Table was updated from an earlier version with incorrect start times for grades 6-8.
Table was updated from an earlier version with incorrect start times for grades 6-8.

The first day of the school for the 2014-15 year is Monday, Aug. 11, and Idyllwild School Principal Matt Kraemer is welcoming new and returning students for the seventh year.

Unlike some of the more recent opening days of school, only one new faculty member will be greeting students. Following the end-of-school retirement of Lenore Sazer, middle school students will meet a new science teacher — Robert Leih.

He can be considered a returning student who attended Idyllwild School years ago, and all of his four children passed through the local school doors on their way to Hemet High School. For nearly 50 years, at least one Leih was walking or running the school’s halls — including both his parents as teachers. Now, after a five-year absence, a Leih is gracing the building once again.

Also two kindergarten classes, one in the morning and an afternoon class combined with first graders, are new. Victoria Kyriss, will teach a combined second- and third-grade class again this year.

The faculty will have to grapple with some new administrative software programs, such as a new email program, according to Kraemer.

Student families also may have to accustom themselves to a new Idyllwild School website. Hemet Unified School District has decided to present uniform school websites throughout the district. One advantage, Kraemer said, is teachers will have the opportunity to establish their own page on the site.

Last year, Idyllwild School was designated a Distinguished State School and received a Title I Academic Achievement Award. “I’m very proud of our accomplishments,” Kraemer said, acknowledging it will be hard to top the previous year’s honors.

Enrollment is slightly increasing in the primary grades.