Vanguard News The Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District is located in the Santa Clarita Valley the high desert along the Antelope Valley Freeway approximately 45 minutes north of Los Angeles. The district covers an area of approximately 200 square miles, serving the communities of Acton and Agua Dulce The District was a K-8 District until it unified in 1993.
At the same time the District name was changed from Soledad to Acton. It is comprised of three elementary schools, a middle and a High School.
Acton School is the oldest remaining school in the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District. The first school in the area was a temporary white clapboard building located in Ravena for two years. Local parents worked with the Soledad Board of Trustees to build a school in Acton. The land was donated to the school district and all the bricks were hand made at a local kiln. This two room schoolhouse was completed at a cost of $4,000.00 and was dedicated in October 1890. The original K-8 class held 45 children. The students arrived at school by train, horseback, buggy, or by walking.
Students continued to attend the “Brick Schoolhouse” until 1938 when the new Soledad School was built. The plaque hanging on the cafeteria wall acknowledges the labor invested by the WPA in building our school. This part of the campus is currently the location of our district offices. The district has continued to grow over the years and the campus has expanded to accommodate them. Hedgecock Hall even had to be rented in 1977 while additional classrooms were added! Mrs. Raineri safely shepherded the kindergartners up and down the street each day.
Seventh and Eighth graders moved to the High Desert site in time for the 1991-92 school year. Acton still housed students in grades K-6. Portable classrooms were added in the old environmental center and we continued to grow and expand. The current grade 3-6 configuration began with the opening of Meadowlark in 1998 when our ‘sister school’ was born.
Credits to Ms. Wegmann Principal, Acton School
Merle Adams for recording our local history in her book, “Heritage Happenings