Apple Schools in San Diego county (1970s-1980s.)

[Mister Mike]

A year ago I was able to make contact with a Scientologist calling herself "Mother" over at the open section of the Ex-Scientologist Kids message board which has since been deleted. The subject was the Apple School that existed in La Mesa from 1983 to 1984. The address was 4618 Avocado Boulevard; it's wedged between a 7-11 and an veterinarian's office. The building originally was two small storefronts, but it's been many things: auto shop, exterminator, postal shop, a "cash for gold" office....but I first knew it as the dinky Apple School where I wasted six months.

My point in bringing this up is: there were other Apple Schools roaming about the county in that period. A guy wrote in claiming that he had been in a temporary version of Apple School* in Del Mar or El Cajon that was a trailer behind a house. During my period at the School they got their yearbooks and all the photos were in a different building they said was a converted convent in Chula Vista (I think.) Does anybody on this board know what I'm talking about? "Mother" said that the Apple School closed suddenly in 1984; she was not given a refund.

It all fits into a pattern with San Diego Scientology; during the 1970s-1980s they could never stay in the same place, and they were never in operation for long. I have no clue why Apple School moved so much, if there was more than one in the county, what the real story was. So I would love to hear from anybody involved in Apple School in San Diego from whenever it started, or if you were involved in Scientology schools afterward but heard about the Apple School years.

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* It sounds like they followed the model laid down by the original Los Angeles Apple School; before the real LA school was in operation, there was a temporary school called Theta Power.

Neither I nor my parents were Scientologists; I needed a place to go after a previous school changed their structure.

[Free to shine]

I don't have any info but hopefully some people here will. If you are still in contact, perhaps 'Mother" could post here?

[SanDiegoMember]

I was on staff at the Church of Scientology, San Diego from 1973, when it merged with Carl Barney's SCS Mission and the Church of Scientology La Jolla, to December 1977. During that time period I was not aware of an Apple School in the greater San Diego area.

[Mister Mike]

I don't have any info but hopefully some people here will. If you are still in contact, perhaps "Mother" could post here?

No, I have no contact with her, it was just through that subforum (which has been deleted, probably thanks to all the spambots.) She gave herself that moniker because her child (I think it was a daughter) went to the school.

[Mister Mike]

I was on staff at the Church of Scientology, San Diego from 1973, when it merged with Carl Barney's SCS Mission and the Church of Scientology La Jolla, to December 1977. During that time period I was not aware of an Apple School in the greater San Diego area.

Was there some sort of Hubbard-approved Scientology school for the children of staff members before 1977 or 1978? My understanding is that Apple School started in LA around that time, existed for a few years, then was smashed during the "finance police" period when Hubbard cracked down on the missions. It was later replaced with the Delphi Schools and Applied Scholastics.

What I've dug up about the Apple Schools were that they were mixed; some students came from Scientology families, others didn't. I don't remember pictures of Hubbard on the wall or doing clay models; I just remember things being very loose, with small workloads and very little homework. I wasn't removed because my parents found out that Apple School was a Scientology front group, it was that they were doing nothing to solve a math disability. I went on to other schools afterwards, but those six months at that school are kind of a mystery to me: who started the school? Why was it closed? Were the people running it squirrels? And what of this other school?

[SanDiegoMember]

As staff of the Church of Scientology of San Diego, we were paid so little that most had to supplement their income just for the basic necessities. In other words, most Church staff members would not have been able to afford anything like private education. Maybe a former staff member of Adams Avenue mission might know something that I don't. You might try e-mailing Enid Vien, she still lives in San Diego and is an old timer. I personally heard nothing of an Apple school. I did know of the Delphi school, but for the life of me I don't remember where it was. It definitely was not in the greater San Diego area. I moved to Oklahoma in November of 1978 so I have no knowledge of what happened in the area after I left. Sorry.

[Mister Mike]

You might try e-mailing Enid Vien, she still lives in San Diego and is an old timer. I personally heard nothing of an Apple school. I did know of the Delphi school, but for the life of me I don't remember where it was. Sorry.

Do you have an email for her?

For all I know she might be "Mother."

[SanDiegoMember]

Do you have an email for her?

For all I know she might be "Mother."

She is on face book now. Or you can visit her dynamism web site - http://www.dynamism.org/bio.html