The ABC Unified School District is a school district that is based in Cerritos, California, United States.

ABCUSD serves the cities of Artesia, most of Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, the portion of Lakewood east of the San Gabriel River, as well as tiny portions of Long Beach, Norwalk, La Mirada, and Santa Fe Springs

"ABC" stands for Artesia (founded in 1875), Bloomfield (founded in 1885), and Carmenita (founded in 1902), three districts which were unified in 1965.

List of schools

Adult schools

ABC Adult School is a public local adult school, established by the ABC Unified School District and headquartered in Cerritos, California.

Continuation schools

  • Tracy High Continuation School (Cerritos)

7-12 schools

  • Whitney High School (Cerritos)

High schools

  • Artesia High School (Lakewood)
  • Cerritos High School (Cerritos)
  • Gahr High School (Cerritos)

Middle schools

  • Carmenita Middle School (Cerritos)
  • Fedde Academy (Hawaiian Gardens)
  • Haskell Stem Academy (Cerritos)
  • Ross Academy of Creative and Media Arts (Artesia)
  • Tetzlaff Academy (Cerritos)

Elementary schools

  • Aloha Health Medical Academy (Lakewood) -
  • Bloomfield Elementary School (Hawaiian Gardens) (closed in the 1980s)
  • Bragg Elementary School (Cerritos)
  • Burbank Elementary School (Artesia)
  • Cabrillo Lane Elementary School (Cerritos) (Closed)
  • Carver Academy (Cerritos)
  • Cerritos Elementary School (Cerritos)
  • Elliott Elementary School (Artesia)
  • Furgeson Elementary School (Hawaiian Gardens)
  • Gonsalves Elementary School (Cerritos)
  • Hawaiian Elementary School (Hawaiian Gardens)
  • Juarez Academy of Engineering & Technology (Cerritos)
  • Kennedy STEM Academy (Artesia)
  • Leal Elementary School (Cerritos)
  • Melbourne Elementary School (Lakewood)
  • Niemes Elementary School (Artesia)
  • Nixon Academy (Cerritos)
  • Palms Accelerated Learning Academy (Lakewood)
  • Stowers Elementary School (Cerritos)
  • Willow Elementary School (Lakewood)
  • Wittmann Elementary School (Cerritos)

Nixon Elementary

225px|thumb|right|The late former First Lady [[Pat Nixon, for whom the institution is named.]]

The Patricia Nixon Elementary School is located in Cerritos. It was built in 1973 and has grades kindergarten through sixth. The school is named after the late First Lady of the United States Pat Nixon. Patricia Nixon Elementary School was recognized as a California Distinguished School in 2004 and 2008. It was also the site where one of the planes involved in the Cerritos Mid Air Collision of 1986 crashed into the ground.

Board of education

ABC Unified School District's Board of Education members are elected by geographical district, to a four-year term. The elections were held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd-numbered years until the 2017 election. Effective with the November 2020 US General election, elections are held in even-numbered years.

Blagden lawsuit

In 2010, Eileen Blagden, the principal of Stowers Elementary School, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against ABC Unified School District alleging retaliation for reporting alleged death threats made by a teacher.

According to court documents, the incident involved Kevin Michael Kirby, a kindergarten teacher who had been transferred to Stowers Elementary following a suspension from his previous position.

Blagden claimed that when she reported the incident to the district's Human Resources Department, she was instructed not to notify law enforcement or the threatened teachers. Despite these instructions, Blagden contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department over the weekend and informed the two teachers who had allegedly been threatened. The case was scheduled for trial in October 2012. The case was formally dismissed on November 19, 2012. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The teacher involved, Kevin Michael Kirby, told sheriff's investigators he made the "hitman" comment "in jest" and said he "wouldn't hurt a fly."