CYPRESS : Landell Elementary Celebrates Opening

Computers have yet to arrive, books still don’t fill the library shelves and the day-care center needs final touches. But that didn’t stop officials Friday from celebrating the opening of Landell Elementary School.

Landell, which cost $2.5 million to renovate, began classes in August and is one of two Cypress School District year-round schools.

The school consists of four new buildings and two renovated buildings that survived two fires during the 1970s.

Officials said the school was closed in 1978 after the first fire destroyed most of the facility. But officials attributed the closure to a decline in enrollment and not the fire. The second fire occurred shortly after the school was closed. Both fires were caused by faulty furnaces, officials said.

During the time Landell was closed, the district leased the property to a private school, church groups and a private special education school.

The school was opened again because of growth in the area.

Landell was the district’s first new construction project in more than 25 years. Within the next month, the school will be finished, Landell Principal Lawrence B. Spaulding said.

He said parents and local businesses have promised to donate books for the library, computers for the classrooms and tutoring services for students. The materials and equipment are due by November, he said.

“It’s alive,” Spaulding said. “We’ve got lots of school spirit and the community loves the school.”

The 376 students who attend Landell chose to be there, Spaulding said.

“People are choosing this school because it’s year-round and because it’s for the 21st Century with its state-of-the-art technology capabilities,” Spaulding said.

Michelle Venegas, who drives her children to Landell from their Lakewood home, said she had her children enrolled in a private school last year.

“They say they don’t ever want to go back to their old school,” she said. “I think the new school motivates teachers and the computers will make the kids unafraid of modern technology.”

Becky Wynder, 11, said she can’t wait for the computers to take up their spaces on a circular desk between the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms. “It’s going to be great,” said Becky, a sixth-grade student. “And we’re the first ones to use everything.”