Schools

Where Will Canyon Hills Kids Go To School?

Herk Bouris Elementary is in the Menifee Unified School District but its physical location lies within the city of Lake Elsinore.

Canyon Hills residents who are unsure whether their kids will be in the Lake Elsinore Unified School District or the Menifee Unified School District are being encouraged to visit the MUSD website to check out the boundaries.

There may be some confusion for residents in the area. Construction of a new elementary school in Canyon Hills in Lake Elsinore is underway by the Menifee Unified School District.

On August 16, Herk Bouris Elementary School will open on the west edge of the MUSD boundaries, on a site on Canyon Hills Drive, at the western extension of Holland Road. Herk Bouris Elementary is in the MUSD but its physical location lies within the city of Lake Elsinore. The school will serve more than 500 K-5 students and will open following the completion of Canyon Hills Community Park, an 18-acre neighborhood park located within Canyon Hills.

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Are you a Canyon Hills resident? Click here to see whether your home lies within the MUSD boundaries.

According to MUSD spokeswoman Betti Cadmus, several months ago the MUSD governing board unanimously agreed to name the campus for local farming pioneer, Herk Bouris.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

MUSD board policy requires the school’s name to represent a “pioneer of sorts” according to principal Midge James, who will move from Ridgemoor Elementary to Herk Bouris.

The Bouris name has a long history in Menifee.

“In addition to the business the Bouris family conducted with consumers in Lake Elsinore, the family had a profound impact throughout the Menifee Valley. George Hercules Bouris, Herk’s father, arrived in the Menifee Valley in 1904 and purchased a 640-acre farm. Herk was born in 1928 and grew up on the family farm. He bought his own farm in the area and harvested wheat and sugar beets for 55 years.

“Herk, who died in 2004, also served on the Menifee school board for eight years. Herk’s wife, Betty, still lives in the area on the original 80 acres. The family oversees the property, which is no longer an active farm but remains a local attraction as a museum of sorts, housing a collection of tractors and offering farm tours to tourists and local school children,” according to a news release from Pardee Homes, the master developer of Canyon Hills.

“Herk Bouris Elementary School will be a welcome addition to master-planned Canyon Hills,” said Mike Taylor, vice president for Pardee Homes. “With outstanding administrators and teachers, and several California Distinguished School awards and one National Blue Ribbon nominated school, we look forward to supporting the Menifee Unified School District’s newest elementary school.”


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