Paradise trip heads back 140 years ago

By Michelle Hatfield
mhatfield@modbee.com

last updated: October 13, 2008 02:54:36 AM

PARADISE -- They were the days of one-room schools, quill pens and ink, wooden desks attached to flat seats as uncomfortable as church pews.

Beverly Anderson is sharing some of these mementos with students at Paradise Elementary School this year to help them celebrate the school's 140th birthday.

Established in 1868, Paradise is Stanislaus County's oldest school still in operation, according to the county Office of Education. Paradise began as a one-room schoolhouse down the road from today's campus.

Anderson, 64, is a fourth-generation alumnus of the school. She, her great- uncles, mother and daughters attended the rural, small school on Modesto's outskirts. She loaned the school the desk, pen and inkwell her mother used while attending Paradise elementary in the 1920s.

When Paradise Elementary was founded, Americans were recovering from the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant was replacing Andrew Johnson as president. The 14th Amendment was adopted, guaranteeing blacks full citizenship. Helium had just been discovered and inventor Thomas Edison applied for his first patent.

California was "the New West," with many newcomers settling land and enjoying miles of untouched wilderness.

And a schoolhouse was needed in the Paradise area.

The school still enrolls children from farms and ranches in rural southwest Modesto, but a new charter school attached to the campus attracts just as many students who live outside the district. Enrollment has fluctuated between 25 students to today's high of 185, officials said. The Paradise Roadrunners are going strong in kindergarten through eighth grade.

The school's 140th birthday was marked with an ice cream social last week and there will be a tri-tip dinner in May. Anderson has dropped off scrapbooks of black-and-white photos, eighth-grade graduation programs, district budgets, newspaper clippings, class photos and bake sale fliers. All are on display in the library.

"We're a piece of history. It's changed a lot. It used to be a tiny one-room school and a tiny town," said sixth-grader Spencer Turner.

Many small, rural school districts don't survive to such a milestone, officials said. They disband or join other districts.

County Superintendent Tom Changnon said Paradise is remarkable for its support from parents and others.

"Their success is because the community has embraced everything about the school," he said. "Everybody has a sense of pride in the school."

Though more than a century has passed, many aspects of the school remain unchanged. The principal-superintendent knows each student by name, students and teachers enjoy small classes and the family feel on campus and in the tiny Paradise community permeates.

"Everyone is helping each other, everyone knows each other. You can't get away with anything," said Toni Thomason, whose son attended Paradise. She's the school's librarian and instructional aide.

What's changed at Paradise are the additions -- playgrounds, playing fields, cafeteria and library; the charter school; and the school colors. They used to be red but are now blue and yellow, seen on striped walls and playground equipment.

Trustee Nick Blom attributes the district's staying power to community involvement and its ability to evolve. Blom is a Paradise elementary alum and father of two at the school.

"(Officials are) willing to change. We're still small, but we're adapting," he said.

Bee staff writer Michelle Hatfield can be reached at mhatfield@modbee.com or 578-2339.

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