SCHOOLS IN CARLSBAD

Trying to understand the Carlsbad School System is a challenge for anyone new to town. Where else does one find a single city with four separate public school districts? To make any sense of this school system labyrinth one needs to understand the connection between Carlsbad's growth and development as a community and the growth of the school system.

Today the City of Carlsbad's geographical boundaries are larger than the Seven square miles originally incorporated in 1952 or even the Rancho Agua Hedionda Land Grant. In 1872, when a substantial amount of present day Carlsbad was homestead land. Families who settled and farmed in the area needed a school for their children. Hope School, built 1872 close to the site of the current La Costa Resort, answered the schooling needs of the homesteaders. While this area did not become a part of Carlsbad until 100 years later in 1972, it is the first school built in present day Carlsbad.

Three homestead families, the Adams, Feelers and Kellys, helped construct the one- room dirt floor school for the education of their children. Hope School opened with 25 students. The oldest was 21 years of age and all 25 students came from just the three previously mentioned families. The teaching staff frequently changed and was not well trained. Reevaluation of student academic placement and ability occurred after each teacher change. John Lincoln Kelly, a Hope School alumnus, stated "Many of the teachers would have been better suited as farm laborers than teachers" (Life on a San Diego Rancho, Kelly). Records show that Hope School operated until the 1890s.

In 1886, the Carlsbad Land and Water Company in a real estate venture developed land northwest of Rancho Agua Hedionda. Capitalizing on the recent discovery of water and the boom in Southern California Real Estate, the company began laying out roads and subdividing land into building plots that they then sold to families moving into the area. Families in town meant children in the area and a small one-room building became their schoolhouse. The school, with teacher Dr. Amick, became over crowded within a very short time. Students and teacher moved to the larger Schuttuck building on Second and Elm. After this structure burned down, the residents of the town constructed a third building specifically designed as a school. It was unfortunate that just around the time construction began on this four room two story school house, a real estate downturn occurred, families moved away, students left and Carlsbad barely survived. Miss Hattie Reece, who taught at the newly constructed Carlsbad School, recalled her class size enrollment at 36 students in 1894, which dropped to an average of 5 or 6 after 1896.

The few folks that remained in Carlsbad were ranch families, like the Marrons, who arrived in the area as early as 1840. The Marrons, Borden’s and Kelly’s decided that the Carlsbad School located on Pine in the downtown area was too far and inconvenient for their children to attend. So in 1896 they followed their parents’ example and provided a school for their children, the Calavera School. The Kelly and Borden children, who attended the Hope School in 1872, built the Calavera School. The Calavera School building was actually an abandoned silkworm cocoonery that the families moved from the defunct Minneapolis Beach Colony near Cannon Road over to the Calavera site using horsepower on unpaved Ranch roads.

Hope and Calavera schools ran as long as there were ranch families that needed a school close to their homes. Once the children no longer needed the schools because they had left Carlsbad to attend secondary education elsewhere or because they had reached adulthood, the schools closed. When Calavera School ceased operation in 1919 it sent all of its furniture and school equipment to the Carlsbad School on Pine Street.

The arrival of the South Coast Land Company gave the Carlsbad School and town a new lease on life in the early 1900’s. They guaranteed a potable water supply from their wells along the San Luis Rey River. Farmers started arriving in town bringing their families and increasing school enrollments.

In 1924 a larger school was built on Pine Avenue to accommodate all the new students. During one summer, demolition occurred on the old two-story schoolhouse and a more modern larger structure was completed after approval of a $16,000 construction bond. As the only public elementary school in Carlsbad, the Carlsbad School added to this building between 1924 and after World War II. It was not until other elementary schools were constructed in Carlsbad that the name Carlsbad School changed to Pine School in the 1940s. Through the combined efforts and guidance of school board trustee Cal Young and Principal and Superintendent Walter Glines, the groundwork for community support for schools during the Depression and World War II was laid. These two men, Young and Glines, made sure that the school system gave back to the community whenever possible. They made the school auditorium available for town meetings, and as a civilian defense repository during World War II. The community repaid their efforts approving five separate school bonds, one after another, immediately after the war.

The post war baby boom that affected the entire country hit Carlsbad with a vengeance. Trying to keep pace with the population explosion, the Carlsbad Union School Board projected the number of future schools and classrooms needed. Their projections were obsolete before completion of school construction. Long gone were the days when accommodating an increase in student population could be solved by simply moving to a larger building or even adding a few extra classrooms to an existing school. Double sessions, the stopgap solution for over crowding became the trend while waiting for the newest elementary school to be built. Trying to keep abreast of the population growth, construction of three elementary schools, Jefferson, Magnolia and Buena Vista, and one high school, Carlsbad High, occurred between 1952 and 1962. The sheer number of teenagers in Carlsbad had finally warranted building the first high school in the town’s history. Before the construction of Carlsbad High School, a student who graduated from 8th grade in the Carlsbad Union School District went to the combined Oceanside Carlsbad High founded in 1908 or left North County for schools in San Diego or Los Angeles.

The California State Board of Education had a minimum 10,000-population requirement for establishment of a school district. An increase in Carlsbad's student population meant the city was finally able to meet the requirement that would permit the unifying of grades K-12 in one school district. The California State Board of Education set stringent requirements for district formation because they felt it was easier to monitor and control a few mega districts rather than many smaller ones. The State board pushed for one mega district to govern a combined Carlsbad Union and Oceanside Union elementary schools and Oceanside Carlsbad Union High School. The California State Board of Education thought that schools in mega districts operated more economically by wasting less and using tax money better, because it averaged upper and lower tax base money for the benefit of all within an area. Elections were held three times to unify all the school districts in Oceanside and Carlsbad and three times the issue was defeated.

Carlsbad residents rejected the idea of a combined Oceanside Carlsbad Mega district because they believed the absolute number of students in a mega district would cause a loss of community identity. They also believed that Carlsbad and Oceanside had different educational philosophies. Finally, in 1970, Carlsbad was able to persuade the California State Board of Education to hold one more school district election. Dr. Ron Packard, President of the Carlsbad Union school district was able to prove to the State Board of education that a unified Carlsbad school district would meet the board’s 10,000-student requirement for district formation. He used a projected student growth population analysis based on continued rapid development in the city. The Board of Education set an election date to decide if formation of a Carlsbad School district would occur. Overwhelmingly, in a 6 to 1 vote on June 3, 1970, Proposition T passed and Carlsbad Unified School District became a reality.

Two years later, in 1972, the neighborhood of La Costa requested annexation to Carlsbad. Until this time, as a mostly undeveloped area, La Costa had few full time residents. Those that did live there all year who sent their children to public school, did so mainly in Carlsbad. Logically, one would think that the La Costa students would automatically be included in the Carlsbad Unified School District. But before this decision could be reached, the loss of potential tax money on surrounding communities needed to be considered. School districts in San Marcos, Encinitas and San Marcos were faced with the loss of projected student populations. Additionally a group of La Costa residents objected to sending their children eight miles north to the closest Carlsbad school. One unnamed San Diego County official admitted the issue was a political decision, not necessarily best for La Costa. In the end, each of the four school districts won a piece of the La Costa pie.

Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Marcos and San Dieguito school districts have all constructed new schools in the La Costa neighborhood to keep pace with the rapid rise in student population as the area developed. The "sense of community identity" vital to Carlsbad voters in 1970 is curiously lacking in today’s multiple school district boundaries, since more and more of Carlsbad children attend school outside of the Carlsbad Unified School District.

Carlsbad High School

In 1955, Carlsbad and Oceanside voters approved a $1.26 million dollar construction bond that funded the building of Carlsbad's first public high school. The Carlsbad High School cornerstone laid in September 1957 included a time capsule box containing a copy of the 1957 Carlsbad Journal, the first edition of the Carlsbad High School newspaper, a student handbook and 1957-minted coins.

Carlsbad High students began the 1957-58 academic school year by commuting to Oceanside. They attended class in Oceanside High since construction of Carlsbad High was unfinished. Carlsbad students had always traveled to Oceanside to attend high school. For the first time ever, Carlsbad and Oceanside students attended separate classes. Each school ran their own class schedule within Oceanside High School and had separate student governments, athletic programs and school newspapers.

On February 17, 1958, Carlsbad High students left Oceanside High amidst grand fanfare. A parade of buses and cars wove their way from Oceanside to the Carlsbad border, led by the Oceanside Police. At the Carlsbad border, the Carlsbad Police assumed parade leadership, touring the students past the Army and Navy Academy. The entire Cadet student population stood at attention while their band played a "Welcome Home" song for Carlsbad High Students. As the parade continued through the decorated downtown, many business owners and residents lined the streets cheering the newly arrived high school students. Carlsbad Mayor Manuel Castorena presented Carlsbad High Principal Alfred La Fleur with the key to the city.

This began the many "Firsts" associated with Carlsbad High. The first public high school in Carlsbad and the “first” gymnasium. The Class of 1961 was the “first” class to CHS for their entire four years. Coach Swede Kracmar was the “first” CHS football coach to lead his team to three CIF small school championships in (1961,1962 and 1965). The “first” Home Coming King was in 1976 (earlier there only Homecoming Queens). It was also the year that the ”first” community swimming pool, one shared by the high school and the city, was constructed. 1982 saw the construction of Carlsbad’s “first” Cultural Arts Center, located on the CHS campus. The high school newspaper, the Lancer Express, for the “first” time won four National Honors in 1998-99 and the year 2000 was the “first” time the CHS surf team won all four divisions of CISF, an unprecedented event for any one high school team.

Carlsbad/Pine School

The Carlsbad School, which opened in 1894, was a two story wooden structure built on Pine Street, an area then considered the outskirts of town. As the only school in the newly established town, children either attended the Carlsbad School or were sent to San Diego or Los Angeles for their education.

Miss Hattie Reece, an Oceanside resident, became the first teacher at the newly constructed Carlsbad School. Students fondly remembered her impact and devotion. After her marriage to Alfred Schutte she remained in town raising her family and working as a social reporter for various local newspapers.

In 1924 a larger school replaced the old two-story schoolhouse. Demolition of the 1896 building occurred during the summer and it was replaced with a more modern concrete building by fall. Throughout the years under the administration and guidance of several principals and School District Superintendents, such as Blanche Crane and Walter Glines, additions were made that enhanced the Carlsbad School.

In 1928, the Boy Scouts placed a log cabin on the school grounds. During the Depression in the 1930s, a WPA project earthquake proofed the grammar school and built a cement ring that circled the outside lunch area. It was later used as a recreational roller rink. The Women's Club, facing financial hardships during this time, sold their clubhouse across the street to the school for use as an auditorium. It was later converted into the school cafeteria.

Walter Glines, whose career as Superintendent of Carlsbad Schools spanned the years 1941 to 1958, was instrumental in ending segregation of the English and Spanish speaking students in school.

In 1946, voters approved five school bonds for the construction of additional elementary schools in Carlsbad. It was at this time that the school’s name was changed from Carlsbad School to Pine School. An agreement reached in 1988 between the City of Carlsbad and the Carlsbad Unified School District allowed construction of a shared building housing a Senior Center and School District Administration Office on the grounds of the original Carlsbad /Pine School. The only historical remnant from this site is a cracked pediment inscribed CARLSBAD SCHOOL, located over the main entrance to the Carlsbad Unified School District offices.

Valley Junior High

As Carlsbad's student population continued to rise throughout the 1950s, the Carlsbad Unified School District recognized the need for a separate Junior High School. With the construction of the very first school in town in 1894, Carlsbad had always housed students in kindergarten through eighth grade in Carlsbad/Pine School. In 1955, the Carlsbad Unified School District bought land on the corner of Valley and Magnolia the future construction of a separate junior high school. After years of planning, the school board approved an architectural design for the future school. The design facilitated the construction and placement of new buildings on the campus, as dictated by future student growth. Seventh and eighth grader, students no longer attended Pine School after 1966 instead matriculated at Valley Junior High. One year after opening its doors, the school board approved expansion of the newly constructed Valley Junior School in a bid to stem student overcrowding.

Jefferson School

Built in 1952, Jefferson was the second school built in the Carlsbad Unified School District.

Magnolia Elementary

Magnolia Elementary school was Carlsbad's third elementary school and opened in March of 1957. By constructing this school the school board hoped to eliminate the overcrowding of Carlsbad elementary schools. The Carlsbad Public Works Department moved a thirty-foot high Magnolia tree to Magnolia School from Roosevelt Street .The tree be planted in memory of Carlsbad Union School Board Member Billy C. Fry.

Kelly School

Kelly School, built in 1977, was named in recognition of the Kelly Family, inheritors of the Rancho Agua Hedionda Land Grant.

Calavera School

Calavera School, located at the site of the present day Calavera Park, was built originally as a silkworm cocoonery. Moved to the site, the building was made of lath and plaster with a redwood exterior and tongue and groove floor. After the school closed in 1920, a country dance hall occupied the building and site. In 1986, a 10-foot wide by 12 foot deep cistern used to collect rainwater, and a line of Eucalyptus trees planted by the first class of students in 1896 were still on the grounds when park construction began.