Rohnert Park’s Richard Crane Elementary reopens as a year-round school

The first day of school came early for some elementary schoolchildren in Rohnert Park, and it came with mixed emotions for both students and parents as they explored a whole new campus. Fifteen years after shuttering, Richard Crane Elementary School reopened Wednesday as a year-round campus.

Construction workers remained on campus, painting and landscaping as parents made their way to the classrooms with their kids in tow. The school has 135 students - from transitional kindergartners to fifth-graders - enrolled, said principal Teresa Ruffoni, who spent the morning greeting families.

“I love it a lot. I love that it’s big,” said Lillian Amaya, 6.

The first-grader, who previously attended Evergreen Elementary, where the district previously offered the year-round program in addition to its traditional school calendar, raced to greet her friends as they arrived on the new campus near the corner of Camino Colegio and Southwest Boulevard. Her father, Dominic Amaya, 33, documented her first day, snapping photos once inside Katie Foster’s first grade class.

He said the classroom pods feel more open and airy with the large windows and open space. The district plans to later add glass folding doors that will separate classrooms but allow teachers to join spaces and co-teach.

“I’m a little nervous. I’m not going to lie,” Amaya said before leaving his daughter to head to work. “It’s a new school, but I see a lot of old faces.”

Superintendent Robert Haley said the district decided to turn the site into a year-round school after it became a challenge offering two different schedules at Evergreen. The idea always was to provide the year-round program with its own separate campus. The district saw its chance when the Waldorf-inspired Credo High charter school moved out in March after six years of leasing the Richard Crane site.

Built in the 1970s, the site had taken on various uses after Richard Crane Elementary School closed in 2002 as a result of declining enrollment and a more than $2 million deficit. Haley said it briefly served as a storage space for the district, as well as housing two alternative schools over the years.

Haley said the renovation cost $17.4 million, more than double the price the district initially anticipated. He said the scope of the project changed, triggering more requirements and oversight from the state, increasing the price of the project.

With housing construction in the city on the rise, school officials said it was necessary to reopen the school for future growth.

It’s one of a handful of schools in the county that offers a year-round program.

Penngrove Elementary School is the closest campus, followed by Mary Collins School at Cherry Valley and River Montessori Charter School in Petaluma. California STEAM Academy, a TK-12 charter school, also offers a similar schedule.

The Cotati-Rohnert Park school district didn’t launch the year-round program until 2011.

“We had a number of parents leaving the district. They wanted a year-round school but we didn’t offer it,” Haley said, describing the need that led to the dual schedules at Evergreen.

Anja Dean, 36, said she initially was drawn to Evergreen because of the year-round schedule. She travels to her native Germany each year with her first-grader, Anneliese, who gets three weeks off at the end of September. It’s an ideal time for her family to travel, Dean said.

The year-round schedule also keeps her daughter engaged in school without having to suffer the so-called summer learning loss, she said.

Amaya was glad to see the program move into his neighborhood. He no longer has to drive 15 minutes in heavy traffic to drop off his daughter.

“It took three minutes to get here,” he said, enthusiastically, adding that the school provides the children with a sense of community. “It’s easier to keep them connected and to make those lifelong friends.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com.