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'I trust that we're going to get in here' | New Roseville high school opens with empty classrooms

Wednesday marked the first day of classes ever at West Park High School and it also marked the first time Roseville students started the year in distance learning.

ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Wednesday marked a historic day in Roseville. It was the first day ever for West Park High School, a multi-million dollar school funded by a bond, approved by voters four years ago. 

It also the first time the Roseville Joint Union High School District has ever started the school year without students on campus. 

"Haha no!" Shauna Stafford, an English teacher, said when asked if she's ever had a first day of school like this before. "And hopefully I will never have one again."

Stafford is an English teacher in her 12th year of teaching. She used her brand new, empty classroom to meet her students for the first time on a video call. They'll meet virtually every day for the foreseeable future. 

West Park High School only has ninth and 10th grade students for now, so the first class to graduate won't happen until the spring of 2023.

"It's varying degrees of success, so some of it felt really successful and some of it, we're just going to work through it," Stafford said.

The district gave her the option to split her time working from her classroom a few days a week and working from home on the other days.

"It feels really nice to be here in this space to be able to focus 100 percent, but it also feels amazing to work for vice principals and a principal who understand that when I'm home, I may have a four-year-old crawling on me," Stafford said.

Principal Becky Guzman says the school itself is using what's called a "Universal Design for Learning," a way to optimize both teaching and learning.

"So the idea is just this open feeling that it's not just this tight, boxed room, but it gives them the freedom to be who they are, learn the way they want to and kind of own this space, really," Guzman said.

The school has innovation down to their desks, with dry erase surfaces built in. Although a cloud of uncertainty still lingers over when students can learn on campus for the first time, the first day was still filled with hope for the future.

"I feel hopeful and the hope comes from the fact that this community has waited for this school, they've rallied behind us," Guzman said. "But I feel the most hope because I trust that we're going to get in here and these kids are going to have the experience of their life when they get in here."

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