2sesquicentennial times volume 4_pub2
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Los Nietos School District Celebrating a “Rich Past and Promising Future” Volume 1, Edition 4 June 10, 2011 the Los Nietos School District website to read the full story of the spectacular event: www.lnsd.net.TRANSCRIPT
Los Nietos Middle School Hosts Unforgettable 150th Event!
Sesquicentennial Times
On May 21, 2011, the former “Los Nie-
tos School” welcomed back former stu-
dents and staff as part of the Los Nietos
School District’s 150th Anniversary cele-
bration. Hosted by Los Nietos Middle
School Principal, Jacqueline Cardenas,
and the Los Nietos Middle School Staff
and PTC Parents, the event raised close
to $9,000.00 for the school and demon-
strated the love that the Los Nietos Com-
munity has for their alma mater.
The Los Nietos School Board was
thrilled to welcome several local digni-
taries to the event, and gladly accepted
their certificates of recognition. In attend-
ance where: Louis Reyes, Field Rep. to
Senator Ron Calderon; Cathy Warner,
Mayor of Whittier; Angie Castro, Field
Rep. to L.A. Council Member Gloria Moli-
na; and Little Lake City School Board
Members, Richard Martinez and Ronald
Gonzales-Lawrence. Additionally, former
Los Nietos Board Members (Betty
Elizalde, Gloria Duran, Jose Martinez,
and Carlos Rodriguez) were recognized
for their leadership on the Los Nietos
School Board.
Some of the former Los Nietos employ-
ees who attended the event and took
pictures with their former students or
colleagues were: Mr. Leonard Wickson,
Mr. Ray Elemendorf, Mrs. Madeline
Minear (33-year Los Nietos Middle
School employee and 11-year Los Nietos
Middle School Principal), Mrs. Vera Lee
Steward, Mr. Les Cushing, and Mr. Jay
Mitchell.
The Los Nietos School Board would like
to thank former alumni/ Board Member
Carlos Rodriguez and Alumni Andy Mo-
rales for helping to get the word out to the
Los Nietos Community about the 150th
Anniversary event. Through their efforts
Los Nietos School alumni from as far back
as the 1920’s made it a priority to attend
the community event. To view over 200
pictures taken at the event, please go to
the Los Nietos School District website to read the
full story of the spectacular event: www.lnsd.net.
Los Nietos Facts (continued from Volume 1,
Edition 3)
In 1937 a new Los Nietos
School building is built at
11425 Rivera Road.
In 1949 plans for Los Nietos
School District’s second school,
Ada S. Nelson School, are
approved.
In 1951 Los Nietos ground-
breaking takes place on the
second and third schools, Ada
S. Nelson School and Rancho
Santa Gertrudes School.
1951 Los Nietos School is
remodeled.
1955 Wiggins School the
fourth school in Los Nietos
opens.
January 23, 1957, Aeolian
School is approved as the
name of the fifth school in the
Los Nietos School District.
To be continued in future
issues of the Sesquicentennial
Times……..
Los Nietos School District Celebrating a “Rich Past and Promising Future”
June 10, 2011
Volume 1, Edition 4
Rancho Santa Gertrudes School Wins “Battle of the Books” Competition on May 20, 2011!
Page 2 Sesquicentennial Times
On March 26, 2011, Rancho Santa Ger-
trudes School welcomed the Los Nietos
District Community to their Sesquicen-
tennial Event. Principal Perez, Rancho’s
P.T.C., and the Rancho Staff worked tire-
lessly to showcase the hospitality of their
school. Rancho’s event was easily the
largest attended event in recent history,
as a steady stream of more than 2000
people kept the carnival workers busy
all day and helped the school raise close
to $8,000.00.
Although there were game booths, a
cakewalk, food vendors, and multiple
bounce houses, the event was much
more than a typical school carnival. With
the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department,
On May 20, 2011, Rancho Santa Gertrudes School, representing the Los
Nietos School District, won the annual “Battle of the Books” competition
against the Little Lake School District. The “Battle of the Books” competition
has been an annual event sponsored by the Santa Fe Springs Library featur-
ing teams from several Little Lake Schools and Rancho Santa Gertrudes, the
only Los Nietos School within the boundaries of Santa Fe Springs. In prepa-
ration for the single elimination event, competing teams read 30 selected
books and prepared to answer questions posed to them by correctly nam-
ing the title and author of the book.
For the past several years Rancho Santa Gertrudes School has competed
against extremely strong teams from the schools in the Little Lake School
District. Last year’s second place finish inspired student advisors Mrs. Emi-
ly Coutant and Mrs. Monica Goco to double their efforts in training the two
Rancho teams that competed in the event. With the support of Principal,
Octavio Perez, the students, teacher advisors, and parents developed what
they hoped would be a winning plan. Mrs. Coutant and Mrs. Goco helped
their students prepare for the extremely difficult competition by putting in
practice time during lunch, afterschool, and on the weekends.
To celebrate their victory the students and guardians of the two Rancho
“Battle of the Book” teams were invited to a pizza party at Shakey’s on June
2, 2011. The “Battle of the Books” Champions were also formally recog-
nized at the June 8, 2011 Los Nietos School Board Meeting. At that time
Principal Perez and his team advisors proudly presented the Los Nietos
School Board with the 2011 “Battle of the Books” Trophy.
Former Wiggins School Principal Returns Home to Los Nietos on May 21, 2011
Wallace S. Wiggins Elementary School
Page 3 Sesquicentennial Times
Wallace S. Wiggins School was the fourth
school to be opened in the Los Nietos School
District. Named after long time school board
President Wallace S. Wiggins, seen holding
the shovel at right, the Wiggins School
opened in 1955. The 10-acre parcel of land
was purchased originally for $42,665.00 and
was adjacent to the now closed Fred C. Nelles
School.
Due to low enrollment the school was official-
ly closed in 1989, and the land sold to housing
developers. Currently there is no trace of the
fourth school in the Los Nietos
School District, and all that re-
mains are the pictures and memo-
ries of the students and employees
that once walked the halls of Wal-
lace S. Wiggins Elementary
School.
On May 21, 2011, alumni warmly greeted an old friend, teacher, and
principal when Bud Chapman came back to celebrate the Los Nietos
School District’s 150th anniversary. Mr. Chapman began his 40-year
career in the Los Nietos School District in 1951 as a teacher for five
years at the Los Nietos School. From 1956 through 1971 he served as
principal of the Los Nietos School (15 years). He was principal of Wal-
lace Wiggins and Aeolian Schools from 1971-1978. In 1978 he became
the Director of Personnel and Operations until 1982. He finished his
Los Nietos career as principal of Rancho Santa Gertrudes where he
served from 1982-1991.
For 31-years Mr. Chapman served as a principal and mentor in the Los
Nietos School District, and as he returned back to his old school he
was hugged and shown the reverence and appreciation that he so richly
deserved. Less than a week after the 150th event, Superintendent Vasquez
and Principal Cardenas received a thank you note from Mr. Chapman for
hosting what he described as an
“Awesome” event for the community.
Although I built a house in Gar-
den Grove for my family, I drove my
horse and buggy to Los Nietos every
school day for several years before tak-
ing a position in Orange County at the
Ocean View School in Huntington Beach.
There I served as teacher, principal and
later superintendent. I later left teaching
to become the editor of the Herald
House Publishing Company and then
became the Bishop of my church during
the Great Depression.
Article by Carolyn Schoff, great
-granddaughter of Albert Carmichael,
who lives in Orange County. She has
continued the (four generation) family
tradition of teaching and currently teach-
es Anthropology at Rio Hondo College.
In addition, she also continues the family
tradition by making the trek from Or-
ange County to Whittier to work at Pio
Pico State Historic Park on the board of
the Friends of Pio Pico (although these
days, she doesn’t have to make the trip
by horse and buggy).
Dear Los Nietos Pupils/Parents/
Community,
My name is Albert Carmichael. I
was born in Sacramento, California in
1863 and lived with my parents a few
hours north of Sacramento in French Cor-
ral, a small mining settlement in Nevada
County, California. My father was a Scot-
tish immigrant who made boots for the
miners, and my mother died when I was
less than two years old. My parents came
to California by way of Salt Lake City, first
arriving in New Orleans in 1852 and trav-
eling up the Mississippi and Missouri Riv-
ers and then across the plains by covered
wagon. After my mother died, I was sent
to live with my uncle and aunt, who later
moved to San Benito, California. Because
I was slightly asthmatic and couldn’t work
on the ranch, my uncle sent me to school
in San Jose to become a teacher. After
completing two years of teaching school,
I taught at Washington Corners in San
Benito County before making the long
journey to Southern California, where I
taught in Trabuco Canyon during the
1888-89 school year. In the fall of 1889, I
came to teach at the Los Nietos School.
While at Los Nietos School, I
taught 5 grades in the same classroom,
5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. Each grade had
only a few pupils. During the 1894-1895
school year, my classroom had 12 boys
and 22 girls. Children were placed in
grade levels based on the knowledge
they had mastered. If children did not
pass the exams with a high enough score,
they would remain in that same grade
until they passed the exams. My pupils
ranged from 10 years old to 19 years old,
but some of the older children were still
in the 5th or 6th grade.
In 1894-95, I was paid $90 a
month ($832.50 for the entire school year)
to teach 34 children, and I also managed
the school library, which consisted of 361
books, valued at an amazing $250! I
kept meticulous records in a School Reg-
ister Book that I was required by law to
keep. The books and lessons I was sup-
posed to teach were given to me by the
school district, and I made note of each
child’s daily attendance, exam scores,
mastered subjects and borrowed books.
In the same school, there have
been several young lady teachers who
taught grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 including
Miss Lucy Williams, Miss Annie Reyn-
olds, and Miss Cora Van Fleet. Miss
Cora was a member of my church in Los
Angeles. Her family originally came
from Kansas. She taught until around
1898, when she married Sylvester H.
Garner. It was thought that ladies should
not continue to teach school once they
were married, so they often left after a
few years when they met and married
their beaus.
In addition to local children
from Los Nietos, my pupils included a
few children from Whittier and Pico. I
even brought a boy named Arthur Din-
widdle with me to school every day from
Garden Grove. Travels to and from Gar-
den Grove were sometimes difficult in
my buggy. If it had rained, I had to take
care not to get stuck in the mud.
My pupils were sometimes ab-
sent from school too. Mumps and mea-
sles were common reasons, but some-
times the boys had to work for the family
business and couldn’t attend school.
And if it rained too hard, some children
couldn’t make the difficult journey and
missed school as well.
When I first arrived at Los Nie-
tos School, it was a one-story adobe
building. Several years later, a second
story was added. The second story was
made of wood and featured a fine bell
tower.
Meet one of the First Los Nietos Teachers: Albert Carmichael
Page 4 Volume 1, Edition 4
Pictured to the right is a photo of
Los Nietos Teacher, Albert Car-
michael and his students from a
photo taken during the 1894-1895
School year. The two-room
schoolhouse was located at 9100
S. Norwalk Boulevard and was
remodeled several years later to
add a second story.
The picture below was taken af-
ter 1895 and shows the school-
house with the second story addi-
tion. Los Nietos teacher, Albert
Carmichael, can still be seen in
the left-hand corner wearing his
top hat. The Los Nietos Bell, which
currently sits on the front lawn of the
Los Nietos Middle School, used to be
kept in the belfry of the second
school and would be rung to call stu-
dents to school. The bell was cast in
1889 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The next Los Nietos School was built
in 1924 on the present school site lo-
cation of 11425 Rivera Road. In 1933
an earthquake damaged the school
and it had to be torn down and re-
placed. In 1951 the school was re-
modeled, but has virtually stayed the
same for almost 80 years.
Albert Carmichael Teaches at the Los Nietos Schools
Page 5 Volume 1, Edition 4
There is Still Time to be Part of Los Nietos History
Nicho las Aquino Pre s iden t Ra ymundo Chacon Vice -Pre s iden t Mar i sa B . Hernandez C le rk Ar t Escobedo Member S i l v i a R. Monge Member
Los Nie t o s Schoo l D is t r i c t
Admin i s t ra t i on
Jonathan Vasquez
Superintendent
Dr. Mary Martinez McNeil
Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services
Douglas McMasters
Assistant Superintendent of Business Services
Los Nie t o s Schoo l D is t r i c t
Board o f Trus t e es
As mentioned in earlier
newsletters, the Los Nie-
tos School District Office
as part of the Measure M
Bond project is currently
undergoing construction
to replace underground
sewage pipes and electri-
cal wires. The infrastruc-
ture replacement is simi-
lar to the construction that
has already taken place at
Nelson, Aeolian, and Ran-
cho Schools.
Although the overall pro-
ject will be worked on in
phases this summer, the
front office phase is
scheduled to be complet-
ed later this month. The
District Office project was
started before school was
out because the same
construction company is
working at both the Dis-
trict Office and Aeolian
School this summer.
Once school is out on
June 15th, the construc-
tion workers will be mov-
ing to Aeolian School to
begin the summer con-
struction project. Aeoli-
an’s project is scheduled
to last late into August.
The picture below shows
the front office construc-
tion so far.
District Office Underground Construction begins on May 23, 2011
The Los Nietos School District as a fundraiser to support
extra student/teacher projects at all four schools have
been selling engraved paver bricks to commemorate the
District’s 150th Anniversary. The paver bricks come in two
sizes a “4 x 8” size for $75.00 and a “8 x 8” size for
$150.00. All money raised will go to help support the priori-
ties that were identified at the January 13, 2011 School
Board Study Session. All proceeds of paver sales will be
split equally among the four schools.
There is still time to place an order for your personalized
engraved paver that will be located at the entrance of the
District Office. The paver walk way is scheduled to be com-
pleted with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 12, 2011,
which will be the date of the District’s 150th Anniversary.
Although the public will be able to purchase paver bricks
in the future, the last day to purchase the paver bricks in
order to be engraved for the August 12, 2011, ceremony is
June 25, 2011.
If you have any questions please contact the Los Nietos
District Office at (562) 692-0271 Ext. 3212. Help support the
Los Nietos Schools, and have your name or the name of a
loved one be part of Los Nietos history!