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History of
Dunbar School
Dunbar School was the first of a four-district public school
system established by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
in 1857. Miss Mary Linder was Dunbar's first teacher. She had
an initial enrollment of 21 students and a budget of $500. Alex
Dunbar provided the building for his five sons and other boys
and girls from Kenwood to attend school.
Dunbar joined with Glen Ellen, Strawberry, Enterprise, and Trinity
Schools in 1922 to become Dunbar Union School with Miss Hellman
as principal. Miss Alice Griffin assumed her role a year later.
Miss Griffin loved gardening and daffodils. Her fields are still
visible in the spring along Warm Springs Road just West of Mortons.
Mr. Maxwell Cunninghame served, as Dunbar's principal for 32
years guiding Dunbar from a four-room school to a campus with
12 classrooms, a multipurpose room, and an administration wing.
Larry Westlake, Jerald Tuller, Ken Limon, Rosemary Haver, Micaela
Philpot, Bethany Wilson, Lauren Ekman, Leticia Cruz and Claudia Berkman served as principal before the selection
of Dunbar's present Principal, Melanie Blake, in 2009.
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The Dunbar year book from 1953. |
