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The SCUSD Story

a black and white photograph of the Sacramento High Orchestra from 1937

Sacramento City Unified School District History

Sac City Unified was established in 1854, making it one of the oldest school districts in the West. It is also the 11th largest school district in California today with 81 public K-12 schools, including 15 dependent and independent charter schools. 

SCUSD’s Board of Education  abolished segregation in 1894, 60 years before Brown v. Board of Education, and later that same year, Sarah Mildred Jones became the first Black woman principal of a fully integrated elementary school, which was Fremont Primary School. Today, the district’s vision is focused on closing equity gaps so that all students may have equal opportunities to be supported and succeed. 

Schools and Buildings: Why They Have Their Names

Elementary Schools

K-8 Schools

Middle Schools

High Schools

Independent Study Schools

Adult Education Schools

Preschool

Administrative Buildings & Campuses No Longer Operating as Schools

a black and white photograph of Sara Jones

Learn About Sarah Jones

At Sac City Unified, we remember the important contributions and achievements of African Americans throughout our history.

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In 1894, Sarah Mildred Jones was the first African American woman in Sacramento to become principal of a fully integrated elementary school, Fremont Primary School (at 24th and N Street).

Jones was a graduate of Oberlin College who came to Sacramento in 1873. She passed the California Teacher Certification Exam scoring in the 95th percentile and was hired to teach children at Ungraded School No. 2 — Colored, a segregated school on Ninth Street.

Twenty-one years later, Sacramento schools were desegregated by statute. Ungraded School No. 2 was closed and the students assigned to Fremont Primary School. Jones, by then an experienced and well-respected educator, was hired as principal of the newly integrated campus, which served hundreds of white students and a handful of African American students.

Two days after the start of school in 1894, 36 parents petitioned the school board for her removal. The petitioners told the board they “wished their children in a school presided over by a wholly white teacher, and would remove their children otherwise,” according to a Sacramento Daily Record Union report at the time.

The education community rallied to Jones’ side: Ninety-eight of her colleagues petitioned the board to retain her as principal.

At a school board meeting on the issue, Jones spoke in her own defense.

“Miss Jones appeared and stated her case,” the newspaper reported, “and made a deep impression by her straightforward manner. She pointed to the fact that school, opened only two days, was full already; that for the first time it had two fifth grade classes and that did not look like ill success.”

The board voted unanimous to drop the matter, and it was never revisited.

Jones remained as principal of Fremont until 1914, when she retired at age 69 with more than 40 years of inspirational teaching to her credit.