The Bennett Valley children were first taught in a public school in 1852. They were taught in one of the farm buildings on the Glen Cook Place on Bennett Valley Road. In the winter of 1853, volunteer workers built a wooden one-room schoolhouse on a piece of land near the creek. Thirty pupils attended. The school was named "Santa Rosa School District."
Since the first Santa Rosa school was erected so close to the creek, the school grounds were flooded in the winter. For this reason the original Santa Rosa School was abandoned in 1878 for a newly-built building located next to the Bennett Valley Cemetery on Bennett Valley Road. The building was completed in the summer of 1878. In 1878 there were 25 students. The yearly salary for a teacher was $441.75 and the annual maintenance cost was $93.72.
When the Santa Rosa City decided to build its first school in 1854, the citizens wanted to call their school "Santa Rosa School," but the name was already taken by the Bennett Valley residents a year previously. The city asked if the Bennett Valley residents would rename their school, but the request was refused. Thus, the city of Santa Rosa was forced to name their first school, "Courthouse School." Eighty-eight years later, the Santa Rosa School District finally relinquished the "Santa Rosa" and Bennett Valley School District was born.
Today we have two schools. Yulupa Elementary serving students in grades K-3 and Strawberry Elementary serving grades 4-6.
