The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Fairwood principal Annette Grasty's new school has been renovated, reopened and wired for the Internet.

Like New

Fairwood reopens as a neighborhood school

By Katherine Petersen

Children who live in the Fairwood neighborhood of Sunnyvale ride their bikes to the new school site each day to check out the progress of the construction.

Then they ride home to tell their parents the latest news, said Mar Junge, a parent of one child who will attend the new school.

"I don't care if Max goes to school in the park or the parking lot. I'm just grateful I won't have to drive to Lakewood Elementary School anymore," she said.

Fairwood Elementary School, the newest school in the Sunnyvale Elementary School District, is scheduled to open Sept. 4, but not all of the construction will be completed by this time. For neighborhood parents, having a local school is the only thing that matters.

Fairwood, which hasn't served as a school since 1982, will have just under 300 students who live east of Lawrence Expressway in north Sunnyvale.

Annette Grasty, Fairwood's new principal, said it's a dream come true to open a new school in her own neighborhood.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open a school, pick your staff and be in your own community," Grasty said. "Even if I wasn't this fortunate, I would still want to be a principal."

Grasty worked as a part-time assistant principal at both Bishop and Lakewood elementary schools before getting the top position at Fairwood.

"She is ready to be a principal," said SESD board member Peggy Quillinan. "She has a commitment to children and to her neighborhood and this community."

Although Fairwood would have reopened at some point, the need for space to accommodate smaller class sizes pushed the issue to the forefront.

The school district redrew boundaries, sending some students from Bishop to Lakewood and some from Lakewood to Fairwood. The site was leased to California Young World, a day-care center, during the times it wasn't open as a school. The district has purchased new portables to relocate the center, which will remain on the school site.

The school needed a lot of work before it could reopen, Grasty said. The electrical and plumbing systems were completely renovated, and classrooms received makeovers.

"We got new cabinets, new carpet, new sink areas and new shelves in all the rooms, and they will all be wired for the Internet," Grasty said.

"We won't have our multipurpose room for the first day or some of the playground equipment, but classrooms were the priority, and they'll be ready," Grasty said.

The first-day welcoming assembly will be held outside, she said.

Grasty and her staff moved into the building Aug. 29, and the students' furniture arrived the next day. Teachers will only have a couple days to prepare their rooms, but they're excited to get to work.

The new principal wants to put together a music program at Fairwood similar to the one she worked with at Bishop. Grasty, who has a master's in music and one in education administration, used to play clarinet professionally. She moved from Michigan to California and switched to education because, she said, she wanted to eat.

First off, Grasty wants to build a sense of community at Fairwood, where everyone, including students, feels that they are contributing to the success of the school.

"I have the best staff I could have found," she said. "They've already started working together and working as a team."

The district has hired two other new principals this year. Shelly James will work at Lakewood Elementary School, and Brad Hermann will head up Cumberland.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 3, 1997.
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