Today marks the first day of school for many kids in the greater Sacramento area. Some districts, like Folsom Cordova, are already in their second week of school, but for a majority of the districts today is the end of a hopefully fun filled summer and back to building of a foundation that will help them succeed into the future.

For most kids the school they are attending will be the same as last year or one that has seen many kids through the years. With the downturn of the economy and housing market we have not seen many new schools built in recent years. Many districts have even started to consolidate and close schools. That is not the case for this year’s students attending Cosumnes River Elementary School in Sloughhouse. Students at Cosumnes River Elementary School, or as most of the local residents call it CRES, are attending a brand new school today.

CRES is located in the eastern portion of the Elk Grove School District in Sacramento County. The CRES name is the same as the old school which was built in 1948. The old CRES was too small to support the growing student population. The former facility also lacked many of the core facilities, such as a multipurpose room, needed to offer important programs and resources. Even with less than ideal facilities, CRES has consistently been a top ranked elementary school in the state.

For almost 10 years the district as been searching for a site to rebuild the school. There have been several locations under consideration, but none of them worked out for various reasons. The topic of a new school has many threads on the popular Rancho Murieta discussion forum Rancho Murieta Online. Many had given up on an updated school until the Mosher and Ledbetter family agreed to sell their land that happen to be right next to the the old school site.

Construction began the day after school let out in June of 2009 and continues even today. While the new school is technically built and kids are in session there is a lot of work to be done. The old school is in the process of being torn down and will be covered by dirt. The old school site will be the ball fields of the new school.

The new school has been needed for a long time and now the staff, teachers, and students have a top of the line facility.