Desert Center Unified School District

Desert Center Unified School District is located in the eastern part of Riverside County in California. The district services the unincorporated areas of Eagle Mountain, Desert Center, Lake Tamarisk and Chiriaco Summit.

Desert Center Unified School District
Type and location
Type	Public
Grades	Kindergarten – Grade 8
Region	Riverside County
Country	USA
District Info
Superintendent	Dr. Norman Guith
Students and staff
Students	19[1]
Staff	2
Other information

Schools

Current Schools

• Eagle Mountain School ( on the closed Eagle Mountain High School campus)

Closed schools

• Desert Center School
• Eagle Mountain Elementary School
• Eagle Mountain High School (currently Eagle Mountain School K–8)
• Henry J. Kaiser Middle School^[2]

History

Life as it had been known in Eagle Mountain for the previous 35 years came to an end in June, 1983 when Kaiser Steel's Eagle Mountain Mine finally ceased operations. The high school held its final graduation. Three of the Desert Center Unified School District schools closed their doors. All of the district's furniture and supplies were placed into storage at Eagle Mountain High School. The high school was converted to become the kindergarten through eighth grade Eagle Mountain School for the area's few remaining students. By 1985 there were only 4 regular education classes, six teachers and 75 students at the school. In 2008 it had 19 enrolled students and 2 teachers.

The first school is the area was Desert Center School, which was originally a red-brick schoolhouse built by Steve Ragsdale in the 1940s along U.S. Route 60 in Desert Center.

Eagle Mountain Elementary School's first opened for the 1957-1958 school year. Prior to that elementary students were bussed to the Desert Center School. Some older students continued to attend Desert Center school after the opening of Eagle Mountain Elementary School. John Hall was the first principal of Eagle Mountain Elementary. His wife Louise taught Kindergarten. Eagle Mountain Elementary School closed its doors in 1983.

Eagle Mountain High School was dedicated on September 10, 1962. Prior to this high school students traveled 120 miles daily to the Coachella Valley High School, in Thermal, California. It was closed as a high school in June, 1983. The founding students chose blue and gold as the school's official colors. EMHS's original crest/emblem was designed by Dan Litteral (Class of 1966.) The school's original alma mater lyrics were written by Loretta McDonald (Class of 1964.) Students from Eagle Mountain High School went on to become doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, military commissioned and non-commissioned officers, parents, teachers, professional photographers, technicians, law enforcement officers, ministers and more. The Vietnam War claimed two Alumni: Nicholas 'Nicki' Schroeder (Class of 1968) and Robert Dalton (Class of 1968.)^[3]

The Henry J. Kaiser Middle School was built during the late 1960s. It closed its doors in 1983.

External links

• School Accountability Report Card
• Great Schools report
• Eagle Mountain Family Trees

References

1. ^ Ed-Data Website
2. ^ Eagle Mountain - California Ghost Town
3. ^ Eagle Mountain Family Trees - Family Tree for unavailable, Ragsdale, Long, Williams, Perdue and 1208 other surnames