promethean Boards, which are essentially electronic whiteboards.
This alternative to using regular whiteboards allows teachers to pull up computer programs on the board to assist with the lesson.
In addition, the lighting system in the classrooms, which includes mirror tubes to let in natural sunlight, allows for energy conservation on lighting.
“The only light I’ve turned on so far this year is the one that shines on my board,” Krenz said.
But the technology isn’t the only thing that separates Del Norte from other Poway schools; students there are currently trying out the school’s new trimester system. The system is designed to allow students to take a number of courses comparable to how many they could take at Westview, but at less of a breakneck pace.
“For me, the schedule is a better design,” Krenz said. “I can start out slower instead of having to crank out all the material in such a short amount of time. Different kids do better with different systems. My hope is that at some point people can choose which high school they want to go to.”
At the present time, Del Norte only offers a few AP classes to students since there are currently only freshmen and sophomores attending. However, in the next few years, the school plans to increase its number of students, number of staff members, and ultimately, the number of classes offered.
“We’ve had to be very creative in how we operate – supporting almost 800 students with a very small support team,” Mizel said. “For example, we only have one school counselor and one assistant principal.”
Yet despite its small student population, the school already has a burgeoning sense of school spirit.
“At our first pep rally, many of the students were decked out in their Nighthawks blue and green, and many more still attended our first-ever football game against Westview,” Zhou said. “It’s amazing how excited we are after just three weeks of school.”