SCHOOL DISTRICT ORIGINS IN KERN COUNTY CALIFORNIA BY JERRY KIR K LAND CREATED UNDER THE AUSPI C ES OF KERN COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SC HOOLS , 2010 James & Sarah Glenn sell 5.5 acres of land to Linns Valley School District, January 11, 1875. (Note that both signed with an “X”.) SCHOOL DISTRICT ORIGINS IN KERN COUNTY CALIFORNIA BY JERRY KIR K LAND CREATED UNDER THE AUSPI C ES OF KERN COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SC HOOLS , 2010 Kern County School - Summer 1890 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 9 ARVIN UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ................................................................ 21 BAKERSFIELD CiTY SCHOOL DisTRICT .......................................................25 BEARDSLEY SCHOOL DisTRICT ....................................................................... 31 BELRIDGE SCHOOL DisTRICT ..........................................................................35 BLAKE SCHOOL DisTRICT ..................................................................................39 BUTTONWILLOW UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ........................................45 CaLIENTE UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT .........................................................49 DELANO UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ............................................................53 DiGiORGIO SCHOOL DisTRICT.......................................................................59 EDisON SCHOOL DisTRICT ...............................................................................63 ELK HiLLS SCHOOL DisTRICT ..........................................................................65 FaiRFAX SCHOOL DisTRICT .............................................................................69 FRUITVALE SCHOOL DisTRICT ........................................................................77 GENERAL SHAFTER SCHOOL DisTRICT ...................................................... 81 GREENFIELD UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ...................................................83 KERNVILLE UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ......................................................87 LaKEsiDE UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT.......................................................... 91 LaMONT SCHOOL DisTRICT .......................................................................... 101 LiNN’S VaLLEY - POSO FLAT UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT .................103 LOST HiLLS UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT .....................................................111 MapLE SCHOOL DisTRICT ................................................................................119 MCKiTTRICK SCHOOL DisTRICT ................................................................. 121 MiDWAY SCHOOL DisTRICT ...........................................................................127 NORRis SCHOOL DisTRICT ............................................................................133 PANAMA-BUENA VisTA UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ...........................135 POND UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ...............................................................145 RiCHLAND SCHOOL DisTRICT ..................................................................... 151 RiO BRAVO-GREELEY UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ............................... 155 ROSEDALE UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ......................................................159 SEMITROpiC SCHOOL DisTRICT...................................................................163 SOUTH FORK UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ............................................... 165 STANDARD SCHOOL DisTRICT ..................................................................... 169 TaFT CiTY SCHOOL DisTRICT ....................................................................... 175 ViNELAND SCHOOL DisTRICT ...................................................................... 181 WasCO UNION SCHOOL DisTRICT ............................................................185 EL TEJON UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT .......................................................191 MaRICOpa UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT .................................................. 193 MCFaRLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT .............................................201 MOJAVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT ....................................................... 209 MUROC JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT .......................................... 215 SIERRA SANDS UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT ......................................... 223 SOUTHERN KERN UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT ..................................227 TEHACHapi UNIFIED SCHOOL DisTRICT ................................................231 DELANO JOINT UNION HiGH SCHOOL DisTRICT .............................237 KERN HiGH SCHOOL DisTRICT ...................................................................241 TaFT UNION HiGH SCHOOL DisTRICT .................................................... 251 WasCO UNION HiGH SCHOOL DisTRICT ..............................................257 COMMUNITY COLLEGE DisTRICTS .............................................................265 KERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DisTRICT .................................................267 WEST KERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DisTRICT ....................................273 ADDENDUM .............................................................................................................277 Introduction On April 2, 1866, the State Legislature approved “an act to create the County of Kern, to define its boundaries and to provide for its organization.” The new three-man Board of Supervisors met for the first time in August to begin organizing the essential county agencies and services. One of their first acts was to arrange for the construction of a new jail. The bid was awarded to Thomas Stuart for $1,600. At about that same time the board awarded a contract to Col. Thomas Baker that would defray his costs for establishing a system of reclamation and irrigation. It would be November before the board was able to turn its attention to the organization of school districts. On November 9, 1866, they ordered the formation of school districts in the established communities of Tejon, Havilah, Kelso Valley, and Lynn’s Valley. A school district was established in Tehachapi at about that same time. Petitions requesting the formation of additional school districts were soon arriving from all corners of the county. By 1896, there were fifty-six districts in the county; by 1918, due largely to the oil boom on the west side, there were one hundred eight. With changing times and demographics, however, that number has been reduced by more than half. But where did they disappear to? Early on there were scores of small districts in the county, most with just one school and that was usually a one-room wood frame building situated in a remote, isolated area. Still, regardless of the circumstances, districts were required to maintain an enrollment sufficient to justify their continued existence and that meant maintaining an average daily attendance of five or more students. Districts that were unable to do so were declared “lapsed” by the Board of Supervisors and ordered annexed to an adjacent district. The act was commonly referred to as consolidation and such would be the fate of scores of early Kern County school districts. An article in the May 12, 1896, edition of The Bakersfield Californian reported that Kern County’s fifty-six school districts were, at that time, serving a combined enrollment of 2,644 students. Forty of those districts are no longer in existence, having either lapsed or had their territory acquired by, or combined with, other districts. Just sixteen districts entered the 21st century bearing the same name as they had more than a century ago; many of those, however, are now designated as “union” or “unified” school districts. Those sixteen districts are: Bakersfield (now n Bakersfield City), Beardsley, Caliente (now Caliente Union), Delano (now Delano Union), Fairfax, Fruitvale, Greenfield (now Greenfield Union), Kernville (now Kernville Union), Mojave (now Mojave Unified), Norris, Panama (now Panama-Buena Vista Union), Rosedale (now Rosedale Union), Semi-Tropic, Tejon (now El Tejon Unified), Tehachapi (now Tehachapi Unified), and Vineland. The three smallest districts, according to that 1896 article, were Erskine, Havilah, and Lakeview, each with just 12 students. The largest districts in terms of enrollment were Bakersfield, with 657 students, and Sumner, with 246 students. In reviewing editions of The Bakersfield Californian for the years 1895 to 1898, it becomes obvious that school affairs at the turn of the century were of considerable public interest and thus merited a good deal of coverage. Published annually, of course, was an accounting of public funds devoted to the support of our public schools, broken down by district. The apportionment formula, seemingly based on enrollment, appears to have been free of complex calculations. Apportionments for January 14, 1896 were as follows: Bakersfield.................$2,640 Delano ............................... $720 Panama .........................$480 Sumner ..............................$480 Kern .............................. $960 As for the remaining districts, 10 received $140 and 39 received $240. A second apportionment was paid in May. Additionally, the public was made aware of the stringent requirements faced by those wishing to teach in Kern County’s public schools when the newspaper published the questions from the examination required of all prospective pedagogues. Indications are that one’s pedagogical skills were a good deal less important than