page_title: Gorman, California
section_title: Gorman Elementary School
hierarchical_section_title: Gorman, California / Education / Gorman Joint School District / Gorman Elementary School
caption_attribution_description: English: Gorman Elementary School
context_page_description: Gorman is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County. Tens of thousands of motorists travel through it daily on Interstate 5, known locally as the Golden State Freeway.
  Gorman is a historic travel stop in Peace Valley, at the Tejon Pass which links Southern California with the San Joaquin Valley and Northern California.
context_section_description: Accounts differ as to the origin of Gorman Elementary School, although the pioneer Ralphs family certainly played a role in its founding. According to researcher Harrison Irving Scott, the first school in the area appears to have been the one-room Manzana School, a mile south of Gorman, where in 1925 there were only four pupils — the Ralphs brothers, Glenn, Harry, Albert and Dewey. After it was torn down, the children went to Quail Lake School in another one-room schoolhouse. Gorman Elementary School was built by the federal government's Works Progress Administration in 1939. There is no accessible record of the first teacher, but Martha Forth was the second; she taught in 1941–1943. In 2009, Ruth Ralphs confirmed that the first teacher lived with her grandparents, Oscar and Mary Ralphs, but she couldn't remember the teacher's name. John "Glenn" Ralphs confirmed her identity as Mary "May" Barto Mertz. Ms. Mertz taught school in the Ralph's family living room, and continued for a time after the school was relocated (see below). She remained a friend of the family after she left to be married, and would visit Gorman, taking her son, George Dale Beasley with her.
  Esther Pereira wrote in the Mountain Enterprise, however, that the Ralphs family "founded the school originally as the Quail Lake District. Classes were held in the Ralphs' family living room. The school was relocated to its present site and built on land donated by the Ralphs family, where it became known as the Gorman School District."
  In 1990 Gorman had the smallest school district, and the smallest school in Los Angeles County, with just three classrooms, each with combined grades.
caption: Gorman Elementary School has two classrooms.
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