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Nearly 3 in 10 Kids Chronically Absent — What’s Really Going On in the Mountains
September 9, 2026
El Tejon Unified serves roughly 700 students across three small schools in the mountain communities around Frazier Park, Lebec, and Cuddy Valley. The district’s own reporting to the state showed a chronic absenteeism rate of 28.2% — rated “very high” for every single subgroup of students — with district-wide attendance dropping from around 94% before […]
Rosamond’s Problem Isn’t Too Few Kids — It’s Too Many, Too Fast
September 9, 2026
Southern Kern Unified started in 1926 with fewer than 50 students. By 2005 it had grown past 3,000. Today, new housing development is pushing enrollment up again — and Superintendent Barbara Gaines has said plainly that the district’s two elementary schools “are not going to be able to hold the number of students coming in.” […]
The Smallest District in Area 7 Solved Isolation By Sharing Everything
September 9, 2026
Caliente Union is one of eight Kern County districts — alongside Blake, Elk Hills, General Shafter, Linns Valley-Poso Flat, Maricopa, McKittrick, and Midway — that together serve fewer than 1,000 students. Any one of them, alone, would struggle to compete with a neighboring district many times its size, or to fight the social isolation that […]
A District Built Around a Deployment Schedule
September 9, 2026
Muroc Joint Unified serves the families of Edwards Air Force Base, which means it operates on a different clock than every other Area 7 district. Kids can arrive or leave mid-year because a parent got new orders. The base’s own School Liaison Office exists specifically to help families navigate “transitioning military and civilian children/youth” through […]
When Mojave Closed Its Schools Twice in Two Weeks
September 9, 2026
It’s not new information, but it’s still worth remembering: in January 2022, Mojave Unified closed its schools — first on January 14, then again on January 28 — citing “significant shortages in key departments.” Families were told bus routes might be limited and to arrange their own transportation. I’m not bringing this up to relitigate […]
One Board, Seven Very Different Emergencies
September 9, 2026
People hear “Kern County Board of Education, Area 7” and picture one district with one set of problems. It isn’t. It’s seven districts, and right now those seven districts aren’t even having the same emergency. Tehachapi Unified is watching its reserves drain — down from a projected $9.46 million shortfall to reserves that are expected […]
Tehachapi’s Reserves Are Draining — Here’s What That Actually Means
September 9, 2026
At a March 2025 board meeting, Tehachapi Unified’s chief business administrator told trustees the district’s reserve shortfall — originally projected at $8.3 million — had already grown to $9.46 million. District reserves, then at just over $20 million, are projected to fall to roughly $6.4 million by the end of the 2026-27 school year, approaching […]
Rebuilding From a 2019 Earthquake — Richmond Elementary’s Long Road Back
September 8, 2026
Most people outside Ridgecrest have forgotten the 2019 earthquakes that hit the Searles Valley area. Richmond Elementary School didn’t get to forget — the building was damaged badly enough to be condemned, and the district has spent years since working toward a rebuild, with a ribbon-cutting held in April 2025. Six years is a […]