Oak Park High School (California)

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Oak Park High School
Established	1978
Type	Public Secondary
Principal	Lynn McCormack
Students	c. 13 Tstudents
Grades	9-12
Location	899 N. Kanan Road Oak Park, CA USA
District	Oak Park Unified
Colors	Black and Gold
Mascot	Eagles
Newspaper	The Talon
Website	http://www.ophs.opusd.k12.ca.us

This article is about the secondary school in Oak Park, CA, USA. For the secondary school in Kansas City, MO, USA, see Oak Park High School (Kansas City).

Oak Park High School is the main secondary school in the Oak Park Unified School District, taking ninth through twelfth grade students. It is a National Blue Ribbon School, with 2005-2006 enrollment of 1314 students taught by 62 faculty members.

1 History
2 Academics
- 2.1 Advanced Placement Program
- 2.2 (2001-2005) Senior Exit Survey
3 School Facilities
4 Sports
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Oak Park High School

As the construction of subdivisions proceeded in Oak Park during the 1970's and the population increased, schooling arrangements became increasingly frustrating for residents. Students had to be bused to high schools in Simi Valley, 23 miles away by road, and back again each day - this despite the fact that the schools of the nearby Las Virgenes Unified School District stood in proximity. With Oak Park lying in Ventura County, California and Las Virgenes in Los Angeles County, though, Oak Park students were not allowed to attend.

Seeking to deal with the problem, Oak Park residents petitioned for annexation to Las Virgenes and were flatly rejected in 1974. Smarting from the blow, they created the Oak Park Unified School District in 1977 and broke ground for the high school in 1978. Students were housed in trailers from 1979 to 1980 until the school began admitting students at its present site in 1981. It functioned as both middle and high school until 1988, when nearby Medea Creek Middle School began educating sixth through eighth grade students.

Campus expansion has continued in recent years with the addition of a library, a performing arts center, and a new rubberized track.

The school newspaper is The Talon, which is part of the High School National Ad Network.

[edit] Academics

[edit] Advanced Placement Program

OPHS offers the following courses in their Advanced Placement Program

Biology
Calculus AB
Chemistry
Econ - Macro
English Language
English Literature
European History
French Language
Government - US
Physics B
Psychology
Spanish Language
Statistics
Studio Art - Drawing
US History

Oak Park High School's Advanced Placement Program is generally considered very strong; according to the OPHS website, of the 547 AP tests taken in 2006, 85% of them received a score of 3 or better. Particularly strong courses - those with a pass rate above 90% - include Biology (96%), Calculus AB (90%), European History (96.6%), French Language (100%), Government-US (92.5%), Physics B (92.6%), Spanish Language (100%), and US History (94.4%).

In 2003, Oak Park's AP program placed it at 100th in Newsweek's Top High Schools.^[1]

[edit] (2001-2005) Senior Exit Survey

Each year, OPHS faculty conduct a senior exit survey which keeps track of what each matriculating student plans on doing after high school. The following are the (2001-2005) cumulative statistics compiled into a single list.^[2]

Out of a total of 1102 graduating seniors, 703 reported that they had been accepted to at least one four-year college/university. This is 64.24% of these OPHS graduates.
A total of 648 chose to attend four-year colleges/universities, or 59.00% of these OPHS graduates.
A total of 408 chose to attend junior/community colleges, or 37.02% of these OPHS graduates.
A total of 1052 chose to attend four-year colleges/universities or junior/community colleges, this is 95.46% of these OPHS graduates.
17 students reported that they would go to work full time immediately after high school; 19 reported that they would be attending trade schools; 1 student entered the military; 1 foreign exchange student returned to his home country; 2 went on LDS Mormon Missions immediately after high school; and 2 students were undecided. The total for this group is 42, which represents 4.00% of these OPHS graduates.
A total of 806 (of those attending either four-year colleges/universities or junior/community colleges) chose to stay in California, this is 73.14% of these OPHS graduates.
A total of 134 (of those attending either four-year colleges/universities or junior/community colleges) reported that they were attending schools out-of-state, this is 12.20% of these OPHS graduates.

[edit] School Facilities

To keep up with the growing population of Oak Park, OPHS must undergo periodic expansions. Most recently added was a two story bungalow-style set of classrooms, which was completed in 2005.

Until recently, Oak Park High has never had an indoor stage. Band and choir concerts as well as musicals and plays had to be performed in the school gym. After years and years of sub-par acoustics, the school raised enough money to build the OPHS Pavilion and Lunch Area, which resulted in more years of even worse acoustics due to its incredibly poor design—the theatre space's windows prevented blackouts during daytime or early evening performances, the room created an echo more powerful than the speaking voices, and there were no dressing rooms or a tech booth, which are normally standard for a theatre. The Pavilion contains a large stage, several classrooms, high-ceiling band and choir rooms with acoustic paneling, and the school's lunch area. Except that people don't eat lunch in there, which kind of defeats many of its design purposes.

[edit] Sports

For all sports except football Oak Park High School competes in the Tri-Valley League with Fillmore High School, Carpinteria High School, Saint Bonaventure High School, Bishop Diego High School and La Reina High School (for girls sports only). For Football only Oak Park competes in a league that combines some teams from the Tri-Valley League and some teams from the Frontier League. The league teams for football include Carpinteria High School, Bishop Diego High School, Fillmore High School, Nordhoff High School, Santa Paula High School and Oaks Christian High School.