Sunnyside Centennial

Jun 6, 1921

The original one-room adobe school building built in 1922 was modern-looking with the roofline having a half moon-shaped arch at the center of the structure. The corners of the building stepped up in elevation from the roofline and there were two large windows with glass panes on the east side.

1924

SUSD begins the first hot lunch program in the state of Arizona

1927

School Population Increase

School population begins with 17 ends with 50

1927

children and parents standing around in park

Sunnyside Neighborhood Forms

Sunnyside School Neighborhood organizes community club.

1942

Vern C. Dalby

Superintendent

1944

picture of a building black and white outside

Valencia Elementary School Opens

Valencia Elementary School on Valencia Rd.

1945

Hulda Schuch

Superintendent

1948

Black and white photo of building with cars in front

Sunnyside Jr. High School (as an Elementary School)

Sunnyside Junior High School as an Elementary School

1950

Tucson Population

Population of Tucson 45,454.

1954

Mission Manor Elementary School Opens

Mission Manor Elementary School Opens. The original building had 6 rooms.

1954

Group of students standing in there band uniform looking at the camera picture is black and white

First Sunnyside Band Organized

First Sunnyside Band is organized.

1955

Liberty Elementary School (Original Building) Opens

1956

Teacher standing with 2 students smiling

Base Pay For New Teachers

Base pay for new teachers $3,800.

1957

Sunnyside High School Opens

Sunnyside High School Opens.

1957

John Herrera

Superintendent

1958

4 students sitting outside of the school on the Sunnyside High School building name

First Class Graduates from Sunnyside High School

1959

Los Ranchitos Elementary School (Original Building)

Los Ranchitos Elementary School Opens, they open their doors to the public in 1960.

1960

Downtown Tucson, Black and White photo of the Fox

Population of Tucson

Population of Tucson 212,892.

1962

Elvira Elementary School (Opens)

Elvira Elementary School Opens, Original building.

1962

Sunnyside Jr. High School (as a Jr. High School)

1963

Price of SUSD Year Book

Price of a Sunnyside School Year Book $5.00

1963

picture of building nice blue sky trees on the side

Administration Building

Current picture of the District Administration Office.

1964

Students typing on old typewriters and teacher looking at them

Base Pay For New Teachers

Base pay for new teachers $5,000.

1964

students singing on a classroom stage teacher playing piano

SUSD Enrollment

SUSD Enrollment 5,201

1967

Gerald D Troester

Superintendent

1967

3 Girls in crowns and beautiful dresses for prom

SUSD Graduation Numbers

279 Seniors Graduate from Sunnyside High School

1968

Construction of Adult Education Center at Liberty

1969

Los Ninos Elementary School (Original Building)

1969

girl and boy black and white eating a hamburger with a smile

Cost of a Hamburger at Sunnyside

Cost of a hamburger at Sunnyside High School, 20 cents

1969

students in lunch room picture black and white

Food Service Lunches

2,850 lunches served daily for elementary schools and Jr. high

1970

Sunnyside School District Transportation Department

Sunnyside District's Transportation Department serves 25,000 students weekly

1970

Tucson Population

Population of Tucson 262,933

1970

Dr. Patrick B. Hendersen

Superintendent

1971

Apollo Middle School (Original Building)

Apollo Middle School opens in 1972.

1972

Student Enrollment

Student enrollment for the Sunnyside Unified School District reaches 10,000 students.

Sep 5, 1972

Santa Clara Elementary School Opens

Santa Clara Elementary School opened in 1972 with a total number of 711 students enrolled ranging from grades K-6th. A total number 24 teachers were hired to teach these young students. The first principal of Santa Clara was Mr. Eugene C. Barker.

Sep 4, 1973

Craycroft Elementary School Opens

Craycroft Elementary School opened in 1973 to serve students on the East side of the school district. Due to growing numbers, the school was remolded and reopened in 1987 with Dr. Mary Bergman as principal.

Sep 4, 1973

Drexel Elementary School Opens

The original Drexel Elementary School opened in 1973 to serve students. With the rapid growth in the district, the school eventually would reopen to accommodate more students years later in 1986 with Robert Baldridge serving as principal.

1974

Year-Round School

Sunnyside District becomes the first school district in Arizona and the 4th in the nation to place all grades, K-12, on the 45-15 year-round education schedule.

1975

School Lunches

On an average day, 4,400 lunches are served to students across the schools in the District.

1975

Students gathered together in front of a bus.

School Transportation

Sunnyside Unified School District transports an average of 2,825 students per day in 22 school buses.

1976

New Valencia School

Valencia School moved from its original location on Valencia Road to South Campbell Avenue to serve special needs students, ranging from 5 to 22.

1976

Sunnyside Unified School District Building

New Administration Building

In October 1974, the courts agreed to a settlement between Tucson Airport Authority-City of Tucson vs.

1976

Sunnyside Junior High

Sunnyside Junior High School moved from the building on Valencia and Nogales Highway to Del Moral Boulevard. The reason for the move was to decrease airplane distractions of incoming and outgoing airplanes from the airport.

1978

Lewis T. Sorensen

Superintendent

Ene 31, 1980

Esperanza Elementary School

To relieve overcrowding in the District, Esperanza Elementary School opened its doors to include first through sixth graders who had been attending Los Ranchitos School in double sessions.

1981

Fred T. Bull

Superintendent

Ago 25, 1981

Chaparral Junior High School

Chaparral Junior High School opened as the second junior high in the District, serving grades 7th and 8th. The school housed 850 students for the school year.

Sep 6, 1983

Gallego Elementary School

Modeled after the building blueprints of Esperanza Elementary School, Gallego Elementary School was built with 24 regular classrooms to house 650 students and included smaller special-use rooms for kindergarten, adaptive education, music, and art. Mrs.

Ago 25, 1985

Desert View High School

As the population of the Sunnyside Unified School District continued to grow, Desert View High School was built to house students in grades ninth through twelfth.

1987

Drexel Elementary School Remodeled

To accommodate the growing number of students, Drexel Elementary School was remolded and updated with bond money from 1981.

1987

Craycroft Elementary School Remolded

To accommodate the growing number of students, Craycroft Elementary School was remolded and updated with bond money from 1981.

Ago 24, 1987

Los Amigos Elementary School

Los Amigos Elementary School was built on a ten-acre site on Drexel between Campbell and Tucson Boulevard. The site was purchased with bond funds from November 3, 1981, Bond Election and the new school was constructed with those funds.

Ago 24, 1987

Sierra Middle School

To add variety to the school names in the Sunnyside District, Sunnyside Middle School was renamed Sierra Middle School for the 1987-1988 school year.

Oct 25, 1991

Liberty Elementary School (New Building)

To celebrate the opening of the new school, a dedication ceremony was held on October 25th, 1991. Students and staff celebrated the new opening with an outdoor picnic of hamburgers, hotdogs, and a special cake made by the District Food Services in honor of the occasion.

1992

Dr. Ernesto Fimbres

Superintendent

Jul 1, 1992

Ocotillo School

Valencia School undergoes a name change and becomes Ocotillo School. The school was remodeled to accommodate the growing population and relieve enrollment numbers of Los Amigos and Drexel Elementary School.

1994

Mary W. Garcia

Superintendent

Ago 26, 1996

Mission Manor Elementary School Building

Mission Manor Elementary School (New Building)

Mission Manor Elementary School reopened in 1986 with a brand new school building, remolded with override bond funds, to serve students in grades K-5th.

1997

Challenger Middle School

To help ease enrollment numbers in the District's middle schools, Challenger Middle School was built in 1997 to serve students from Elvira, Santa Clara, and Summit View. The school housed grades sixth through eighth, and the first principal to serve at Challenger was Jud Jones.

1998

Summit View Elementary School

To serve the families in the Summit View neighborhood, Summit View Elementary School was built and served students in grades K-5th. The first principal of Summit View Elementary School was Jose Covarrubia.

2000

Raul Bejarano, Ph.D

Superintendent

2003

Star Academic High School

In 2003, the need for an alternative learning environment for high school students led to the creation of S.T.A.R., and serving as the first director/principal was Pamela Cornell. Years later in 2018, S.T.A.R. officially was renamed Star Academic High School and took on the mascot of Lions.

2005

Lauffer Middle School

Billy Lane Lauffer (October 20, 1945 – September 21, 1966) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietam War. Lauffer Middle School was named after Pfc Lauffer to honor the sacrifice he made for

2007

Gallego Primary Fine Arts Magnet

Gallego is the K-3 sister school to Gallego Intermediate as both make up the District’s K-8 Fine Arts Magnet. Gallego Primary is also the only school in the district that is uniquely a K-3 school.

2007

Manuel Isquierdo, Ed.D

Superintendent

Abr 3, 2007

Rivera Elementary School

Rivera Elementary School was renamed after originally being named Gallego Elementary School. Once the Gallego School was moved to a new location, the SUSD Governing Board approved the name Rivera Elementary School.

2014

Eugenia Favela Ph.D.

Interim Superintendent

2015

Steve Holmes

Superintendent

2015

Gallego Intermediate Fine Arts Magnet School

Gallego Basic expanded into a K-8 program and the school site was named after the Gallego family who donated land to Sunnyside and was honored by naming a school after the family.

SUSD Timeline

Desert View Yearbooks

Sunnyside Yearbooks