Evergreen Valley High School

Evergreen Valley High School

Front side of Evergreen Valley High School
Address
3300 Quimby Road
Bay Area
San Jose, California
United States
Coordinates 37°19′27″N 121°46′44″W / 37.3242°N 121.7788°WCoordinates: 37°19′27″N 121°46′44″W / 37.3242°N 121.7788°W
Information
School type Public, Comprehensive high school
Established 2002
Opened 2004
School district East Side Union High School District
Oversight Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Schools
Superintendent Chris D. Funk
Principal Lauren Kelly
Assistant principals Kyle Kleckner, Chantal Chatman
Staff 16
Faculty 181
Grades 9-12
Age range 13-18
Enrollment approximately 2,700
Student to teacher ratio 25:1[1]
Hours in school day 5-8
Campus Suburban
Area Santa Clara County
Color(s) Teal, Black, White             
Fight song "Let's Go Cougars, Let's Go!"
Sports football, cross-country skiing, soccer, badminton, tennis, golf, track and field, cross country, baseball, softball, swimming, water polo, basketball, mud wrestling, volleyball, cheerleading[2]
Mascot Cougar
Nickname EVHS, EV
Rival Silver Creek High School (San Jose, California)
USNWR ranking
  1. 115[3]
National ranking
  1. 599
Test average 865
Newspaper The Prowler
Yearbook The Eye
Communities served Evergreen
Feeder schools Quimby Oak Middle School
Chaboya Middle School
Activities Director Virginia Yenter
Athletics Director Joe Te
Athletics conference

California Interscholastic Federation

Blossom Valley Athletic League
Website evhs-sd.com

Evergreen Valley High School is a comprehensive, 4-year high school located in the Evergreen area of San Jose, California, and is part of the East Side Union High School District. It was founded in 2002. The school held its first graduation of seniors on June 7, 2005.[4] The Class of 2006, the first class of students to have attended the school since its opening year in 2002, graduated on June 7, 2006.[5] In 2007, U.S. News and World Report recognized the school with a silver award in its Best High Schools 2008 list.[6] In 2013, Evergreen Valley received a clear six year accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

History

East Side Union High School District trustees selected Evergreen Valley as the name of the proposed school on October 12, 2000, among other finalist considerations such as Ronald Reagan High School or Cesar Chávez High School.[7] Evergreen Valley High School opened in 2002 on the "Small School" concept, with an emphasis on technology and the idea that every student would have a laptop to take home for doing homework.[8][9] The school opened initially with only two grade levels: freshmen and sophomores. It existed as a single high school, with four mostly independent schools within it: Science & Technology, Global Economy, Human Performance, and Humanities. The first year EVHS was open, Science & Technology and Human Performance students received IBM Notebooks, while Global Economy and Humanities Students received Apple iBooks. In Fall 2002, the campus was still unfinished, so classes took place in portables on two nearby campuses: Silver Creek High School and Mount Pleasant High School. S&T and HU were situated at Silver Creek, while HP and GE were situated in Mt. Pleasant.[10] The EVHS campus officially was open for attendance in January 2003.[11] Administration tended to be unhelpful in teachers' and students' requests for aid, although they themselves were also swamped with the task of managing a brand new school.[12]

Evergreen Valley High School's Mascot

In January 2004, petitions circulated after enrollment at Evergreen Valley quickly approached its limit of 1,800: one calling for shrunken boundaries and another for expansion.[13] On March 11, 2004, district trustees voted to construct a new building on campus to ease overcrowding.[14] In 2006, construction began for the building.[15]

In July 2004, the San Jose Mercury News profiled the use of the Xanga blog site by EVHS students.[16]

Principals existed for all of the schools, and were supervised by a primary principal. However, due to change in district leadership and issues with funding and philosophy, in February 2004, the small school system was done away with, and the high school adopted a traditional format, which it has kept until the present.[11][17]

Several troubling instances occurred on one week in March 2009; overnight between March 14 and 15, a 20-foot swastika was etched on a lawn that had also been salted earlier, and several trees were cut down.[18] Then on March 17, an envelope was mailed to school containing a suspicious white powder and a letter expressing dissatisfaction over the school's dress code policy regarding hats. This led to the administrative building being evacuated, but an investigation revealed that the substance was merely baby powder.[19] Following rumors spread over the Internet that a shooting would occur that day, a majority of the student body did not show up to class on March 20. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and San Jose Police Department began a probe into these incidents immediately.[18]

Another instance occurred on January 27, 2012, when a student was detained that Friday morning by the San Jose police after making threats on a social networking site to "shoot up" the school. Rumors of a shooting had already been circulating around the school since Wednesday of that week, prompting the police to search the boy's home and later on Friday, an intensive search for the boy. Lockdown of the school lasted for around one hour and was lifted around 10:30 AM. None of the student body or the staff were injured.[20]

Upon the 2013-2014 school-year, an anonymous hotline was added and emphasized during intercom announcements raising the awareness of increase in bullying, illegal acts, etc.

Academics

Evergreen Valley High School achieved APIs of 863 in 2011 and increased by two leading it to be 865 in 2013, the highest in East Side Union district. U.S. News and World Report recognized the school with a silver award in its Best High Schools 2008 and 2013 list. Their college readiness index stands at 42.6. Evergreen Valley is ranked #1 best high school in the East Side Union District, #155 in the state, and #599 in the nation.[6] In the most recent WASC report of 2013, EVHS was granted a 6 year renewal with a 3-year interim visit.

Biotech Academy

Geared towards relieving the overcrowding at Evergreen Valley High School, the Biotech Academy existed from 2004–06 in portables at the campus of Evergreen Valley College in August 2004, offering a "small school" environment (similar to EVHS's original blueprint) as well as a focus on biotechnology and the opportunity to take more advanced classes, including college classes.[21][22] Laptops and smaller classes were also promised, and delivered after half a year. Students attending the Biotech Academy were still eligible to participate in extracurricular clubs, leadership programs, sports, and activities at Evergreen Valley High School.[23] However, the academy was closed in 2006 due to budget cuts and declining interest. As soon as the Biotech Academy was closed, construction began on a new building in EVHS to handle the overcrowding due to extremely large incoming classes.[11]

AP Courses

Evergreen Valley High School offers the following Advanced Placement Courses:

Demographics

In the 2005–06 school year, out of 2,411 students, 57.6% of all students were of Asian descent (12% of which is Filipino), 23.2% Hispanic, 14.3% White, 4.6% African American, and 0.3% American Indian.[11] As of 2004-2005, the graduation rate is 68.9%.[24] According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the son of actor Don Duong once attended EVHS.[25]

In the 2008-09 school year, out of 2,601 students, 60.5% of all students were of Asian descent (11% of which is Filipino), 24% Hispanic, 10.2% White, 4% African American, 1% Pacific Islander, and 0.3% American Indian. www.ed-data.k12.ca.us[26]

In the 2013-14 school year, 2,715 students were registered with the school, 61% of all students were of Asian descent, 20% were Hispanic, 6% were Caucasian/White, 2% were African American/Black, and 1% were reported as being Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander. 18% of all students were eligible for free or reduced lunch fees and 53% were considered English Language Learners (ELL). [27]

Extracurricular activities

Evergreen Valley has many extracurricular programs. Its musical and performing arts programs include:

The school also has a wind ensemble that performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City in mid-March 2008 and 2012.[28]

Evergreen Valley High School's Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, 2012

Clubs

Evergreen Valley offers a variety of clubs including the

Speech and Debate

Evergreen Valley High School has a strong Speech and Debate team,[29] which attends tournaments in the California Coast Forensics League and on the national circuit. The team had 44 members during its inaugural 2007-2008 season, and has since then grown to over 150 (as of 2015). Students from Evergreen Valley have won tournaments at Stanford and UC Berkeley and qualified to the California State Tournament and the national Tournament of Champions.

Athletics

Evergreen Valley has had a strong athletic tradition since the opening of the school. Sports that are offered are Cross Country, football, cross country skiing, tennis, volleyball, studying, water polo, basketball, mud wrestling, soccer, wrestling, badminton, baseball, softball, swimming, cheerleading, track and field, and golf (as of the 2009–10 school year). The San Francisco Chronicle profiled an EVHS swimmer in April 2005.[30] For the 2006–07 school year, the Blossom Valley Athletic League ranked EVHS fifth out of 22 in the league's "Best of the Best" standings.[31]

Notable Alumni

References

  1. ↑ Valley High School "Evergreen Valley High School". Redfin. 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ "School Directory" (PDF). California Interscholastic Federation. 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Evergreen Valley High School". usnews. 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ Lam, Julia (2005-06-17). "Evergreen Valley seniors celebrate first graduation in school’s history". Evergreen Times (Times Media, Inc.). Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  5. ↑ DeBolt, Daniel (2006-06-16). "Farewell to high school life". Evergreen Times (Times Media, Inc.). Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Evergreen Valley High". US News & World Report. Archived from the original on October 23, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Name chosen for school: Evergreen Valley High". San Jose Mercury News (LexisNexis Academic). October 14, 2000. p. 6B. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  8. ↑ Hansen, Evan (2003-11-12). "Public schools: Why Johnny can't blog". CNET. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
  9. ↑ Suryaraman, Maya (December 4, 2002). "New S.J. school gives every student a laptop". San Jose Mercury News. pp. 1A. Archived from the original on February 21, 2005.
  10. ↑ School Accountability Report Card for EVHS, 2003-2004
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Boone, Ernie et al. (2007-03-01). "WASC Report on Evergreen Valley High School" (PDF). Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  12. ↑ De Jesus, Chelsea (November 5, 2007). "Guidance Counselors...Or Lack There Of". The Prowler (student-run newspaper at Evergreen Valley High School) (HighSchoolJournalism.org). Archived from the original on December 1, 2007.
  13. ↑ Tessler, Joelle (January 23, 2004). "School boundary battle". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1C. Archived from the original on October 12, 2004.
  14. ↑ Tessler, Joelle (March 12, 2004). "Popular high school to expand". San Jose Mercury News. p. 3C. Archived from the original on October 12, 2004.
  15. ↑ "New Facilities, Modernizations & Infrastructure upgrades are progressing" (PDF). Superintendent's Newsletter. East Side Union High School District. March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2006.
  16. ↑ Ha, K. Oanh (2004-07-05). "A new social scene". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on 2004-09-13.
  17. ↑ Rosen, Carol (2006-06-16). "Evergreen Valley High School Principal Tim McDonough to retire". Evergreen Times (Times Media, Inc.). Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Rusk, Karina (2009-03-20). "Feds probing swastika at SJ school". ABC7 News. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  19. ↑ "Suspicious Substance Received At SJ High School ID'd As Baby Powder". KTVU/Bay City News. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  20. ↑ Fernandez, Lisa (January 28, 2012). "San Jose police detain Evergreen Valley High student after shooting threat". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012.
  21. ↑ EVHS newsletter - Aug. 23, 2004
  22. ↑ Baechle, Bea (2004-12-31). "Looking back at 2004 from an Evergreen perspective". Evergreen Times. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  23. ↑ Sortor, Fiona (2004-07-29). "New BioTech Academy aims to ease EVHS overcrowding". Evergreen Times. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  24. ↑ SARC, 2005-2006
  25. ↑ Estrella, Cicero A. (2005-04-30). "'Vietnam's Mel Gibson' thinks 'Time' has come for new start". San Francisco Chronicle. p. E1.
  26. ↑ http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us
  27. ↑ http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-jose/12237-Evergreen-Valley-High-School/?tab=demographics
  28. ↑ Highlander, Bill (2008-02-22). "EVHS Wind Ensemble to perform at Carnegie Hall". Evergreen Times. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  29. ↑ http://evhs-sd.com/
  30. ↑ Robertson, Jordan (2005-04-15). "Evergreen Valley junior overcomes asthma, swims to top". San Francisco Chronicle. pp. F3. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  31. ↑ BVAL
  32. ↑ http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_21046168/matt-stonie-san-jose-college-student-aims-dethrone

External links