Two Schools of Thought By Wendy Hinman, Class of '78
With the potential of a second high school on the horizon, Carlsbad High’s history and future looks as bright as ever.

“I’ve been at the old school until my senior year, but it will be kind of neat going to our own campus.”— Bill Stromberg

“There will be more opportunities to be involved and the new school is close to my home, so that solves my transportation problems.” — Charla Lewis-Boodry

“I’m excited to go to a new school, but it’s hard to leave friends . . .” — Tada Brusch-Tuck

With a few tense twists on the verbs, these quotes could be from high school kids today, pondering the prospect of one large school dividing into two smaller high schools. They are actually from alumni from 1958, ’59 and ’60, respectively, talking about the Oceanside/Carlsbad Union High School split.

Best friends since kindergarten ended up at different schools. Boyfriends and girlfriends were ripped asunder for almost 360 instructional minutes a day. But as Cheryl Johnson (CHS class of ’60) remembered, by high school “I knew everybody and figured I’d see them all again, which I did.” The frequent reunions were found in the off-campus hangout spots, the beach and Herb’s Drive-In (where Rite-Aid is now at Oceanside Boulevard and Highway 101).

Before Carlsbad High School was constructed, all high school–aged kids in Carlsbad attended OCUHS. As Carlsbad grew, it became apparent that the newly incorporated city (1952) needed a high school of its own. The voters of both Carlsbad and Oceanside passed a school construction bond in 1955, and the new high school broke ground.

But Carlsbad High School students were still under Oceanside Union’s jurisdiction. Up until that time, the Carlsbad Union School District was only responsible for K-8 education. It wasn’t until 1970 that Carlsbad was able to push to separate and become Carlsbad Unified School District, which was responsible for all K-12 students in Carlsbad. It was the indefatigable work of the school board, especially Dr. Ron Packard and Ede Westree, and four elections that eventually turned the tide. All of Carlsbad City students attending Carlsbad schools didn’t last long, however.

The annexation of La Costa in 1972 would again parcel out some of Carlsbad’s students. Mostly due to property tax considerations, students in the La Costa area — though living at Carlsbad addresses — could attend schools in Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Dieguito or San Marcos school districts. La Costa Canyon High School, for example, while in Carlsbad proper, is part of San Dieguito Union High School District.

Carlsbad High School was supposed to fly solo in the fall of 1957, but — as is inevitable in new construction — the campus was not student-ready until February of ’58. So the academic year of ’57-’58 began with Carlsbad students segregated into their own classrooms on the OCUHS campus.

When the new school was finally ready to be occupied, Carlsbad students went to OCUHS (evermore to be just OHS) in the morning as usual. After a ceremonious farewell, the new CHS students boarded buses that joined a caravan of cars filled with the new administration for an independence parade, if you will, to their new facility.

Leaving the old campus as Oceanside students lined the road, waving goodbye, the caravan went down Hill Street (Highway 101) into Carlsbad. As it passed the Army and Navy Academy, the cadets were on the side of Carlsbad Boulevard at attention while the ANA band played “Welcome Home.” As they went down Elm Avenue (Carlsbad Village Drive), the merchants and their clientele came out to wave them on till they finally arrived at 3557 Monroe Street (now Lancer Way). Linda Shirley-Urlinger, a sophomore that year, said “It felt like coming home.”

Before the buses arrived, the school mascot name and colors had to be decided. It was determined in democratic fashion, of course, with 16 possibilities. Charla Boodry’s high school diary listed the final ballot as having the options of the Lancers, the Knights or the Eagles. The color candidates were purple and white, aqua and white, lavender and white (a lot of the guys must have imagined running out onto a football field in lavender and voted that option down).

I would like to think the purple was inspired from the lupine that graces our hills after a particularly hard winter. Or that the lavender was chosen for the wild radishes that give color to the chaparral. Aqua, perhaps, was for the shining of Agua Hedionda on a clear summer morning. Alas, no such romance. Tada Tuck said, “A bunch of us were sitting in Sunday school at Carlsbad Union Church, and Judy McCartney was wearing purple velvet on white. Linda Urlinger was sitting behind her and thought that was a good color.” A royal color for a Lancer.

Lynn Hawkes picked the name of the school newspaper, The Castle Capers. That would go through Changes — The Purple Shield (which would remain the yearbook’s title for 48 years), The Lancer Express — until its evolution as the current Excalibur. Judy Collins (no, not that Judy Collins) was the first Lancer Day Queen. It was called Lancer Day because there were no alumni to come home for a homecoming. And it has remained Lancer Day ever since, even though it now has all the trappings of a homecoming.

“As I remember it, graduation was a big trauma,” Boodry said of the first graduation ceremony; “The football field wasn’t exactly what it is now.” So with “Pomp and Circumstance” playing, all 68 seniors filed out into the faculty parking lot for their big day. But the class that had spent three quarters of their high school career as Pirates voted to graduate on their own as Lancers. Though they did hold baccalaureate jointly with OHS and the classes of ’58 and ’59 still hold their reunions together.

A mere skeleton of its present self, the original CHS was rather small. Former teacher Carolyn Overbay remembers her arrival in 1963: “It was small. Just the 100 wing and part of the 200 wing, and that was it. It was a dinky place.” It was originally planned to house 1,200 students and now has approximately 3,000 on 37 acres.

Former teacher Carl Miller said, “It was just great back then [the ’60s and ’70s]. You knew everybody, and I was excited every morning to go to school. But later, when it grew so large, you began to feel insignificant. Teaching still had its rewards, but it was harder.”

A new gym (now the old gym) was added in 1960, and graduations were able to move indoors and pep rallies moved out of the cafeteria. Carlsbad football got off to a terrific start under Coach Swede Krcmar. Carlsbad took CIF small school championships in ’61, ’62 and ’65 under Krcmar.

Until the stadium was built, Carlsbad had to play all its games at OHS. But, typical of the Carlsbad spirit, when the stadium was finished a grassroots endeavor, Lights for Lancers, began. Former teacher and coach Don Johnson said the project was “a small town thing that included just about anybody and everybody.”

The field was finally lit in the early ’60s and by the end of the ’70s was known as Krcmar Field. Since then, it has a storied history of gridiron greatness, running from alumni Dale Mitchell’s days at the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Branch playing for the Carolina Panthers to Ted Johnson at the New England Patriots and Glen Kozlowski at the Chicago Bears.

The baseball field has a later, but similar history of the community coming together to produce something better for Carlsbad kids. Under the diligence of Ralph Cripe, and the crew he organized, the CHS ball field has come to be known as one of the best among California high schools. The diamond that polished Brady Anderson and Troy Glaus echoes with decades of homeruns and clutch innings.

The Community Arts Center, on the CHS campus, was another civic effort, partly because of the choral, orchestral and dramatic excellence the high school was producing. But that performing arts reputation needed a home of its own. Many parents and students raised funds for it even though it would not become a reality until those who worked hardest had graduated.

Today, Carlsbad High, like Oceanside/Carlsbad Union before it, has grown too large. The city has grown, but the borders of the Lancer campus have not. New buildings and temporary bungalows have been added until there is no more room to expand without digging down for parking and raising the roofs for more classes.

The old fears of a split have come back again. We are us so tightly it is hard to imagine another high school. So many people have pledged in the alma mater that we “would stand as loyal Lancers, always brave and true.” If there was a new school, where would we have that parade? Who would we cheer for during CIF playoffs? What would we call it? The Marron Ospreys? (For the family who held the original Spanish land grant where the new high school will be, and for the majestic bird that rules those hills presently.) Or the Kelly Celts? (For another founding family with that surname’s shade o’ green and intoning an ethnic name that doesn’t produce lawsuits.) The possibilities could be downright fun to fight over. We have dragged our feet for a while because CHS has been so successful. But it is time to change the debate from if to when and what.

Our loyal Lancer sentiments and the typical worries of being a sports powerhouse, having stunning performing arts and producing academic wunderkinds have delayed the inevitable too long. Being a Lancer seemed a divine right in Carlsbad. But being a Lancer loses its value when some kids get lost in the system, literally and figuratively. Traffic stalls when 3,000 students converge on too small a campus.

Former teacher Col. Dr. Telford (obvious CHS standard-bearer of overachievement) said of the era when CHS was pushing a nearly 2,000-student population, “Everybody knew everybody. You knew all your students.” Overybay added, “And we knew where you lived. We’d call your parents if there was a problem in the classroom.” Because the overall population was smaller, there was a greater sense of belonging. With so many students, it is very difficult for parents to get a teacher on the phone; harder still for the teacher to summon up specifics other than their scratchings in a grade book.

OHS is almost 100 years old. CHS is almost 50. The emerging pattern is that every 50 years this area needs a new high school — and we are behind in that preparation. The reluctance has been understandable, but now educational integrity demands forward movement. It is time to build a new high school.

The Carlsbad Unified School District has owned 57 acres at the corner of College and Cannon for a second high school since the ’70s. Superintendent of CUSD, John Roach, said, “We are going to build a second high school; we won’t kill the Lancers.” There is no other coastal city in California the size of Carlsbad trying to operate with just one high school. Some have three, even four.

Carlsbad has a tradition of its citizens and businesses coming together to produce the best for its own. This November, a proposition will be on the ballot for a school construction bond. It is time to rally again, this time to the polls. For CHS alumni, we can “keep our glory and our spirit too” and still support this proposition. For residents, this just makes sense. Not only have Carlsbad schools been a selling point that has added to property values, but as honorable citizens, this is the right thing to do.

But what about the old CHS? This bond measure would not only fund the new high school, but also upgrade aging CHS, Valley Middle School and Magnolia, Buena Vista, Hope and Kelly Elementary Schools. For CHS, Valley, Magnolia and Buena Vista, especially — all built in the late ’50s or early ’60s — there is a need to replace tired plumbing and broken bathrooms and to eradicate molds and modernize electrical systems. And who could argue after this summer that something such as air-conditioning would be more conducive to learning?

Architect for the CHS project, Wendell Vaughn, envisions more than just a facelift. He said, “The ‘New Carlsbad High School’ will not be a renovation of the existing campus, but rather a new high school on the existing site, while maintaining some of the existing and newer buildings. The new campus will include 21st Century learning environments planned around the ‘small learning communities and career pathways academic models,’ and will also include a new sports stadium.”

This is long overdue. This rebuild would not waste more recent modernizations, but would take the parts and bring the whole up to snuff. The new gym is fine, but some of the planks in the football bleachers are almost 50 years old. When CHS was built, the two original secretaries were still using typewriters (remember those?); the school needs to be hardwired for the technology that now drives American business. Dr. Roach also envisions “An addition to the CAC” that includes a dance studio for our national champion Lancer Dancers (currently in the old library) and acoustically proper facilities for the band, choir and drama departments.

Carlsbad is an affluent community and a world-renown tourist destination; it is time that Carlsbad Schools reflect that status. We can modernize our schools and still appreciate their history. We can have two comprehensive high schools and still one civic spirit.

Laura Tarman, who spearheaded an awareness campaign for having two high schools, said, “On occasion, a community has an opportunity to directly affect its future.” Show your pride in Carlsbad this November by going to the polls and supporting this school bond. And the future of Carlsbad — this year’s kindergartners and first graders, who will enjoy this education — will carry on our traditions. •