OTHELLO - Wahitis Elementary School in Othello still has that new building smell.

The school opened its doors to students for the first time last week, and will be introduced to the community at an open house Sept. 17.

The building has about 450 students and serves kids in kindergarten through the fifth grade. The staff includes 30 teachers and 20 to 25 aides.

"Brand new, beautiful building," said Principal Pete Perez, whose first day as principal coincided with the building's first day. Perez was the assistant principal at Othello High School for four years before taking the Wahitis job.

It's so new it's not quite done; while most of the landscaping has been completed, the playground equipment is still in transit.

The building has 30 classrooms and a gym that will seat about 700, Perez said. Kindergarten and first graders, second and third graders and fourth and fifth graders each have their own hallways.

District officials revamped the procedure for assigning students to elementary schools, Perez said. "The biggest impact and the hardest work was absolutely placing students." Wahitis is just down the street from Scootney Springs, on land the district already owned, Perez said.

Primarily it will serve children in the area between Scootney Street and state Route 28, Perez said. That's where the growth is expected, so Wahitis has some room to grow too, he said.

The school is named for the highest peak on Saddle Mountain; the district asked for submissions of possible names, and Saddle Mountain got the most support, Perez said. District officials decided against that because there's already a Saddle Mountain Elementary in Mattawa, he said.

The building was supposed to be turned over to the district about the end of June, but it was actually Aug. 6 before teachers were allowed in their classrooms, Perez said. It was a scramble to get all the furniture and equipment in place, he said, but all was in place for the first day of school.

Getting a brand-new school off the ground has required some juggling, Perez said; among other things, it's taking a week or two to get the lunch and bus schedules working.