Eastwood Elementary opens as Irvine students go back to school
IRVINE — The brand new Eastwood Elementary School opened its doors Thursday, Aug. 24, to welcome 420 students from the still developing Eastwood Village community . “New schools always have a bunch of excited and dedicated teachers , and the facilities here are awesome,” said Jeff Oliva, whose daughter, Beilen, started first grade. “How can you go wrong with Irvine school?” Beilen was among Irvine Unified School District ’s more than 33,000 students who started their new school year Aug . 24. Eastwood is the district’s 23rd elementary school , built to accommodate Irvine ’s growing population. Irvine Unified opened Cypress Village Elementary three years ago, Portola Springs Elementary two year ago and K- 8 Beacon Park School and Portola High School last year. The $ 21 million Eastwood campus features student collaboration spaces across all grade levels, dedicated music classrooms , innovation and design labs, a dedicated kindergarten play area , outdoor play field and hard court...