Walnut Avenue Elementary School in the fall celebrated the Chino school’s 50th anniversary.

The school opened in 1966, said Principal Karen Morales. At the time, an average home cost $14,000. Today, the new homes behind Walnut cost $536,000, she said, adding that she has spent 24 of her 25 years in the Chino Valley Unified School District at Walnut as a teacher, and later as an administrator.

“I was here for the 25th (anniversary),” she said. “I was here for the 40th, and now I am here for the 50th. You can be sure I will be back for the 75th.”