Chemawa Middle School was one of the three junior high schools built in 1927-1928 to serve seventh through ninth grades. The school was redesigned in 1973 as a result of a structural investigation resulting in the demolition of the original building and replacing it with office, classroom, and library spaces. In keeping with the district's grade organizational pattern, in September 1973 the ninth grade was relocated to Arlington High School and Chemawa became a middle school housing seventh and eighth grades.Located on 20.5 acres in the southwest end of the Riverside Unified School District, students from five elementary schools feed into Chemawa. The School's community includes three major segments or areas: a semi-rural area called Woodcrest where many parents work outside the Riverside area, and in many families both parents are working; the suburban area of Arlington which surrounds the immediate boundaries of the school and is a neighborhood of older homes and some tracts of new housing; and the older neighborhood of Casa Blanca which has a strong community identity and tradition runs deep among the minority families who live there. Generations of families from these areas have attended Chemawa and the cultural diversity of the student population enriches the learning environment.Chemawa has been recognized for the powerful teaching and learning that both community and staff expect by being named a California Distinguished School in both 1989 and 1993 and also being a National Blue Ribbon nominee in 1995. As the year 2,000 rapidly approaches, changes are being made to provide students and staff with access to the information highway through a renovation project beginning in 1997.