New Schools to Open in Fall 2013

Nearly three years after shuttering Mountain Shadows Middle School, the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District has reversed course and is planning on opening a new school at the location.

Technology Middle School will open its doors this fall and teach grades six and seven, before expanding to eighth grade the following year. 

The new school will serve students coming out of Monte Vista Elementary and boast campuswide wi-fi, several computer labs and more technology in the classroom, along with a partnership with Technology High.

It will offer the usual array of electives such as band, music, art and foreign language and follow the so-called project-based learning model, where instruction is formed around large projects and something typically done in higher grades.

"The idea is that students learn better when involved in hands on activities, presentations, building things and we can also involve teachers working together as a team," said Superintendent Robert Haley.

Read more about project-based learning here

Amy Goodwin, currently the principal at Waldo Rohnert Middle School, will take over as principal of the new school. 

Last week, the school district also approved the opening of University Elementary School at La Fiesta starting this fall. The school was developed as a partnership with Sonoma State University to provide a neighborhood elementary school option for the neighborhood south of East Cotati Avenue.

Volunteer Program Coordinator, Sarah Rapp, led the effort to develop the partnership and recruit the initial enrollment for the school. The school will begin with two K-2 classrooms housing 48 students, but over the course of the next few years grow to be a K-5 elementary school. 

Although the school currently has a waiting list, interested parents can contact district secretary Jenny Wellman at (707) 792-4708 or jenny_wellman@crpusd.org.

The Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District stands to receive $1 million annually from the new casino, part of a negotiated agreement between Rohnert Park and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. 

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