Willow Glen Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Brian Connelly

Welcome: Ida Price Middle School sixth-grade teacher Chau Truong (left) greets one of the new students, Yesenia Perez. School started Sept. 5. Other schools in the area began at the end of August. The Cambrian School District bucks the trend to begin classes in August.

Back to School

Ida Price sixth-graders discover middle school

ByMoryt Milo

While many districts begin classes during the third week of August, the Cambrian School District bucks the trend and opens after Labor Day.

Whatever the opening day, it is still an anxious time for sixth-graders entering middle school. These newly minted teens have just left a familiar elementary school environment.

Parents and students alike crowded the streets around Leigh and Curtner and New Jersey avenues, as backpack-laden students wondered what Ida Price Middle School had in store for them.

There were class schedules to memorize, new teachers to meet and unknown classrooms to discover. There was also lunchtime, a nerve-wracking hour when students are often unsure where to sit or if they will locate their friends.

Ida Price is charter school, one of four in the Cambrian School District. Its test scores continue to rise, and are well above the 800 Academic Performance Index target required by the state. All six schools in the high-performing district have achieved API scores above 800. Students at the school come from the neighborhoods of Willow Glen and Cambrian and the city of Campbell.