Alvord Unified School District (AUSD)
The AUSD or Alvord Unified School District happens to be a school district that is located in and headquartered within Riverside, California.
The AUSD has a unique history that is full of events and facts that lead up to modern times. It would be during the 1880s when an earlier school district that was named La Sierra had served many families that were along the southeasterly side of the river until it was ruled by a court stating that the homestead claims were actually part of the land grant ranch and the settlers were forced to move. Then during 1882 the Magnolia School District would open and was found within the Arlington business district. It would be during 1896 that a second school would open and was named Alvord, which was in conjunction with the proposed plans for the Alvord townsite. However, whenever Riverside had filed their city charter during 1907, Alvord wasn’t recognized. In order to appease the Alvord citizens, during 1908 the Board of Trustees of Riverside County had established the Alvord School District which included La Sierra Sepulveda Rancho and Magnolia School District areas. Then eventually a separatist sentiment began to grow within the Alvord area which was started by the non-existence of the Alvord Townsite. Voters within the Alvord area had become aware of the process of combining the lower districts into a single school district and this caused Alvord to separate officially from Riverside. The separation happened when the citizens, even though they were associated with Riverside since 1883, chose to vote themselves as well as the Alvord School District out of city limits during 1908. Alvord was often overlooked, and they were determined to make it on their own and made a strong statement of independence from Riverside.
One of the biggest areas within this district started during World War II. Over 1200 acres were purchased by the federal government from the heirs of Willits Hole during 1942 and Camp Anza was set up which was a disembarkation facility which eventually became its own city. Although the stays here were quite short, often times there were more than 20,000 people living there. This area closed during 1946, and the land and buildings were purchased by a civilian developer who created a subdivision based on the streets. Eventually, the new community would adopt a blended name of Anza and Arlington and the area would be named Arlanza. Because of the major growth of the area, Arlanza Elementary was opened during 1956.
The school district growth continued, and the state encouraged the district to reorganize and become a unified school district to allow for better management. It was under this plan that voters had established the AUSD during 1960. It was at this time the AUSD took over for all the school programs. A former junior high school was made into Norte Vista High and introduced new grouping for grades 6 to 8, which was turned into an intermediate school instead of junior high. This allowed the district to restore the high school to the traditional 4-year status.