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Tag: J. H. McGaugh Intermediate School

  • August 5th in Seal Beach History

     On this date in 1978, the Alliance for Survival staged a protest outside the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. The protest was against the purported storage of nuclear weapons at the station, but the stockpiling of nuclear weapons in Seal Beach has never been confirmed by the Defense Department.

    Aug 6_1978_Nuke_Protest
    Photo Credit: AP Laserphoto

    Out of town protesters, some from as far away as Santa Barbara, were bussed in from Cal State Long Beach to join local activists at J.H. McGaugh Intermediate School. Police closed off Seal Beach Boulevard for about two hours to allow an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 marchers and picketers to peacefully demonstrate along the perimeter of the Naval Weapons Station. After the march, a picnic was held at McGaugh with anti-nuke speakers and a rock band.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • June 20th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1966, the Seal Beach McGaugh Pool officially opened. A joint venture between J. H. McGaugh Intermediate School and the City of Seal Beach, the pool cost $118,000.

    Students had used the pool during the school year, but June 20th was the official opening for the entire community. The first schedule for recreational swimming  was offer in two sessions on weekdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m and then 2:45 to 4:15 p.m.  The weekend schedule had three sessions from noon to 1:30 p.m., 1:45 to 3:15 p.m, and 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Swimming instruction was also offered.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • May 23rd in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1954, a story ran in the Los Angeles Times announcing that a second school would soon be built in Seal Beach.

    Seal Beach Superintendent of Schools Jerry H. McGaugh had been planning the new school since 1948 to accommodate rising student enrollment. It took some strong arm tactics and behind the scenes wheeling and dealing, but ultimately land bordering between Bolsa Avenue and Bay Boulevard (later renamed Seal Beach Boulevard) was purchased in 1952 for an new intermediate school.

    This was the second time McGaugh had spearheaded the building of a Seal Beach school. When the original 1913 Seal Beach elementary school at Twelfth Street and Pacific Coast Highway was severely damaged in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, he guided the construction of a new school on the same grounds to completion in 1935.

    The new school must have been a dream project for McGaugh. Beyond adding twelve new classrooms for grades six to eight, the layout and facilities seemed more appropriate for a high school with a spacious gymnasium, auditorium, music room, cafeteria shop building, and spacious playground.

    When McGaugh retired in June 1955 a few months before the new school opened, the school board surprised him by naming it “J. H. McGaugh Intermediate School,” a fitting honor for a gentleman who guided Seal Beach’s education for nearly three decades and whose influence continues to be felt today in the form of the first-class school he gave the community.

    – Michael Dobkins

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