Below are excerpts from BVUSD’s previous Superintendent, Dr. Sue Field regarding BVUSD's history.

The Bennett Valley Union School District has a long, rich history of excellence in education and community involvement. The district was born in 1853. Originally it was called the Santa Rosa District and was located near present-day Galvin Park. It was renamed the Bennett Valley District in 1942. The Strawberry District, 1857-1952, was the other nearby district, named for the wild strawberries in the area. The two districts merged in 1952 and became the Bennett Valley Union School District.

The district's schools are located in southeast Santa Rosa in quiet, residential neighborhoods, combining the best of rural and suburban settings. Our district serves approximately 960 students from kindergarten through sixth grade on its two campuses. Yulupa serves our kindergarten through third grade students and also offers an on-site preschool. Until July 2009, the preschool was run by Kids' Center Preschool, a private, nonprofit corporation. In August 2009, The 4 C's, Community Child Care Council joined us as our preschool provider, the Bennett Valley Child Development center. Strawberry serves our fourth through sixth graders. Both schools have on-site childcare run by the YMCA.

Much collaboration exists district-wide. We have a joint School Site Council with faculty, staff, and parent members from both schools; and two district-wide 5013C non-profit parent organizations-The Alliance of Parents and Teachers (APT) and the Bennett Valley Education Foundation (BVEF) who work in concert with the district to provide needed programs that offer a richness and depth to our comprehensive curriculum.

The Bennett Valley Union School District is one of the top-performing districts in Sonoma County. Both schools have earned Academic Performance Indicator Rankings of over 880 and both have been redesignated as distinguished schools by the State of California. Nevertheless, our work in the district is never done. We are committed to making continuous improvement in our curriculum and programs. 

Thanks to the Bennett Valley Education Foundation and the Alliance of Parents and Teachers, our students enjoy a balanced, enriched curriculum that includes the arts, high quality technology, and field trips. The Bennett Valley Education Foundation (BVEF) is a private, non-profit corporation that raises funds through advertising sales for the District Family Directory, Legacy Tile Nights, Valley of the Arts auction (launched in April 2009), and through its annual contribution campaign for the Art Works/Music Scores program that brings professional artists to the schools to provide all classes with artist-in-residence lessons in visual arts and art history, curriculum-integrated multi-cultural music and dance lessons, dramatic assemblies and workshops, and curriculum-integrated art docent lessons provided by trained parent volunteers. The Foundation funds a portion of the cost of our Band and Chorus programs at Strawberry School along with the Eagles' Music Boosters. The Alliance of Parents and Teachers (APT) is a private, non-profit charitable corporation that raises needed funds to provide assemblies, field trips, library books, instructional materials,support for reading, PE, science supplies, faculty allowances and computer technology to our schools, classrooms, and teachers. The APT organizes community events including the Walk-a-thon, Gingerbread House Night, Sock Hop, and Family Fun Nights.