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School starts!
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Posted by lward Mon Aug 21, 2006 13:55:57 PDT
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0 responses 1 comment “Will my school be ready on Monday?” asked seventh-grader Moses Orellana doubtfully, surveying the construction that was still in full swing last Wednesday at Stonecreek Junior High.
Orellana was excited to attend the new $23 million junior high –– the district’s fifth –– set on 22 acres on the northeast corner of Akers Road and Hosking Avenue.
“I like the gymnasium.  And that there is no dress code,” said Orellana.
Orellana and about 500 peers and parents indeed found the school ready for their arrival on the first day of school Monday, although yellow caution tape still surrounded many areas and some buildings were not complete. Principal Gerrie Kincaid was on hand to point students in the right direction and clear up confusion.
The school’s mascot –– “The Stampede” –– is synonymous with the rapid growth of the district, now in its 131st year.   According to Assistant Superintendent Kip Hearron, the district has been growing at about 5 percent, and now includes a whopping 21 schools –– 16 elementaries and five junior highs –– 15,000 students and about 1,800 employees.
With growth comes shifting boundaries. Last year, Panama approved changes to its current boundaries that will take effect this month to help relieve overcrowding at Warren Junior High in the Tevis Park area by boosting enrollment at its smaller schools. Stonecreek will serve junior high students who live south of Panama Lane –– the area Earl Warren Junior High previously covered –– and accommodate the hundreds of new homes that have popped up on Akers and Hosking in recent years.
According to Hearron, the district is only about 20 percent built out.
“The potential for growth is tremendous,” he said, noting that there are currently 39,000 homes to be built in the district in various stages of development. For every 100 homes built, the district ends up with about 56 students. With the more affluent areas the yield is less. In addition to new housing, many Panama campuses are home to special education students –– anywhere from 40 to 100 at each campus –– and second generation students whose parents have recently moved into starter homes after the former residents moved out.
Buena Vista School on Buena Vista Road and Panama Lane is currently the largest elementary in the district, with about 1,100 students. The district prefers to keep attendance in the 700 to 800 range. Future housing developments near Buena Vista could eventually add up to 26,000 units in the area, with more than 9,000 children from kindergarten through sixth grade living in the area. The Buena Vista housing growth is driving proposed boundary changes at Buena Vista, Christa McAuliffe, Leo B. Hart, Sing Lum and Ronald Reagan schools. Schools in the central area of the district, like Hart and McAuliffe, are declining in enrollment and need to be kept viable.
Hearron said the public may give their input at meetings in September and the board may vote on changes by late September. Changes will take effect in the 2007-08 school year.
Boundary committee members include teachers, parents and administrators, as well as parents from other schools whose students will not be impacted by the changes.
“We try to move as few students as possible, keep specific neighborhoods together, keep in mind mileage and transportation issues, and look for balance,” said Hearron.
A new elementary school, Old River Elementary at Campus Park and Old River Road, is expected to break ground next month and should also relieve overcrowded conditions at Buena Vista when it opens in August 2007. From there, Hearron said, the district will look at adding school sites on the west side of the district.
What does all the growth mean for students? Hearron said they are fortunate, as 50 percent of students in the state are in decreasing enrollment districts.
“That’s not good, because that means you have to decrease staff, and eventually you don’t use your facilities correctly. It upsets the apple cart,” said Hearron, who said an increasing enrollment district, in contrast, can hire the best staff and offer the best programs possible.
Patricia Reed has been teaching at Seibert Elementary, near the Valley Plaza, for 30 years. She has seen the district grow by “quantum leaps” over the years.
“This used to be a small neighborhood school. Now the demographics have changed and we’ve had a large influx of non English speaking students. There are more needs to address,” said Reed.
Scott Sword, who’s been teaching in the Panama District for nine years, has a very full fourth- and fifth-grade combo class at Ronald Reagan this year with 33 students. He said it is a challenge accommodating the approximately 80 languages spoken in the district, but a challenge the district has been able to rise to.
“Once you get past the administration, the meetings and the curriculum –– once you get that door closed, then it’s all worth it,” said Sword.
Hearron said the growth only makes the start of another school year more exciting, although there are a few practical concerns.
“We just want to make sure there’s enough playground space for all the students,” he said.

History
•     Panama, located south of Bakersfield, was originally known as Rio Bravo and was documented as early as 1849.
•     Although the Panama School District was formed on paper on Nov. 5, 1873, the fist county Panama School wasn’t established until 1875.
•     In 1880, Panama School was moved for the fourth time to the present location at Stine and Taft Highway.
•     In 1881, Old River School was organized. The Panama people were bitter because many of the children were taken from the district, and the two camps were not altogether on speaking terms for years.
•     The Stine School District was established in 1900 just north of the Panama District. The Stine School District gave a section of land to the Buena Vista School District.
•     The Panama School District grew from an average daily attendance of 99 to 165 in 1937-38, making it necessary to construct a new school, erected in 1939.
•     The Panama Union School District was formed in 1944 when the Panama and Stine School Districts joined together as a union district.
•     Stine School was destroyed in a 1952 earthquake. It was rebuilt in 1957.
•     In 1963, the district built  Amy B. Seibert Elementary as the growth continued.
•     The first junior high school in the district, Fred. L. Thompson Junior High, opened in 1966.
•     Wayne Van Horn Elementary School was built in 1968.
•     In 1975, the district celebrated their centennial by building another new school, Castle Elementary. It represented a radical new school design, including moveable walls throughout the school.
•     Stockdale Elementary School in the Stockdale Estates area was added.
•     In 1979, a second junior high was added named O.J. Actis Junior High School.
•      Sandrini opened in 1980.
•     In 1983, the district office moved to a new facility at 4200 Ashe Road.
•     Sing Lum was built in 1984.
•     1985 saw the opening of Laurelglen Elementary.
•     In 1988, the annexation of Panama and Buena Vista districts took place, forming the new Panama Buena Vista Union School District.
•     1988 also saw the construction of Leo B. Hart Elementary.
•     Tevis Junior High, the third to be opened in the district, opened in 1989.
•     In 1990 Roy W. Loudon School opened.
•     McAuliffe Elementary opens in 1991.
•     In 1994 a fourth junior high school was opened, Earl Warren.
•     1996 sees the opening of Bill L. Williams Elementary.
•     In 1998 Ronald Reagan opens.
•     Berkshire Elementary is opened in 2002.
Source: Panama Buena Vista Union School District

Did you know?

• The first school term in 1875 was only three months long with an enrollment of 11 students. Benches were made by the parents and each bench seated three children. The teacher served as the school janitor.

• In 1885, the roof of the Panama School caught fire. Some boys ran to a nearby ranch house, secured ladders and a wagon and managed to put the fire out. During the emergency, Indian arrows began dropping out of the ceiling. They had been shot through woodpecker holes in previous years by Indian boys.

• During 1916-17, Kern County employed 266 elementary teachers — 251 women and only 15 men!

• Al Seibert became the first full-time custodian in the Panama District in 1927 and served until the time of his death in 1933.

• As the first elementary school in the state to be named for former governor of California and former President Ronald Reagan, the Ronald Reagan Elementary dedication drew local dignitaries as well as the former President’s daughter, Maureen Reagan  and her family. There was also a record-breaking snow storm during its first year in operation.

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Comment From: tomasi

Lauren, Being a Panama teacher for 33 years, this certainly brought back memories. I loved the part about the Indian arrows...didn't know that humorous fact. Joe Tomasi