50 Year Reunion for California's Last One Room School

Chilao Mountain School may have been the last functioning one room school house in the state.  Built in 1963 by Chilao resident Ed Hensley for La Canada Unified School District, it served the mountain communities of the Angeles National Forest from 1963 to 1981, teaching kindergarten through sixth grade under a single roof.  Changing demographics, and funding, saw the closure of the school in 1981. The mountain education center - and center for many activities in the rural community overlooking the sprawl of Los Angeles - was removed from the register of active California schools in 1982. Forgotten by all but its students and teachers, it sat empty for 30 years, teaching tools, books, maps, illustrations, even teacher's notes and children's school work intact and on shelves, preserved by the dry mountain climate.

In February 2012 Chilao Mountain School took on a new owner and a modified name - Chilao School - and the work of restoring the building and its contents slowly began.  The Native American and environmental non profit group Redbird took on the task, assisted by Southern California Edison's Native American Alliance, SCE International, the California Conservation Corps, USFS Helicopter Crew H531, La Canada Flintridge Girl Scouts and numerous community members.  In August 2012 Redbird hosted its first open school house, and has used the school for outdoor education, weekend gatherings, forestry meetings and day hikes.

Even before the school had officially changed hands, its original students were wandering in.  Eric Nelson, the son of the school's first teacher, came first, and Mike Perez, who was a student in the school's heyday, followed several months later.  Most recently, Kelly Sheehan Brandt and her brothers Kevin and Brian, all Chilao School students, returned to the school, and began the arduous process of going through books and papers, contacting the Hensley family, reaching out to former students, and setting up the first ever Chilao School reunion...fifty years later.

On June 7 the doors of Chilao School will open to welcome its original community and the people whose cherished memories were preserved for three decades.  All former students, teachers and friends and all current mountain residents and friends are invited.  Festivities will begin at noon.  
Visit Chilao Mountain School's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/66810701718/