Pg. 230-242
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- Category: The History
- Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00
- Written by THP Team
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Chapter Summary
Many extraordinary things happened in the district during the 1959-1960 school year. More controversial events took place than normally could be expected to occur in any school district in one year. These events could be listed in this manner:
1. The districts office burned down.
2. three school board members were recalled.
3. The teachers sent charges directly to the school board concerning teachers' rights.
4. So many people attended the school board meetings that the Fire Marshal had to stand guard to make sure the building was not over-crowded.
5. School board members refused to meet with the teachers.
6. All policies for the district were rescinded.
7. The largest vote in the history of the district was turned out.
8. Four superintendents were on the payroll, where normally two were required.
9. Four principals resigned, one to accept another position in the district.
10. Two superintendents were asked to step down from their positions as acting superintendent.
11. Approximately $4,000 in state money was lost by the district because one class was not being taught the required number of minutes.
12. Three board members were not allowed to serve on the board for a full year. Another served for only six months before resigning.
13. Two new members had to be appointed to the board.
14. District meetings were recorded by tape.
15. The teachers entered an executive board meeting to give information about the hiring of a superintendent.
16. Radio and television coverages of a local school election was presented for the first time.
17. California Teachers Association Commission on Professional Ethics was called in to investigate teaching conditions in the district.
Chapter X
Summary Chapter
Wiseburn's first experience with schools was in 1893, when one of the young ladies of this farming community donated her services to teach the children of the neighborhood. The teacher, Miss Mable Close, was also the ticket agent for the Santa FE Railroad. Miss Close used her ticket office, the Wiseburn Station, as the school room.
The year 1896 marked a time when the old Wiseburn farmers banded together and decided it was time for a public school to be established. Board members were appointed, a band issue passed and a teacher was hired.
The school did not remain in one location. It was located in a temporary structure on the Leuzinger land between 120th and 124th Streets near Aviation Boulevard when classes were no longer held in the Wiseburn depot. After a short time, it was relocated to the site at 135th Street and Aviation Boulevard, which had been purchased for $75.
The frame schoolhouse was constructed or $662.50 and remained n that location until 1927. The old temporary building was removed from the property in 1913.
The little one-room school was staffed by one teacher until the year 1925. The first teacher of the district was Wise Alice Bixby. Most of the teachers stayed between one and three years. Many of them boarded in the farm house in the community.
In 1925, the teaching staff in Wiseburn was increased to two members. During this same school year, another teacher joined the faculty. By 1926, four teachers started the year, and a fifth joined before the year ended. Six teachers were in WIseburn to start the 1928 school year. Five regular teachers taught in Wiseburn until 1941. An opportunity teacher increased the number to six during this time.
The late twenties marked a period of considerable construction at the Wiseburn School. Two spanish style buildings were erected with stucco walls and tile roofs. A double bungalow and a pump house were constructed at this time. This age the district seven rooms and an auditorium.
The early forties saw architectural changes taking place at the Wiseburn School. One of the two large Spanish style structures built in the twenties was remolded in 1941. This building was known as the North Building. It no longer had the original romantic Spanish design. It had been given a plain modern appearance. Four new rooms were also added at the south end of the school site in 1943.
In the late forties, two new schools were added to the district, the Anza and Cabrillo Schools. In 1948, more rooms were added at the Wiseburn School. A solid line of rooms connected the North and South buildings of the school. At that time the Wiseburn School added five more acres to its property and changed its name to the Richard Henry Dana School.
The first principal of the school was Mrs. Marieum Tuck. She became the teacher-principal in 1926, and remained in that position until 1929 when Mr. Don Smith became the teacher-principal. Mr. Smith held that position until 1944 when the board designed him as superintendent-principal of the Wiseburn School DIstrict. By 1949, a new principal was hired for the school, and Mr. Smith became a full-time superintendent.
When the Anza School was built un 1946, Mrs. Eva Begg was employed as the principal. Miss Margrate Bennett was employed in 1948 was the Anza School principal. The construction of the Cabrillo School in 1949 brought about the employment of Miss Charlotte Ferris as the school's principal in 1949.
The fifties saw more schools and classrooms added to WIseburn. In 1950, more rooms were added to the Anza School. The Sepulveda School was built in 1956 and Peter Burnett was completed the same year. More rooms were added to Cabrillo in 1953.
The new principals of these schools were both administrators in the district. Miss Burnett became the principal of the Sepulveda School. Mr. Ferragamo, vice-principal of Cabrillo School, became the Peter Burnett School principal.
After Miss Burnett resigned, Mr. Mannion, the vice-principal of Dana School, became Sepulveda School's principal. Miss Vera Senstead assumed the duties of principal of the Anza School.
The first community civic organization was known as the Wiseburn Improvement Association. It was organized in the south and the district in 1927. Many of the members of this group eventually formed the Wiseburn School P-T.A. in 1941.
The Del Aire Improvement Association was formed in 1944. It took care of the civic improvements in the Del Aire section of the district. After 1955, this group generally did not approve of school district policies until its one members constituted a majority on the school board in 1959.
Another civic association that assumed responsibility for the needs of the south end of the district was the Wiseburn Civic Association. It was formed in the middle forties, at which time the Wiseburn Improvement Association did not exist. At times, the Civic Association lent support to bond measures.
In 1952, the WIseburn Coordinating Council was organized in the district., mainly by the residents in the south end of the district. This group represented all of the community organizations in Wiseburn. In 1957, a large group of people from the Del Aire Improvement Association appeared at the election meeting of the organization, paid membership fees and made a clean sweep of the executive board. As a result of this action, most of the participation organization withdrew their membership in the council. The activities of the coordinate council were investigated by the Coordinating Council Federation, and as a result of its recommendations, the Wiseburn group voted itself out of existence.
The last large civic organization to be formed was the Holly Glen Homeowners Association. Following the construction of the Rally Glen Tract in the south end of the district in 1955, a civic organization was formed in 1957. Its concern with the schools was one of neither support nor opposition. It was the feeling of this organization that many residents ii the tract had opposing views on school bond matters, and therefore to be truly representative of the community, no stand was taken in respect to the school bonds.
The first school bonds in 1896 for $2,000 were approved by the voters, but the election was declared void, and had to be repeated a year later due to a technicality. In 1897, the bonds passed. Another school bond election was held in 1925 for $55,000. Several months later, another bond election was held for $50,000. After four attempts, the bond finally passed in the spring of 1926.
No more bond elections were held in the district until the late forties. In 1946, a bond election was held for $200,000. Another for $375,000 was held in 1948.
Many bond elections were held in the fifties. In 1951, an election was held for $101,000. In May, 1953, another election was held for $545,000. A bond election for $545,000 was held in May, 1954. The election of 1954 marked the last bond election to be passed in the district.
The 1957 year repeated a bond failure cycle that had started back in 1925. The bond election election for $700,000 in May, 1957, lost by almost 700 votes. The election was held again in November but this time the amount had been reduced to $600,000. The November bonds lost by about 600 votes. Passage of the bonds was attempted once again in February, 1959. The result was the same as before, failure, and again the bond lost by about 600 votes. This was the last time a bond issue was presented to voters in the district.
