College Park High School (Pleasant Hill, California)

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College Park High School
Address
201 Viking Drive
Pleasant Hill, California 94523-1809
Information
Superintendent Gary McHenry
Principal Barbara Oaks
Vice principal Peter Aloo
Steve Nixon
Irene Keenan
Jennifer Bartoli
Enrollment

abt. 2100 (2008)
School type High school
Grades 9-12
Language English
Area Pleasant Hill, California
Mascot Falcon
Color(s) purple, white
Founded 1960
Homepage http://www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/collegepark/

College Park High School is a public high school located in Pleasant Hill, California, adjacent to Valley View Middle School and Diablo Valley College. It is part of the Mount Diablo Unified School District.

Contents

[edit] Athletics

College Park is known for the Boys Varsity Volleyball team beating California High School at the North Coast Section Championships on May 17, 2008. CP won 3 straight games,Cal did not stand a chance.The fans from CP outnumbered those at Cal even though CP were visitors. SO intense...

College Park is known for their successful boys and girls cross country teams. Both teams recently won the 2006 North Coast Championships, and placed 15th (boys) and 16th (girls) at the 2006 California State Championships.[1]

CPHS's Varsity Football Team won the DFAL football championship in 2006. They went 9-1.[2]

CPHS's Wrestling team recently won their 2nd consecutive DFAL championship, North Coast Section Team and Dual Titles (2006 and 2007). One wrestler, Matt Zonfello, placed 5th at the state meet, and the CPHS team placed in the top 20 teams.

CPHS also includes other teams like Water Polo which has recently become finalists for NCS in 2007. Other teams include Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Basketball, Lacrosse, and Cycling.

[edit] Academics

CPHS is the only school in the district to use the PCM (Pre-College Math) program. As of the 2007-2008 school year, the PCM program will be dropped from the district, stating that only College Park has succeeded in its use of the program. CPHS has, in recent years, sent students on to MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Yale, CMC, Cal Tech and many other top-ranked colleges and universities.

[edit] Controversies and other history

  • In the fall of 1993, the administration of CPHS took the unusual tactic of closing the school's bathrooms to use before and after school classes, in order to save on cleaning costs, and combat the school's growing graffiti problems. After national media exposure, the policy was reversed.
  • Shortly after the massacre at Columbine High School, on 22 April 1999, CPHS was evacuated and a bomb squad called in after a package resembling a bomb exploded on school grounds.[3]. The culprits to that attack were quickly captured with the aid of students in early May of that year[4]
  • CPHS had an incident in June 2004, where members of the student body were found to have created a website that contained stolen test answers and student-posted homework answers. Much of the Junior class was found to have knowledge of the site, which had existed nearly all year long. Two students as well as a teacher went on to appear on the Dr. Phil show as a result of the incident, gaining College Park national attention for the scandal.
  • CPHS also gained national media attention in January of 2005 when United States Army recruiters turned the school's quad into a lunchtime shooting range. The event was approved by the school's principal, but he had envisioned a different type of event than what took place.[5]
  • During the spring of 2006 a student exposed himself to the teacher's lounge during lunch break. The culprit, Ryan Makris, was suspended for misbehavior and banned from entering the Administrative Hall. Makris made the following statement: "It seemed like the Tucker Max thing to do."[6]
  • CPHS also had an incident in January of 2007, where a student was stabbed with a steak knife in the bathroom. The stabber, 17-year-old Christopher Escover, admitted to stabbing the high school student against whom he said he had a grudge, according to police. The incident prompted a 'lockdown' of the school for a couple of hours. He turned himself in to police several days after the attack, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. However, police misconduct during the initial investigation into the stabbing resulted in the city being sued for $2 million by a falsely accused male student.[7].
  • In the summer of 2007, three students were suspended with charges possession of explosives (hydrochloric acid and aluminum foil inside a tightly sealed bottle). The three students were questioned and suspended for the remainder of the last three weeks of school. After having a hearing the students were able to return back to College Park suffering no consequences. After what appeared to be a threat, catching the attention of all schools near by, it turned out that the three students were simply "making a project for their AP History class."

[edit] References

  1. ^ Falcon Cross Country (CPHS) website
  2. ^ MaxPreps.com - CPHS Team webpage
  3. ^ Verhovek, Sam Howe (April 23, 1999), “2 Youths Wanted to "Destroy the School," Sheriff Says”, New York Times 
  4. ^ Hirai, Tomo (January 27, 2006), “Safety, Security Concerns Plague Schools”, The Claw (no. 5) 
  5. ^ Burrell, Jackie (January 27, 2005), “U.S. Army recruiters cause uproar at College Park High”, Contra Costa Times 
  6. ^ Hirai, Tomo (April 1, 2006), “Douche bag makes a douche bag out of himself”, The Claw (no. 9000) 
  7. ^ Lee, Henry K. (June 12, 2007), “Teen gets 5 years for stabbing at Pleasant Hill high school”, San Francisco Chronicle