Historical Notes
School established in the mid 1800's
   

1902

From Dave Mendenhall, March 2006   "I attended the school here from about 1948 to about 1953. I was there when the school moved from the Observatory compound to the "new" school at the present location. Mrs. Marion Beckler was the teacher for all that time. She also drove the "school bus", which was similar to a Chevy Suburban. She started at the State Park, the furthest point, and drove around picking up all the kids that she could. As I recall, here were between 8 and 14 kids in the school during that time, in first through sixth grade. Mostly they were children of the Observatory staff, the State Park crew, and the County Road crew. Mrs. Beckler was one of the most inspiring teachers I ever had. Attending school here was a wonderful experience. We would often take short walks together to have a picnic lunch while watching birds and other wildlife. Often she would read a chapter of some story of interest to us each day. Sort of like a serial story. Since there was no TV and no electricity for radios it became one of the eagerly anticipated events during the school day. All the kids became good friends. We all developed a love of learning from our teacher, and I cannot remember any behavior problems at all."

From Rich Day, March 2006   "When we came to the Mountain in the fall of 1969, Palomar Mountain School had only five students enrolled and was slated to close. Supt. Helen Greene of Pauma Valley Elementary School Dsitrict, who was in charge of the school, was delighted to have our two grade-schoolers. This allowed her to keep Palomar School open. In fact, they were enrolled while we were still living in Escondido. I commuted the kids from Escondido daily, renting the mobile home next to the school as an office. The students comprised Doug Day, Trudy Tuton, Kim Miller, Gail Day, Jon Miller, Darcy Palm, and Vera Carrasco. The lone teacher of all eight grades in one room was Robert Day (no relation). Bob was also principal and school janitor. He commuted from San Diego each day, where he still lives and substitute-teaches. Jennifer Palm (now Willis) came in to teach the music classes. For P.E. classes, Bob Day often organized an afternoon softball game in the field next to the school. Besides the kids and teacher, Jennifer, Lily Carrasco, Sheila Miller, and I usually joined in."

Robert M. Sanders, Salt Lake City, Utah Sept 2006   My daughter Celena informed me this morning about your website. I just had to take a look and see for myself. Man, it brought back some really good memories of that most beautiful "Mountain". We used to live there back in the mid 80's till the mid 90's. I was employed with the Forest Service (fire) and we lived at the Guard Station for 10 years before moving on with the changes of life (bitter sweet). Both my kids, Celena and Aaron attended Palomar school with excellent results. Celena is employed with the Police dept. outside of St. Louis, Missouri as a police dispatcher and married to a policeman. Aaron is living in St. George, employed with the Target Store Co. Both are doing well with Dad being tickled pink with pride. Who say's small schools aren't worth the money to keep open, that is ridiculous. I do miss the small community life and the atmosphere that the "Mountain" gives to those who embrace and cherish. Oh... I just had a flashback of riding in the back of Dutch's horse trailer singing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve. . .