First school year is in session for newly opened junior high in Los Banos

LOS BANOS, Calif. (KFSN) -- New equipment, new technology, and more importantly some new space. Creekside Junior High opened in August, making this the first school year for the new Los Banos campus.

The Los Banos Unified District said the school is also a solution to a growing problem. Just last year, the Los Banos Unified School District said they had 1,600 seventh and eighth graders walking through the halls of Los Banos Junior High and school officials said it was busting at the seams.

"Good lord, they were up to 16, 18 portables-- that's too many kids on one campus. And we had not been able to alleviate that over the years," said Paul Enos, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education.

Overcrowding continues to be a problem for the district and one they said they're always working on.

Before the district built the $25-million junior high, they opened Pacheco High School a few years ago after Los Banos High was holding 2,700 kids. They said this new school helped overcrowding immensely.

"Kids become a part of it, they get more attention. They're not just a number," said Enos.

The principal of Creekside, Carolina Moreno, said the school currently has a more comfortable 700 students enrolled. After previously working at an elementary school with thousands of students, she said the difference is astonishing.

"We get to know who they are and they get to know who we are."

Along with the shiny new campus, they are also the first school in the district to have each student take home a new iPad.

"That's where they can access their textbooks and do their research and have it in their hands," said Moreno.

The district said they plan to build an additional elementary school in the future.

They also hope to move school boundary lines to better balance the amount of students enrolled in their high schools.