Principal Susan Turner had expected 550 students. The week before school starts, the number had grown to 700 and counting. A reporter's tour of the school paused when an East Coast family came seeking to register a fourth-grader. The family had to line up behind two others.

Volunteers collating back-to-school packets down the hall shrugged at the seemingly endless growth, one calling it the price paid to live in a new neighborhood.

"It's like a military family," chuckled Karen Robbins, mother of a fourth- and sixth-grader. "Every two years we pick up and move (schools)."

Still, children are excited to attend the brand-new school, said Jennifer Ownsbey, parent of a third- and fourth-grader. They'll get to pick the mascot — coyotes, colts, cougars or wildcats — and the school's colors.

Still, Copper Canyon kids won't be the first to occupy the new school. Columbia Elementary students broke it in last year while their school was being rebuilt, district spokeswoman Melinda Colton said. The new Columbia, too, will open after Pioneer Day, at its old West Jordan site.

Jordan District also will open the brand-new Oakcrest Elementary, near 8400 South and 6600 West in West Jordan, in the fall.

Districts across Utah will cut the ribbon on other schools this fall. A sample:

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• Alpine School District will open two brand-new, one rebuilt, and parts of another school. Each is expected to enroll 600 students, cutting down crowding at area elementaries enrolling as many as 1,400 children, district spokeswoman Jerrilyn Mortensen said.

  Willowcreek Junior High in west Lehi and Eagle Valley Elementary in Eagle Mountain will make their debut, Mortensen said. So will the new Vineyard Elementary, whose old building was purchased by Utah Valley State College.

  Saratoga Shores Elementary in Saratoga Springs will open a lunchroom and auditorium but hold class in satellite buildings for another year, Mortensen said.

• The Darts will be welcomed back to a brand-new Davis High. Davis District also will open Sand Springs Elementary in Layton on a single-track, year-round schedule.

• Salt Lake City will open two rebuilt elementaries: Beacon Heights and Dilworth.

• Washington School District will cut the ribbon on Fossil Ridge sixth- and seventh-grade center in St. George and Riverside Elementary in Washington.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com