Los Gatos High School

Los Gatos High School

Los Gatos High School is located on E. Main Street in Los Gatos, California
Location
Los Gatos, California
United States
Information
Type Public high school
Established 1908
School district Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District
Principal Kristi Grasty
Enrollment 1761
Color(s)      Orange
     Black
Athletics conference Santa Clara Valley Athletic League
CIF Central Coast Section
Mascot Leo the Cat and Leonna the Cat (Zeus the Cat - Unofficial)
Team name Wildcats
Communities served Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga
Feeder schools Fisher Middle School, C.T. English
Website http://www.lghs.net/

Los Gatos High School (LGHS) is a high school in Los Gatos, California, a small high income town near San Jose in the Silicon Valley. Los Gatos High School was founded in 1908 and is part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District and is home to a large number of Silicon Valley Executives' teenagers. During the late 1880s up until the establishment of Los Gatos High School, high school age students were taught at Los Gatos Central School, a grammar school which was established in 1886.[1] While the school is not labeled a "feeder school" or preparatory, a large number of students move on to Ivy League and Tier One colleges and universities after graduation. In the 1970s, Los Gatos High School was listed among the top thirty high schools in the State of California. In a 2013 study Los Gatos High School ranked 86th in California.[2]

The school enrolls approximately 1,700 students and employs about 100 teachers. In 2004, 94% of graduating seniors went on to attend college, including 64% to four-year colleges. Los Gatos High School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and has regularly received six-year accreditations, the highest possible. The school has been recognized twice as a National School for Excellence. LGHS is also notable for its sports programs and exceptional athletes, making it unique among academically distinguished public schools in the area. The Los Gatos Wildcats are part of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League of the CIF Central Coast Section.

History

The school landscape is notable for its spacious extensive front lawn and neoclassical main building, which was designed by W. H. Weeks, a famous architect of schools in California. His Greek Revival style was famous in the 1920s and 1930s. The main building was dedicated on January 17, 1925, built using a $250,000 bond measure which passed in 1923.[1] Other buildings and various additions to the main building were built in the period between the dedication of the main building in 1925 and 1970. The school underwent no major construction from 1970 until 2001, when the school successfully passed a $79 million bond measure in the town of Los Gatos to renovate the aging buildings. Since then, several new buildings have been constructed, and all of the old buildings have been renovated.

Due to the unusual joint cooperative nature of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, until 2005, Saratoga High School shared Los Gatos High School's Prentiss Brown Auditorium for performing arts and, until 2006, they shared Helm Field for football games. Both are on the grounds of Los Gatos High School but are available for equal use by both schools. Until 2006, when the Los Gatos High School football team played Saratoga, both were actually the home teams since they shared the field. The title of home team was switched each year when the two schools played each other.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni at Los Gatos High School include:

In the media

Los Gatos High School was originally called "Los Gatos Union High School", which still appears engraved on the front of the main building.

The front façade of the school was shown on The Amanda Show starring Amanda Bynes. It was used in the show's soap opera spoof segment called "Moody's Point". The front exterior of the school was also used on Saved by the Bell.

The school was also used as a filming location for several scenes in the 1996 made-for-TV movie Lying Eyes.

The school, its stadium and track, and nearby Santa Cruz Avenue were also used for filming an episode of the 1986 television series Starman; drama students played the role of some extras.

The 1988 made-for-TV film Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story, was based on the life of former Los Gatos High School head football coach Charlie Wedemeyer, who was stricken with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and continued to coach the football team for several years. The movie was actually filmed in Goose Creek, South Carolina at Stratford High School.

In 1992, Principal Ted Simonson, former Dean of Boys during earlier decades, attracted media controversy for a series of jokes he made during a roast at the Lions Club in which he referred to female joggers as "jigglers" and described gay-friendly city of San Francisco, California as "Fairyland" and the city of Oakland, California, with its large African American population, as "Jungleland."[4]

Principals

References

  1. 1 2 Conaway, Peggy (2004). "Cultural Memory". Images of America: Los Gatos. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 119–121. ISBN 0-7385-2903-6.
  2. ↑ http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/districts/los-gatos-saratoga-joint-union-high/los-gatos-high-school-2715. "Los Gatos High School". usnews.com. 27 August 2013
  3. ↑ "Jason Jurman obituary". San Jose Mercury News. 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
  4. ↑ Dale Bryant, "Principal Lessons: Whether the road is bumpy or smooth - and it's been both - Ted Simonson stays the course", Los Gatos Weekly-Times, (27 May 1998)
  5. ↑ Bruntz, George. The History of Los Gatos 1971, p.111

External links

Coordinates: 37°13′19″N 121°58′35″W / 37.222000°N 121.976280°W / 37.222000; -121.976280

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