- Los Altos High School, established in 1954, is located in suburban Los Altos, California, which is situated between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose in the northwest corner of Silicon Valley within four miles of Stanford University. Due to its placement within a rich, yet small community, Los Altos High School is able to achieve at a very high level. The teacher-student ratios at Los Altos High School are considerably lower than the state average.
- It is one of the three MVLA School District public high schools, the other schools being Mountain View High School and Alta Vista High School. The main feeder schools are Egan Junior High School and Crittenden Middle School. Since 2005, the school principal has been Wynne Satterwhite. The previous principal, George Perez, left in 2004.
- History
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The school was established in 1954 on the site of an orchard.Initially, Los Altos High School served the mostly white, middle to upper class populations of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. During 1982 redistricting efforts, the district closed its oldest high school, Mountain View High School, which was located on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View. Awalt High School was then renamed Mountain View High School, while Los Altos High School replaced its Knight mascot with the Eagle mascot from the old Mountain View High School. The district reaches from Los Altos through Mountain View to San Francisco Bay in the north.
- The two remaining district high schools now draw equally from wealthy and working-class families and have a similar demographic population. Both schools are located near the city border of Los Altos and Mountain View and each has a considerable amount of the "other" city in its attendance area.
- In more recent history, Los Altos High underwent a major renovation over the past few years, which has significantly enhanced the campus environment, including a new science and art building and a FieldTurf athletic field.
- During the El Niño storms of 1998, a tornado ripped through the quad area of the school. The tornado touched down at 5:05PM on May 4, 1998, near the intersection of El Monte Road and Almond Avenue. It was rated F1 on the Fujita Scale, and was one of two that touched down in the area. The tornado uprooted trees, picked up dumpsters, damaged the tennis court fences, and destroyed the baseball diamond dugout. Damages were estimated at $25,000.
- Statistics and demographics
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As of the 2003-2004 school year, the enrollment was approximately 1600 students; in the last few years each incoming class has been significantly larger than the outgoing class.
- In 2006, 83% of students participate in academic, extracurricular and community service clubs.Over 50% of the students participate in an athletic team.
- As of 2007, the White ethnic race maintains a majority at Los Altos High School at 51.6%, while Hispanics consist of 23.2% of the school's population. Asians make up 18.7% while African American make up 3.1% of the school's total population.
- Education
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Los Altos High School boasted one of the highest scores in the nation. However, beginning in 1982, the school's scores and national ranking began to fall, until it could only be ranked at a state-wide standard.
- Professional instructors in other districts do not think highly of the school. Although it pays better than most due to its situation in a high-income area, these former employees feel that the school lacks organization; other districts having more involved administrations.
- Test Scores and State-wide ranking
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In 2005, Los Altos High School received an API score of 786, considerably lower than that of the local Intermediate School and Elementary Schools. Despite this drop in educational standards, Los Altos remains one of the highest-rated schools in the area, with Hispanic, African American, Asian, and White all scoring considerably higher than the state average. In 2007, however, Los Altos High School saw an increase in API by a total of 14 points since 2005.
- 2006 marked the year in which Los Altos High School was ranked 229th nationally by Newsweek on High-Achievement High Schools, while that score fell to number 456 nationally in 2008, rising the following year to 372. Inn 2006, City-data deemed Los Altos High School to be the 9th best High School in California, with an API of 797. However, Newsweek grades schools on weighted data and teacher:student ratios, while City-Data merely uses API as a standard.
- In 2007, Los Altos High met both its 2007 schoolwide growth target and all subgroup growth targets, both set by the state of California. They were among the 50% of schools who did. In addition, its API growth rate increased by a margin of 5 points between the years 2006 and 2007.
- 2008 was a low point for the school, as it failed the state's growth target in all aspects, falling seven points in the API from the previous year, with a final score of 795. Asians lost their score slightly by five points and while students with disabilities lost 25 points from the previous year, while Hispanics and the economically disadvantaged scored higher than the previous year. However, they passed the Federal "Adequate Yearly Progress" standards.
- 2009 saw an increase of 30 points in the API for the school, with a 34 point increase for Latino students and 64 for English-Language learners. 825 points is the highest in school history.
- Educational environment
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The California Department of Education claims that in 2007, teacher credentials were lower and had slightly less experience than the state average, despite higher pupil spending and more Advanced Placement selections. Despite the lack of proper teaching credentials, Los Altos has seven teachers who have certified emergency credentials.
- Programs and Highlights
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Los Altos High School boasts a strong music department, athletic department, and a host of student-run clubs.
- Athletic Department
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Los Altos High School requires two years of Physical Education credits in order to graduate. After-school sports each provide one quarter or one semester of credits. Its sports teams participate in the regional SCVAL League. The Track and Field team, especially, has made it to State championships numerous times, most notably first place in 1985.
- Performing Arts Department
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Los Altos High boasts a large music department, with a state of the art music room equipped with re verb devices. The musical ensembles included are Auxiliary Units (also known as Color Guard), Marching Band, Jazz Band, two Orchestras, Wind Ensemble, and Symphonic Band. Los Altos High School also includes Concert Choir and the world renown Main Street Singers. The school also hosts a Drama department, the advanced course of which is called Broken Box Theatre Company and performs in the school's Eagle Theater.
- The school's world-traveling vocal ensemble, known as the "Main Street Singers", travel around the world on tour every year. They gained international reputation through completing concert travel to 45 countries from six different continents and performing works in twenty languages ranging from Renaissance to Contemporary in over 100 concerts yearly. In 2009, they became the first international organization to travel from Taiwan to Mainland China via the newly implemented Three Links system.
- The High School's Marching Band is part of the Western Band Association, which is based in California. In 1997, the LAHS Marching Band received six awards at the state festival. Since then, the band's reputation deteriorated somewhat, and in the 2007 season, they scored last place out of 11 participating bands. 2008 saw a rejuvenation of the school's marching band program, as it won its first sweepstakes award in five years, and placing 7th out of 48 participating bands at Western Band's state preliminaries.
- The year 1998 was the "Golden Year" for the Los Altos Instrumental Music Department. Three students were selected for the Santa Clara County Honor Band, while the Jazz Band and Orchestra received a unanimous "Superior" rating at the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival and CMEA Orchestra Festival respectively. In addition, one band and two orchestra students were accepted into the California Music Educator's Association All-State Honor Band and Orchestra, respectively.
- Student Clubs
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Students at Los Altos High School have independently started a club list of over 50 different clubs, including One Dollar For Life, a non-profit organization founded by history and economics teacher Robert Freeman. It also hosts club extensions of many nationally recognized organizations, such as Amnesty International, AVID Council, Club Darfur, Key Club, Model United Nations, Safe Ride, and Mock Trial. They also have "student unions" of most ethnic and racial groups present in the school. These clubs impact the entire Los Altos community, and in the case of One Dollar For Life and Amnesty International, they impact regions in rural Africa and Haiti, respectively.
- The Los Altos Green Team, with the help of Sierra Club officials, urged citizens to sign petitions and presented them to the City Council. This helped create the grassroots for a Los Altos "Cool Cities" campaign to aide the city in becoming more Green; resulting in the city to be included in the Kyoto Protocol through the Mayor's Climate Protection Center. They have also invited an Emmy Award-winning Al Gore-trained speaker to deliver an "update" on An Inconvenient Truth as well as provide tips on making the student's lives more environmental. They have since started a local sustainable and organic garden and plan to sell subscriptions to local residents.
- In addition, Tony Zhukovskiy, class of 2008 and previous president of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, received an award for his efforts in promoting gay rights at a local level; while joining San Jose city's annual gay-pride parade. In 2004, the Alliance petitioned the Los Altos city council to proclaim a Gay Pride Parade in the city's downtown, which resulted in the passage of language which specifically prohibited religious, racial, ethnic or sexual discrimination-related proclamations. The group, along with the support of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, then petitioned the city council to reverse the law, a move which was unanimously approved in 2006. They then organized a Gay Pride parade in downtown Los Altos, with over 300 in attendance. Due to this event, the County of Santa Clara and multiple local cities declared a gay pride day in honor of the club.
- Los Altos High School shares a Speech and Debate team with Mountain View High School. In 2008, Daniel Moerner, class of 2009, won the Walter Alan Ulrich Award for Top Speaker in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the Tournament of Champions. In 2009, he also became the first debater to ever win the Stanford Invitational and Berkeley National Invitational back-to-back in their 20-year history.
- The Talon is the school's student-run newspaper which has been nationally recognized by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. In 2009, they placed 10th for the NSPA's national Best in Show award in the Newspaper 17+ pages category. They also won several awards for Features writing, Entertainment Review writing, Photography, and Editorial Cartooning.
- Notable alumni
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- Alice Wu, American film director and screenwriter, class of 1991.
- Andrew Arnold Tink BA LLB MP (b. 13 July 1953) is an Australian politician, serving as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 2007. He was a member of the class of 1971.
- Billy Rush Masters, (September 15, 1950 – July 2, 1981) was an American composer, and rock guitarist. He was best known as a songwriter. Class of 1968.
- Brad Bishop, CEO of AVCOM Technologies, Inc., Silicon Valley, class of 1974.
- Lorrie Fair, US National Soccer (World Cup Title), UNC Soccer (National Title), class of 1996.
- Tim Hanley was a U.S. soccer goalkeeper who played in the North American Soccer League and Europe. He is a long time Major League Soccer goalkeeper coach. Class of 1978.
- Willie Howard, Stanford Rose Bowl, Minnesota Vikings, class of 1996.
- Oscar Lusth, finished as the 1st runner-up as a contestant on Cook Islands, class of 1999.
- Raj Mathai, NBC Bay Area Sports Director/Anchor.
- Theodore Olson, 42nd United States Solicitor General, lawyer for Bush-Cheney in Bush v. Gore, a case which effectively decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush; joined forces with former rival in Bush v. Gore to repeal Proposition 8 in a San Francisco District Court; class of 1958.
- Sergeant William M. Sigua (1985-2007), killed by small-arms fire in Baiji, Iraq. He was from the 82nd Airborne Division, and received a Purple Heart Medal for his services. Class of 2003.
- Mark Andrew Smith, Award Winning Editor & Graphic Novelist, class of 1997.
- Notes
- External links
- Los Altos High School website
- The Main Street Singers of Los Altos High School - an SATB Chamber Group
- The Talon (school newspaper)
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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