Deer Valley High School (California)

Deer Valley High School
Address
4700 Lone Tree Way
Antioch, California 94531
United States
Coordinates 37°57′49″N 121°46′31″W / 37.96364°N 121.77514°W / 37.96364; -121.77514Coordinates: 37°57′49″N 121°46′31″W / 37.96364°N 121.77514°W / 37.96364; -121.77514
Information
School type Public
Established 1996
School district Antioch Unified School District
Principal Kenneth Gardner
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,721
Color(s) Teal, Black, Silver
              
Nickname Wolverines, Dub Village
Yearbook The Wolverine
Website Official website

Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California, is a public secondary school serving southeast Antioch in Contra Costa County, California. It opened in 1996.

In 2007, the Antioch Unified School District named Scott Bergerhouse and Clarence Isadore co-principals. The co-principal model has previously been implemented in some larger schools in southern California.

In February 2010, Deer Valley and the rest of the AUSD schools were informed that they will be issuing a uniform policy in the second semester of the 2010-2011 school year. This policy proved to be a failure for the school, partly due to the policy taking effect half way through the year, and was discontinued by the second month of the new policy taking effect.

School Site Council

The Deer Valley School Site Council is a group of parents, teachers, students and other school employees elected by their peers to meet with the school co-principals in order to:

Academics

The school is divided into four "houses", each of which has its own vice-principal and secretary. At the freshman and sophomore levels Deer Valley uses a teaming concept, where groups of students share the same English, math, science, and history teacher. In addition to core classes, a wide variety of elective classes are offered to students. In addition to instrumental and choral music, foreign language, drama, automotive, culinary, and art classes, students may also enroll in video production, digital art, web design, animation, law, manufacturing, photography, or careers with children among many others.

Deer Valley also houses academies: Antioch Unified School District has four Linked Learning academies in place throughout the District. There are two Linked Learning academies on the campus of Deer Valley High School, which include a Law Academy and a Performing Arts Academy.[1]

The process for attending an academy begins in the second half of the eighth grade, when students and their parents have opportunities to attend presentations by each of the Learning Link academies. Students can apply for one or more by completing an application. The selection is by lottery; it's open to all district students without pre-testing however a 3.0 GPA requirement.[2]

Each of the linked learning academies, incorporate career preparation into the four-year curriculum. These academies goals are to allow students to receive a well-rounded education while preparing for their chosen careers. The academies create a school-within-a-school themed education in hopes to help bridge the achievement gap and increasing high graduation and college-going rates.

Housed at Deer Valley High School, the Deer Valley Academy of Performing Arts ( formerly Delta Performing Arts Academy) takes students through a high school curriculum focused on the arts, but draws from several foundations to ensure a complete education.One of the major tenets of DVAPA’s after-school program is performance opportunities for the students as an extension of the classroom. Students regularly perform plays, musicals, dance/band/choir concerts at Deer Valley’s theater.[3]

Located in House 2 of DVHS, the Law Academy curriculum includes three elements: law-related content embedded in required courses in English, Social Studies, Math and Science, law-specific elective courses such as Constitutional Law and Criminal Justice, and work-based learning throughout the four years of study. The Law Academy provides a positive understanding of the legal system and its role in society, enhancing civic education for citizenship and enhancing community service. The academy provides students with lawyer role models and mentors who can teach, inspire, and support students to college and career pathways. The law academy also provides students with the chances to compete in various competitions such as Mock Trial and Model United Nations. The Mock Trial team of 2014-2015 placed fifth in the county competition and the model united nations team has had great success at conferences at DVC, and Santa Teresa High School. Also, students are able to obtain internships with businesses in but not limited to the field of law. The students will also take multiple field trips a year to places such as the FBI buildings in Oakland, Alcatraz, and the local police station. Students enrolled in the Deer Valley Law Academy must take a fundamental criminal justice class in 9th grade, with the curriculum continuing on to the next year, and psychology in 11th grade. Deer Valley is also one of the few high schools in California with the option to take Philosophy, however with the Law students placed as top priority in the enrollment process.[4]

The Business Technology Academy and the ESPACE academy (Earth, Space, Astronomy Center for Education) are also academies on Deer Valley's campus. Students in the Business Technology Academy will be provided a curriculum focused on a business theme with related standards-based academic classes and career-technical classes implementing supplemental technology. Increased communication between teachers, students, and parents; increased student engagement; increased frequency of writing and revisions; and increased individualized instruction are all goals of The Business-Tech Academy. The ESPACE academy has one of the few planetariums on a high school campus in the state of California. Students from DVHS have used space probes to investigate a number of questions for school projects, most notably the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Mars Global Surveyor. In addition, Deer Valley had held, for nine consecutive years, the highest API scores in the area (some the highest in the East Bay).

DVHS Planetarium

Deer Valley High School is one of the few high schools in the Bay Area to have a planetarium. The planetarium has been in operation since 2004 and hosts biweekly shows for the community.

They are open to the public. The current show schedule starts shows at 8 PM and has star observing at 9 PM on alternating Thursdays when school is in session.

Departments

Deer Valley High has many different types of classes students may take, which are separated into different departments:

Incidents

Deer Valley High has had its share of incidents over the years. Here's a list of them:

2009 Shooting

On 16 September 2009, at about 8:29 am, a 16-year-old student of Deer Valley High School was shot in the arm and chest nearby the school.[5] The shots were fired from a vehicle, which then drove off. The victim was lifted by air to John Muir Medical Center and underwent surgery.[5] The school, along with all other schools in the district, then went into lockdown later that morning.[5] 19-year-old Yousuf Mohammad Aziz and another person was arrested in connection with the shooting.[6][7] In 2011, Aziz was convicted of charges of premeditated attempted murder, assault with a firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and two counts of street terrorism, and was sentenced to 7 years to life in prison.[8]

2013 Bomb Threats

In April 2013, A 16-year-old student has made bomb threats at this school for the past four days. The students were evacuated & The AUSD, along with the police, began searching around the school building, only to find no bombs. Eventually, that student got charged with threats to the school. It also turned out he sent 3 bomb threats to this school & 1 bomb threat to Black Diamond Middle School. He's been expelled from the school & district ever since.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ Donald Gill For the Contra Costa Times (5 October 2011). "Dr. Donald Gill: Broad-based coalitions are needed for California to reclaim leadership in education". ContraCostaTimes.com. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Marta Yamamoto East County Times (23 February 2011). "New Antioch academy places students on career path to engineering". mercurynews.com. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  3. ↑ http://thepress.net/view/full_story/17632004/article-Grant-to-enrich-after-school-arts
  4. ↑ "Deer Valley High School Law Academy Committee : Special Events & Community Service Opportunities : Build Your Practice : Contra Costa County Bar Association". cccba.org. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Vega, Cecilia (17 September 2009). "Antioch teen shot while walking to school". abc7news.com. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
  6. ↑ King, Simon (17 September 2009). "Police Arrest 2 in Antioch Deer Valley High School Gang Related Shooting". Brentwood Grove. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
  7. ↑ Sakamoto, Kimberlee (17 September 2009). "Police Arrest Two in Connection With Shooting at Deer Valley High School". KRON 4. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  8. ↑ Fraley, Malaika (5 January 2011). "Antioch gang member sentenced to life in prison for Deer Valley High shooting". KRON 4. Retrieved 24 July 2013.

External links

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