The North Monterey County Unified School District serves approximately 4,765 students in grades TK-Adult Education and operates nine schools: Castroville Elementary (TK-6), Echo Valley Elementary (TK-6), Elkhorn Elementary (TK-6), Prunedale Elementary (TK-6), North Monterey County Middle (7-8), North Monterey County High School (9-12), Central Bay Continuation High School (10-12), The North Monterey County Center for Independent Studies School (TK-12), and North Monterey County Adult Education. 

The District also operates preschools at each elementary campus as well as the Castro Plaza Family Resource Center and an infant/toddler program. As of Fall 2021, the student population represented: 40% English Learners, 5% Migrant, 12% Special Education, 83% Socio-Economically Disadvantaged, 27% Homeless Students, 0.02% Foster Youth. (CALPADS as of 10/2020) The District’s unduplicated count (English Learners, Socio-Economically Disadvantaged, Foster Youth) was 86%

By 2030, our capital planning vision is to bring every site, building, and facility up to or above the standard of the current (2021) best-resourced school in North Monterey County, and to remove the physical and environmental barriers that exist today to be better equipped to fulfill our mission:

"An innovative community school system, we equip preschool to adult students with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes they will need to pursue their life goals responsibly and creatively in a radically changing society.”

Created during the Facility Master Plan process, these Guiding Principles help bring the Teaching Philosophy to life through our buildings and grounds: