Torrance’s Shery High looks at continuation schools in a different light

Continuation high schools are much misunderstood. When I was in high school, they were known as the places where all the reprobates, drug users and ne’er-do-wells of every stripe ended up when traditional high school stopped being an option for them.

That was just a few years after California passed a law in 1965 mandating that public school districts had to offer an educational alternative to students who couldn’t fit into the mainstream high school for a much wider range of reasons than the obvious ones.

California already had passed a narrower law back in 1919 to make provisions for high school age teens who had to work to be able to continue to receive in education. The 1965 law broadened the range of students eligible for the continuation school to those unable to thrive in the standard school setting for behavioral, academic or other reasons. It took effect on Feb. 21, 1966.

School districts had to scramble to conform with the new law. Torrance Unified began its continuation school program in February 1966 with 48 students. Classes were held on the Torrance and West high school campuses, and later as part of the district’s adult school. Howard C. Shoen was appointed as the school’s first principal; it was then known as “Continuation High School.”

Torrance opted to build a separate continuation high school in 1966 due to a couple of factors. First, land had become available from the U.S. Navy as part of the closure of its former Naval Supply Depot Annex on Crenshaw Blvd. in central Torrance. 

From this parcel, the city over the years carved out Wilson Park, Torrance High’s Zamperini Field athletic facility, the relocated Torrance Elementary School and the Southern California Regional Occupational Center (now known as SoCal ROC).

Second, the state offered more funding to those districts who built separate continuation school facilities.

As it turned out, the new vocational school that would become SoCal ROC was being planned at the same time as the continuation school. The proposal to build them near each other caused some controversy during 1966.

Board president Mrs. Kenneth E. Watts didn’t think the two schools should be built so close to each other. She felt the continuation school would stigmatize the vocational school so that both would be seen as places for problem students.

She was outvoted. The district’s fifth high school moved into eight portable bungalows at 2600 Vine St. Its official name became Kurt T. Shery High School when it opened for the first day of school on Sept. 13, 1967 to 70 students. By the third week, that number was 132. 

The school’s namesake, Dr. Kurt T. Shery, was a practicing physician with an office on Sartori Ave. in downtown Torrance. The father of two children, he retained a strong interest in education policy, strong enough to run for the Torrance school board in 1961.

He finished fourth, narrowly missing making the top three who won seats on the board. When  incumbent board member Clinton Cooke resigned after the election, Shery was appointed to take his place on the board in November 1961.

He would serve for six years. Less than two months after winning reelection to the board, Shery died on May 9, 1967, ten days after suffering a heart attack. The board voted to name the continuation school in his honor following his death.

The new school offered all the courses students needed in sciences, languages and the arts to get their high school degree. Class sizes were much smaller, and students could attend morning sessions, afternoon sessions, or both. 

They could work at their own pace, and were not competing with their classmates for grades. If students didn’t complete their work by the time they were 18, they were eligible to transfer to El Camino College to complete it.

During the late 1960s, dress codes were relaxed, and smoking was even allowed between classes. Clean beards and mustaches were allowed. Principal Shoen stressed good conduct and decency, telling the Palos Verdes Peninsula News in 1969, that he’d found that “if we don’t challenge the students too much, they don’t challenge the rules.”

Shery’s highest attendance came in 1975, when 263 students were enrolled. Generally the student population ranges between 125-200. Jamie Jimenez is the school’s current principal.

Barry Johnson, Shery High alumnus and lead vocalist of the popular indie rock band Joyce Manor, told me this recently when asked about the school from which he graduated in 2004:

“The students at Shery were a tougher crowd than at West High, but I made friends with people I normally wouldn’t have known. Shery allowed me the chance to graduate from high school at a time when my chances to do so otherwise were looking pretty bleak. Getting the diploma definitely boosted my self-esteem.”

Sources:

“California’s Continuation Schools,” EdSource Research Summary, May 2008.

Daily Breeze archives.

The History of Torrance Schools, 1890-2000, by Thomas Rische, TUSD History Project, 2002.

Los Angeles Times archives.

Palos Verdes Peninsula News archives.

Shery High School website.

Torrance Press-Herald files.

SOUTH BAY / HARBOR AREA PUBLIC CONTINUATION HIGH SCHOOLS:

Angel’s Gate Continuation High School (LAUSD)

3607 Gaffey St.

San Pedro, CA 90731

(310)221-4600

Arena High (Alternative) School (ESUSD)

641 Sheldon St.

El Segundo, CA 90245

(310) 615-2650

Avalon High School (LAUSD)

1425 N. Avalon Blvd. (Banning High)

Wilmington, CA 90744

(310) 549-2112

Eagle Tree High School (LAUSD)

22628 S. Main St.

Carson, CA 90745

(310) 549-0970

Inglewood Continuation High School (IUSD)

441 W. Hillcrest Blvd.

Inglewood, CA 90301

(310) 680-5300

Kurt T. Shery High School (TUSD)

2600 Vine St.

Torrance, CA 90501

(310) 533-4440

R.K. Lloyde High School (CVUHSD)

4951 Marine Ave.

Lawndale, CA 90260

(310)263-3264

Moneta Continuation School (LAUSD)

17951 Budlong Ave.

Gardena, CA 90248

(310) 354-4951

Pacific Shores High School (MBUSD/REUHSD)

(Temporarily closed)

1223 Hermosa Ave.

Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Patricia Dreizler Continuation High School (RBUHSD)

(Formerly Redondo Shores High)

1000 Del Amo St.

Redondo Beach, CA 90277

(310)798-8690

Patton High School (LAUSD)

24514 S. Western Ave.

Harbor City, CA 90710

(310) 257-4740

Rancho Del Mar High School (PVPUSD)

38 Crest Road West

Rolling Hills, CA 90274

(310) 377-6691