A little history... 

Alamos Elementary School was named for the one-room schoolhouse that served French Valley for much of the 20^th century.  When it opened in August 2004, Alamos Elementary welcomed over 500 students, a far cry from its namesake.  Beginning about 1900, children from the handful of families that farmed the region attended the Alamos School from kindergarten through the eighth grade.  The Hemet Unified School District closed the school, located at the southwest corner of Benton and Pourroy roads when enrollment fell below 10 students in 1969.  Many kids rode their horses to school and were taught by Mrs. Dore Fjeld, who taught there from 1930 until 1967.  

     The Alamos School was moved down the road to Lake Skinner in 1977 as part of a project designed to showcase early rural California life.  Money for that project fell through and the schoolhouse sat empty for several decades.

      In 1998, a restoration project was begun and these days the original Alamos School serves as a wildlife education center at the county-run nature reserve.  Two miles south of the original school site is the new Alamos Elementary School that opened on August 24, 2004.

 Excerpts from John Hunneman’s column in
The Californian dated February 5, 2004.

Another great achievement was Alamos being named a 2012 California Distinguished School. In order to be invited to apply for Distinguished School honors, schools must meet a variety of eligibility criteria including designated federal and state accountability measures based on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Academic Performance Index (API) requirements. The California Distinguished School Award identifies and honors those schools that have demonstrated educational excellence for all students and progress in narrowing the achievement gap.

Alamos Elementary was recently named as one of the 25 California schools to be recognized as a National Model of a Professional Learning Community at WorkTM. Alamos has been implementing the PLC at Work process for 4 years. The staff is committed to the on-going, job-embedded learning for the adults who serve our students.

     Alamos was recognized as one of 1,614 public elementary, middle and high schools to be honored by the California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) for demonstrating consistently high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations. Alamos has been a CBEE Honor Roll School since 2007.

"This is a testament to the relentless focus on results for students that you, your staff, and your peers have shown over the years." Kirk Clark, President