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Pacific Academy

1615 Carlson Boulevard
510-262-2600

History

Pacific Academy was founded in Berkeley by Faith Nomura as a music preschool in 1964. Three years later, the school moved to Clayton Street in El Cerrito. The building was remodeled in 1970 to add a second classroom and was licensed as the El Cerrito Day Nursery School. In January 1974, the Pink House at 1711 Carlson was opened to add more classroom space and the school was renamed The Nomura School. In 1983, the school expanded to include an elementary division, now located at 1615 Carlson. The Learning Center, the main campus building for the elementary school, was designed by Kiyoshi Nomura (Bay Area architect and co-founder of the school) and was constructed in 1986. The school was renamed Pacific Academy in 1992.

In the 1990s, the elementary school enrollment continued to grow and the school steadily added successive grade levels. To accommodate this expansion, neighboring properties on Burlingame Avenue were acquired and transformed into secure, self-contained classrooms. Today the Carlson Campus consists of all seven properties on both sides of Burlingame Avenue and four contiguous properties on Carlson Boulevard. In 2003, the small preschool facility on Clayton Street was closed and consolidated with the larger preschool on Carlson Boulevard.

The school’s most recent accomplishment was the construction of a new campus for middle school students in the Hilltop area next to Richmond Parkway. With the opening of this campus for the 1999-2000 school year, the dream of providing opportunities for academic excellence to children from preschool through middle school became a reality.

In 2001, Robert Munro was appointed to head the elementary and middle schools, while Faith Nomura continued to direct the preschool. With the recent announcement of Mrs. Nomura’s retirement in the summer of 2004, Pacific Academy enters a new phase in its development as Mr. Munro assumes responsibilities as proprietor of both the preschool and K-8 school.

Hilltop Campus
2925 Technology Ct.
Richmond, CA 94806
(510) 262-2600 ext. 208