Belmont High School (Los Angeles, California)
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| Belmont Senior High School | |
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| 1575 West Second Street Los Angeles, California  United States |
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| Information | |
| School district | Los Angeles Unified School District |
| Principal | Gary Yoshinobu |
| Enrollment |
4,500 |
| Type | Public |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Nickname | Sentinels |
| Color(s) | green, black |
| Established | September 11, 1923 |
| Homepage | Official website |
Belmont Senior High School is a public high school located at 1575 West 2nd Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Belmont High School is the largest public school in the city of Los Angeles and the largest school in California, due to the density of the Westlake district, which it serves. The enrollment is going to be split by the Vista Hermosa Learning Center in Fall 2008. The school colors are green and black and the teams are called the Sentinels.
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[edit] History
Belmont opened in 1923.
The Hotel Belmont was the first noteworthy building to stand atop Crown Hill, the present site of Belmont High School. Eventually, the hotel was abandoned, and later it was transformed into the private Belmont School for Girls. After the school was destroyed by fire, the grounds were left vacant, except for five oil wells and a pumping plant. On February 28, 1921, the Los Angeles Board of Education purchased the site for $100,000, for the purpose of constructing Belmont High School.
Belmont opened its doors on September 11, 1923, to about 500 students, all sophomores, and 28 faculty members. Most of the school's traditions were created by those pioneer students during the first months of the school's existence. The school newspaper conducted an election to select its name, with "Sentinel" easily winning over "Progress." To this day, Belmont's students are known as Sentinels. Those first students favored “Sentinels" because they were able to oversee the entire city from their "lookout" on Crown Hill. In another election, the school's colors, green and black, were selected over brown and white.
In the 1990s and 2000s, LAUSD tried to devise plans to relieve Belmont of many of its students [2], and in 2006, the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, which began sharing its attendance zone with Belmont, opened and relieved Belmont [3].
Beginning around 2005, Belmont began a major modernization. The school was renovated, and new paint, bathrooms, doors, walls, and ceiling tiles were added. Facilities were also updated throughout the school campus to accommodate those with special needs (i.e. wheelchair ramps).
In 2007, the West Adams Preparatory High School opened and relieved Belmont; a section of the Manual Arts High School attendance zone was transferred to Belmont [4].
Furthermore, two high schools, Central Los Angeles Area High School 9 [5] [6] and Central Los Angeles High School 11 (Belmont Learning Center) [7], will open in 2008 and relieve Belmont. Central Los Angeles High School 12 will open in 2009 [8] and relieve Belmont. There are also plans to reconfigure the existing Belmont High School into a 6-12 school by 2010 [9].
[edit] School Information
Belmont High School is home to the Sentinels, which is the name applied to all sports teams. The school colors are green and black. The current newspaper, which is published regularly since 2004, is called The Crown Hill Crier. For more than 75 years, the newspaper was the Belmont Sentinel. The Campanile is the name of the Yearbook published every June. The Campanile was also the name of the bell tower that was part of the main building of the old campus.
Belmont is known for having competitive sports teams. As a result, Belmont has a well-known, longstanding rivalry with Marshall High School. Belmont students have a wide variety of sports teams to choose from. Football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, and tennis are several of the sports teams that students can join. Also, for over six decades, the Sentinels have competed in the Northern League of the California Interscholastic Federation Los Angeles City Section.
Belmont houses several computer labs throughout the school campus which students may use for school research. In addition, every classroom has at least two computers with Internet access. The school library was named in honor of her alumnus Jack Smith, who was an author and long time columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
[edit] Mission Statement
The following mission statement can be found at various locations on the school campus:
"The mission of Belmont High School is to educate our diverse student body in a safe, nurturing environment and to promote life-long learning, responsible citizenship, and success in a rapidly changing world."
[edit] Belmont High School Small Learning Communities
Belmont High School hosts several Small Learning Communities (SLC's; also called academies) which specialize in a field of study. Students not enrolled in an SLC are placed in one of the track "Houses".
As of the 2007-2008 school year, Belmont hosts the following SLC's:
A Track:
- Computer Science
- Multimedia
- Visual Arts and Humanities
B Track:
- School of Awareness and Global Education (SAGE)
- Los Angeles Academy of Medical and Public Service (LAAMPS)
C Track:
- Activists for Educational Empowerment (AEE)
- Business and Finance
- The International School of Languages
In 2007, it was announced that C Track and the Visual Arts and Humanities and Computer Science academies will be moving to the new Vista Hermosa Learning Center, located at West First Street and North Beaudry Avenue in Fall 2008.
[edit] Neighborhoods served by Belmont
Much of the school-age population of areas served by Belmont, such as sections of the Pico-Union and Westlake areas, must be bused to schools in the San Fernando Valley, owing to delays in the construction of the Belmont Learning Center (just west of the Harbor Freeway at 1st and Beaudry) and overcrowding at the area's other schools.
Other areas served by Belmont include Angelino Heights, Chinatown, Koreatown, and Little Tokyo.
Belmont shares its attendance zone with Contreras, so all students zoned to Belmont are also zoned to Contreras.
[edit] Feeder patterns
The following schools feed into Belmont:
- Virgil Middle School
- Hollenbeck Middle School
- Nightingale Middle School
- King Middle School
- Berendo Middle School
| Year | Student Enrollment |
|---|---|
| 1993-1994 | 4,458 |
| 1994-1995 | 4,723 |
| 1995-1996 | 4,750 |
| 1996-1997 | 4,969 |
| 1997-1998 | 5,160 |
| 1998-1999 | 5,296 |
| 1999-2000 | 5,305 |
| 2000-2001 | 5,264 |
| 2001-2002 | 5,447 |
| 2002-2003 | 5,410 |
| 2003-2004 | 5,299 |
| 2004-2005 | 5,213 |
[edit] Notable alumni
- Patrick Argüello, Sandinista guerilla
- John Beradino, actor, major league baseball player
- Ron Botchan, NFL official
- James C. Corman, Congressman, Los Angeles City Councilman
- Richard Crenna, actor
- Craig Ellwood, architect
- Dentler Erdmann, educator (faculty), California Teacher of the Year 1975[1]
- Mike Frankovich, film producer
- Murray Fromson, CBS News correspondent and USC professor
- Luis (Lou) Gomez, MLB player
- Young-Oak Kim, highly decorated combat veteran
- Glenard P. Lipscomb, Congressman
- Loren Miller Jr., Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
- Robert Lyles, NFL player
- Ricardo Montalban, actor
- Anthony Quinn, actor
- Mort Sahl, humorist
- William Sidell, labor leader
- Jack Smith, columnist, journalist
- Mike Stoller, songwriter
- Coy Watson Jr., child actor, Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Watson Family
- Harry R. Watson, actor, photo-journalist, Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Watson Family
- Jack Webb, producer, director, actor
- Sal Castro, activist (faculty)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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