History of Waggoner

C. I. Waggoner Elementary School was established in 1968. A $250 thousand bond provided the purchase of a 20-acre site on Carver Road near Terrance. An eight-room site was built. At the time Waggoner only housed fourth and fifth grade students. K-3 and 6-8 students attended Kyrene School, which is now our Kyrene School District office. The fourth and fifth grade students needed to be bused to the main school because there was no cafeteria. The two locations shared one principal.

Our school is named after C. Ilo Waggoner who served in the district for 32 years. He was a teacher, principal, and finally Kyrene Superintendent. He retired in 1972 and Dr. Ben Furlong was his successor. In 1973, 8 classrooms were added to Waggoner. At that time Waggoner had 18 people who made up the Faculty and Staff.

Waggoner School is the only school to be named after a person. All other Kyrene schools were named with a modifier. This was to promote the identity of Kyrene School District because our schools are located in Tempe, Guadalupe, Chandler, and Phoenix.

Throughout the years Waggoner had three different libraries. The first was shared with Kyrene Junior High (which is now Kyrene Middle School). Waggoner used about one-third of the space. It was divided with a partial wall of bookshelves. The second location was where our music room is now located. The final location is where it is now. Mrs. Elaine Snyder helped design our library. She was the librarian for twenty years until she retired in 2001.

Now we have approximately 70 people make up our staff. We are one of the largest Kyrene schools.

One of the best ways to "get a feel" for the history of Waggoner is to read the memories from former students and staff. Please visit the Quotes from Those Who Remember link.