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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

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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.

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Page 1: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2

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

Page 2: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2

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.

Page 3: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2

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.

Page 4: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2

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

Page 5: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2

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

Page 6: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2

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!

Page 7: 2Sesquicentennial Times Volume 4_pub2