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Vista Verde School
Address
6 Federation Way Irvine, California 92603
Information
School type	Elementary and Middle
Founded	1974
School board	Irvine Unified School District
Superintendent	Terry Walker
Principal	Jerry Vlasic
Grades	K-5 (Elementary), 6-8 (Middle)year round
Enrollment	1048
Language	English
Area	Turtle Ridge
Color(s)	Green, white, and yellow
Mascot	Viking
Team name	Vista Verde Vikings
Website	Vista Verde School Website

Vista Verde School is a year-round, K-8 school located in the Turtle Ridge neighborhood of Irvine, California, United States. Vista Verde belongs to the Irvine Unified School District but is not a neighborhood school; rather, it is open to all Irvine residents with a preference for Turtle Ridge residents, and is one of four year-round schools in the Irvine district.

Academic distinctions

In 1992, Vista Verde was the highest-scoring school in Orange County, California in the CAP tests. Vista Verde has been recognized multiple times as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

The school was a pioneer in teaching computer literacy; it bought its first computers for student use as early as 1978, and was introducing students to the internet by 1994.

History

Vista Verde opened in 1974 as an elementary school and later became a magnet school. It was originally located in the University Park neighborhood of Irvine. Rosa Drew Lane, a street in Irvine that passes the former campus site in University Park, is named after Rosa Drew, who had been a teacher at Vista Verde for 30 years.

The University Park campus closed and the school moved to the Turtle Ridge campus in 2006. In 2012, the old Vista Verde School site and buildings were sold to a home builder for $17 million. The company subsequently demolished the old school in late 2012 to make room for new homes.

References

1. "First bell sounds for year-round: Four schools start year Wednesday", Orange County Register, July 29, 2004.
2. Gewertz, Catherine (December 16, 1992), "O.C. Students Outscore State on CAP Test", Los Angeles Times.
3. Nguyen, Tina (May 28, 1997), "Eight Local Schools Awarded National Blue Ribbon Status", Los Angeles Times.
4. "Irvine schools sweep blue ribbon awards – again", Orange County Register, May 27, 1999
5. "Blue Ribbon schools", Orange County Register, September 28, 2006.
6. Takahashi, Dean (May 14, 1994). "A Tale of Four Schools : At Vista Verde, on the Internet 'It's More Fun Than Playing Nintendo'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
7. Gallardo, Miguel E. (2013), Developing Cultural Humility: Embracing Race, Privilege and Power, SAGE Publications, pp. 103–104, ISBN 9781483310480.
8. "Irvine school gets new start", Orange County Register, May 31, 2005
9. "New campus", Orange County Register, September 15, 2006
10. "From Vista Verde to Turtle Ridge", Orange County Register, October 9, 2006.
11. Peters, Sara (March 3, 2012), "Irvine council approves new housing project", Daily Pilot.
12. Schaefer, Samantha (August 21, 2013) , "Former Irvine school site sold for $17 million", Orange County Register.

33°37′47″N 117°49′39″W / 33.6297°N 117.8275°W / 33.6297; -117.8275

Further reading

• Vista Verde – Irvine, Los Angeles Times California Schools Guide

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