First day of class for SISD

Thousands of students from the Socorro Independent School District are back in class Monday morning for the first day of school.

The district also opened its 46th school, Mission Ridge Elementary School, located at 150 Nonap Road in far east El Paso.

Mission Ridge is situated in an expanding area of east El Paso off of Eastlake Road and Rojas Drive.

Mission Ridge is the new home of the Owls and nearly 700 kindergarten through fifth grade students.

The school is already near its 800 student capacity.

Mission Ridge helped alleviated overcrowding at nearby Horizon Heights Elementary which once had up to a 1,000 students at once.

Mission Ridge is a feeder school to Eastlake High, located just up the road. The schools also share the same colors, orange and purple.

Parents and students made their way into the school Monday morning, many of them seeing the school for the first time.

Superintendent Dr. Jose Espinoza and the school staff welcomed all the students as they entered. Chico, the mascot of the El Paso Chihuahuas made an appearance and took photos with students.

While the 2014-2015 school year is underway, Ysleta and El Paso Independent School Districts begin classes August 25.