Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963). 140 pp., 1930
" . . . and the daily supervised playground program [at Washington School] began in 1930 [49. Mary E. Baker, Washington School Annual Report (unpublished report to the superintendent of schools, June, 1930, p. 1.],
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. . . And the rapid growth of the student body within the first two years of the Junior College's existence clearly indicated the need for additional classrooms. [66. Martin, op. cit., p. 18.] Fortunately, the old Garfield Elementary School, conveniently located just north of the high school between Sixth and Seventh Streets on the east and west and Olympic Boulevard and Michigan Avenue north and south, became available in 1930. The building was remodeled for junior college use, and equipped with the necessary science laboratories and demonstration rooms. [67. Pearl, op. cit., p. 115.]
Ralph H. Bush, who had founded the nation's first junior college in Joliet, Illinois, was secured by the Board of Education to organize the new junior college in Santa Monica. Long an advocate of the junior college program, Bush enthusiastically set about establishing a curriculum and activities that would meet the needs of the post-high-school students in Santa Monica.
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Santa Monica Junior College offered two types of curricula: one to prepare students for entrance into a university upon their graduation from junior college; the other, of a semi-professional nature, to satisfy the needs of students wishing to complete a year or two of schooling beyond the high school level before seeking employment. [69. Ralph H. Bush Santa Monica Junior College Annual Report, 1930; in files of the Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 2.]
When the rebuilding and remodeling of the Garfield plant was completed, the new junior college campus contained sixteen sturdy bungalows housing laboratories, art and music departments, administrative and faculty offices, a field house, men's and women's lounge rooms, an auditorium, and a total of twenty-four classrooms. As the college continued to grow, additional bungalows were added to provide needed classrooms.