SCVHistory.com HB6902 | Valencia | Old Orchard Elementary School: 1969/70 Grade 4.

Old Orchard Elementary School: 4th grade class photo, 1969-1970 (first year). Teachers are Mrs. Harris, Mr. Calabrese, Miss Yamamoto and Miss Silva.

If it looks like the Newhall School Auditorium in the background, that's because it is. Class photos were taken early in the school year, and Old Orchard was still under construction when the school year started. The fourth (and third and fifth) grades were housed at Newhall School until April 1970 when the new campus was ready.

Old Orchard class photos contributed by Scott Morse (Hart Class of 1978), who was in 4th grade when Old Orchard opened in 1969. (The school existed in name only in September 1969; pupils were scattered across the other three Newhall District schools until Old Orchard's campus was ready in April 1970.) Also attending Old Orchard were Morse's siblings: older sister Colleen Morse (Worden), Hart Class of 1977; and younger brothers Todd Morse (Hart 1980) and Eric Morse (Hart 1984).

Their mother, Jacque Morse, was the founding president of the Women's Council of the Newhall-Saugus Boys' Club (1970-1971), which undertook a major fundraising effort that developed into the club's annual Benefit Auction in 1972. Members of the Women's Council also became the first female members of the club's Board of Directors and spearheaded the inclusion of girls into the club, making it the nation's first Boys and Girls Club.

About Old Orchard Elementary School.

The Newhall School District's fourth school, Old Orchard Elementary started under Principal Les Tanner in the fall of 1969 but didn't have its own campus until April 1970. Its pupils were initially scattered across the district's three other schools: grades 3-5 at Newhall School (opened 1879); kindergarten and grades 1 and 6 at Peachland (1959); grade 2 at Wiley Canyon (1966).

When the children walked onto the new, $777,700 campus for the first time on Friday, April 3, 1970, they found a new-concept school facility custom-built to accommodate team teaching. It consisted of separate classroom buildings — windowless, octagonal concrete pods, each with learning areas arranged around a central common area.

The school had no perimeter fence, and children used the adjacent Old Orchard County Park for a playground.

The concept was eventually abandoned. The school was redesigned and fenced in.

Click to enlarge.

Valencia's First.

Old Orchard School Opens.

The Signal | Friday, April 3, 1970.

Les Tanner, who started the school year as a principal with students in three different schools, will finally have all 640 of his charges under one roof today with the opening of Old Orchard School in Valencia.

Tanner and the pupils who will populate Valencia's first school, part of the growing Newhall Elementary School District, will enter the brand-new classrooms this morning for the first time.

Old Orchard School, designed by architect Harry MacDonald, took just over a year to build and cost $777,700.

Tanner, his teachers and many of the parents whose children will be enrolled in the new school spent the week busily working to get ready for today's opening.

A flurry of transporting books, movie projectors, and other teaching aids and then the unpacking of the materials took up much of this week.

The students started the year in three different schools, but throughout the year have attended classes with the people who will be their Old Orchard schoolmates and teachers.

Peachland School housed the kindergarten, first and sixth grades until the new school's opening.

The second grade pupils attended Wiley Canyon School, while the third, fourth and fifth grades were quartered at Newhall School.

Now the students that have been scattered throughout the district will come together for the first time in the brand-new complex of buildings.

Tanner, who until this year was principal at Newhall School, said the only obstacle to overcome now is for the students and teachers to familiarize themselves with the new surroundings.

The new school is designed to house each class in a different building or "pod." Each unit is octagonal, with windowless concrete walls. The hive-like look is dramatically relieved by doors painted in bright colors with matching colors on the superstructure which house air-conditioning equipment.

"This design allows a greater flexibility," Tanner said. "When you have more than one teacher assigned to a 'pod,' the children can benefit from three or four teachers, each of whom may have a different specialty."

Tanner also believes that the "newness" of the school "will create a feeling that school is a great place to be.

"There are no fences around the school, and we share playground facilities with the county park. We hope the children we feel it is fun to be here."

The only facility that will not be in operation today, or Monday, is the cafeteria.

That operation will be in full swing on Tuesday, but until then the school will be on a limited schedule.