Palma Ceia Elementary School & Neighborhood (part 4)

The School Directory:

The Alameda County School Directory (left) seen in this scan contains the first listing of Palma Ceia School. Dated 1955-1956, the guide was distributed by the superintendent of schools for Alameda County. That year the superintendent was Dr. Vaughn D. Seidel.

On page two of the scan, page 44B of the directory, notice the entry for Palma Ceia School. The staff included a principal and vice-principle, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade teachers. Second and third grades were combination classes as were fourth and fifth grade. This constituted the teaching and administrative staff of the school. One teacher lived in the Irvington District of Fremont.

The directory also included photographs of school principals. George Mirande was the principal at Palma Ceia though I do not know the date of his tenure as site administrator. The directory listed principals, school year, and the site for which they were responsible.

For school year1961-1962, Palma Ceia's principal was Roger Aylard. He could be reached at phone number SU 2-8711. The letters corresponded to numbers on the phone dial. S and U are on the number 7, so you would have dialed 77 2 - 8711. The S and U would have been abbreviations for words. If you had need for help from an operator to place the call you would have said, "the number is Sparrow (S) Unger (U) 2 - 8711." This example and the actual words were different from those given. This gives you an idea of how the telephone system worked in the 1960's. This was the latest technology.

Alameda County Schools Newsletter

This newsletter (left) was published by the Alameda County Office of Education. It was distributed to school sites throughout Alameda County. This one was intended to be read by Hayward education staff. The newsletter gave current information on upcoming teacher workshops. A workshop was and still is an opportunity for teachers to learn. In other words, it is a class that teachers take to learn how to teach their students in more efficient, better ways. Teachers continue to take these workshops or classes today and this is called "lifelong learning." Throughout your life you learn. This is very important as you are always learning even when you are not in the classroom. By looking up this web page(s) you are adding to your knowledge. You've read about budgets, housing developments, and home owner association newsletters to name a few items.

Please note the picture on this scan. The caption shows a teacher at Palma Ceia in 1966. Her name is Mrs. Carolyn Stuckey. She was using a reading program called Sullivan Reading. You see her helping one student while the others are reading. In the background are two officials from the Alameda County Board of Education and Alameda County Board of Supervisors. These two "Boards" are made up of groups of people elected to their positions. They are very interested in the learning process at our schools.

A scary story

When I first told this year's (2005-2006 school year) class I was a researcher at H.A.H.S. they were excited to say the least. As I explained my work, which was to delve into the history of Palma Ceia School and the surrounding community, their excitement reached a furious peak. I asked them if any stories came to mind that they might like to add to the rich history of their elementary school. One student and the story they explained captured my imagination. I am a fan of scary stories and the idea of a scary story set in a school was something I felt we needed to share with the world!

One student came up to me and offered to share a story with a scary theme. I couldn't resist and so here is the story with my thanks to the student whose initials are H.K.

"Almost everybody says that Palma Ceia is haunted. Most say whenever somebody turns on the sink in the "big" kids bathroom, and when the water runs into the basin you can hear someone say "help, help, help…" Kids say that someone died in the bathroom and their spirit is reaching out for assistance to enter the next world. Though no one really knows what happened, they say its haunted because people keep dying."

As I said at the beginning of this project, I have taught at Palma Ceia for eight years. This is the first time I have heard this story. I am not sure what to think. For me the best I can do is listen to the story and try to sort out the facts from the fiction. Anything left in the middle that can't be explained may well have to wait until further information can be gathered to explain the event. Until then, I would suggest a friend wait just outside the bathroom door for your own safety. That would be a wise move. Be safe.