El Camino High Recalls Campus’ 30-Year History

At a series of tables covered with memorabilia and black and white photographs, Leon Fenwick, one of El Camino Real High School’s original faculty, recalled the campus’ first years on the day of its 30th anniversary.

“We were very enthusiastic,” Fenwick said. “It was a neighborhood school.”

El Camino celebrated Monday by inviting current and retired faculty and staff to a reunion luncheon to recognize how the school has grown and changed.

Out of nearly 200 attendants, about 60 were retired faculty members, many of whom were welcomed back with hugs, handshakes and applause.

A slide show with pictures of the school’s first days brought back memories for some of the older faculty and provided a historical perspective for new, younger employees.

Among those attending were three founding faculty members and a library volunteer who still works at the school.

Chuck Doherty, a social studies teacher, said students have changed little over the years, except for their attention span.

“The ability to keep their attention has changed a lot,” Doherty said. “If you go much beyond 15 minutes with an exercise, I’m losing some of them.”

El Camino, built on a 30-acre parcel at the corner of Valley Circle and Burbank boulevards that cost $6.5 million, was opened Feb. 7, 1969. Its original 1,200-member student body was composed of students from Taft and Canoga high schools, Fenwick said.

The predominantly white enrollment went through changes in the mid-1970s, when busing started. Dick Goldsmith, who retired four years ago after 27 years of teaching, said that was perhaps the most significant change the school has experienced.

“Minority students now make up one-half of the student body,” he said, adding that next year’s enrollment is projected to grow to 3,700 students. “People coexist and learn to coexist with people of different backgrounds.”