A century ago, Alba Road—between Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek—was home to Walter Ranch, which boasted 5,000 strawberry plants, the pioneering Guichard family, easy access to about a dozen saloons, and a cute one-room schoolhouse built in 1985 1895.
This early educational institution was devoured by CZU Lightning Complex flames in 2020 and local residents raised $15,000 toward reconstruction.
But the effort stalled out when the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District, which currently owns the land, learned its insurance wasn’t as useful as they’d hoped.
“The Board of Trustees intended to rebuild Alba Schoolhouse with the caveat that our insurance carrier will cover all the costs of the rebuild and no funds would come out of the current District general funds, which are generated for our current student programs,” said SLVUSD Superintendent Chris Schiermeyer. “We recently found out that the Memorandum of Coverage, like (with) many CZU Fire victims, did not cover the full cost to rebuild.”
The mountainous terrain echoes of fascinating stories, such as the time Alba Road resident, Mrs. Odessa Guichard Ryan, visited a hermit friend of her father’s named Jason Brown east of Ben Lomond, who was the son of famous abolitionist John Brown.
Dan DeLong, who lives in the area, said after its life as a classic learning facility, the building became a branch of the public library system.
And, in 1954, the Alba Parks and Recreation District was established to administer it as a community center. There are 48 parcels that technically fall within its auspices.
Fourth of July festivities, birthday parties and yoga sessions have all been held at the tiny red school over the years.
“It was this cool little building on the side of the road,” said DeLong, adding that his wife even used it as a space for teaching classes covering how to cope in the aftermath of natural disasters. “We are very mild ‘preppers’ up here.”
They evacuated during the CZU Fires, and DeLong considered his home a goner.
“I’ve gotta get up to see it,” he said to himself, as he headed up the San Lorenzo Valley to check. “I hit a roadblock at Highway 9 and Glen Arbor.”
DeLong used his history as a firefighter to talk his way past the official there, and made his way to Alba Road.
“It was all eerily dark and quiet,” he said, recalling how lucky he was to be able to sneak by the trees and wires that had come down, despite not having a chainsaw or other tools with him.
Then he came upon the Alba Schoolhouse, which had essentially been incinerated.
“That was a surreal experience,” DeLong said. “It was still on fire. I mean, it was on the ground. It was like an Alba Schoolhouse foundation-shaped pile of embers.”
His decade of involvement with the parks district came flooding back.
“People kept that little building up for a century,” DeLong said. “We protected that building. We maintained it.”
Adding insult to injury was that State firefighters weren’t protecting the schoolhouse.
“One engine company could have saved that building,” he said, reflecting on Cal Fire’s inability to respond. “It was pretty heartbreaking.”
DeLong was overjoyed to discover, though he’d lost a barn, his main residence was still standing.
“Then I had to get to work. I had to start firefighting at that point,” he said. “There was a tree catching on fire, right by my shop.”
A huge number of homes in the vicinity had burned to the ground. Yet, in short order, community members came together to work toward a rebirth for Alba Schoolhouse.
“My wife decided to start a dahlia farm,” DeLong said. “The money we raised from that all went to the Alba Schoolhouse fund.”
Visitors to Beeline Blooms could collect idyllic mountain flowers while supporting a project to memorialize the history of the region.
The schoolhouse land is owned by the SLVUSD, which leases it to the Alba Recreation and Parks District.
“The one thing that is kind of a big bummer for fundraising is that donations to the district are not tax deductible,” wrote a Friends of the Alba Schoolhouse moderator on its Facebook page, just over a year ago. “There are also only so many grants, etc., available to utilize by the district. So, last year we went on the journey to prop up a non-profit to help facilitate our fundraising efforts at scale. Yesterday, we finally got our official letter allowing all the donations to be tax exempt to our non-profit! We are over the moon happy!!”
And while SLVUSD did move toward once again raising a one-room schoolhouse, after spending $75,000 on discussions with its insurance company and architect, and paying for studies about septic, well and soil issues, the drive eventually came to a sudden halt.
At the Oct. 18, 2023, board meeting, trustees weighed the pros and cons of continuing to sink more money in. Board President Mark Becker suggested approving some dollars to gain more information about the project’s scope.
“It allows us to be more well-informed in our decision-making,” he said.
Trustee Susan Rice was initially amenable to paying $19,600 for the Cumming Cost Management Services Proposal on the table. At the time, the District estimated it would cost $50,000 to fix the septic and $80,000 to restore the wells.
The insurance company had already disbursed $565,000 to the District, but the total reconstruction price tag was estimated at over $1 million.
The board heard that if it halted the rebuild, it would lose $80,000 already spent, but would walk away with approximately $500,000.
Trustee Gail Levine questioned the wisdom of rebuilding the schoolhouse.
“What are we going to do with that property?” she asked. “It’s a big investment.”
Schiermeyer said they’d had exactly one management summit at the tucked-away SLVUSD site before the fire.
“No one knew that we had a building up there,” he said. “We had a meeting up there, and we had lunch up there.”
If rebuilt, it could be rented out to people, Schiermeyer said, but noted it might be like Redwood Elementary—a beautiful building that’s kind of a nightmare to deal with. And there aren’t exactly hoards beating a path to rent Redwood Elementary anyhow, he added.
“I think you have to take the emotion out of it,” Schiermeyer said. “We need to come up with an answer. We need to say we’re either going to—or we’re not.”
Grace Pollak raised the subject of what history the board is choosing to invest in honoring, questioning why the District would choose to spend money on this project instead of recognizing Indigenous groups who lived here before settlers arrived.
Because Clerk Stacy Newsom Kerr—a proponent of bringing Alba Road Schoolhouse back to life—was absent, they chose to put off the decision. She was present for the Nov. 15 meeting, as were some community members, who spoke in support of moving forward.
The board heard that the insurance company was refusing to cover approximately $250,000 or more in Alba Road expenses.
And if it chose not to rebuild, it would get $900,000 (even after factoring-in the money spent to-date) which could be used for other capital projects.
“This was a difficult decision to make as we know there are many emotions centered around Alba Schoolhouse and the significance of the building,” Schiermeyer told the Press Banner, adding the District informed the Alba Recreation and Park District after the meeting it would work within the Education Code and other State regulations in regards to a possible sale of the land to the entity. “However, this process is also very regulated as we are a school district (public agency), and we are in contact with our legal team on how this can be done.”
DeLong bristles at how the episode played out.
“They’re going to make about $900,000 from the insurance company,” he said. “In the end, they did make some money. They came out ahead of the game. And what did they lose? The Alba Schoolhouse—which they never had anything to do with anyway.”
Schiermeyer declined to answer a question about the nearly $1 million payout.
DeLong said Alba Roaders—only about half of fire victims there have been able to return—are prepared to forge ahead regardless of the District’s actions.
“We’re trying to bring our community back,” he said. “To see that building rise from the ashes would have been an amazing touchstone for our healing.”
