Live Oak High School (Morgan Hill, California)

Live Oak High School

Electronic signboard on East Main Avenue in front of Live Oak High School

Live Oak High School's electronic signboard
Address
1505 East Main Ave.
Morgan Hill, California
United States
Coordinates 37°08′52″N 121°38′08″W / 37.1477°N 121.6355°WCoordinates: 37°08′52″N 121°38′08″W / 37.1477°N 121.6355°W
Information
Type Public
School district Morgan Hill Unified School District
Principal Lloyd Webb
Grades 9–12
Color(s) Forest Green and Harvest Gold
        
Slogan Go Nuts!!
Mascot Acorn
Newspaper The Oak Leaf
Website http://liveoakhs.ca.campusgrid.net

Live Oak High School (LOHS) is a public high school located in Morgan Hill, California. Live Oak is part of the Morgan Hill Unified School District.

History

Live Oak Union High School was established in 1904. Montgomery Hall was used to house the pupils for the first term. Construction of the first permanent facilities were completed in 1905. At the organization of Live Oak Union, Highland, Burnett, San Martin, Machado and Morgan Hill rural school districts were included, and, in August, 1921, Coyote, Llagas and Uvas districts were added. The name was later changed to Live Oak High School after the Morgan Hill Unified School District was established, which combined the aforementioned rural elementary school districts.

The school was moved from 80 West Central Avenue to its present location at 1505 East Main Avenue in 1975. The former campus on West Central Avenue was renamed and established as Lewis H. Britton Middle School. Due to the establishment of Britton Middle School, from 1979 Live Oak High School consisted only of grades 10-12, but as of fall of 2004, it once again functions as a four-year high school.

Academics

Testing

Athletics

Live Oak plays in the Blossom Valley Athletic League (BVAL) of the Central Coast Section (CCS) .

Sports

Fall sports — Cross country (co-ed, American football (freshman/sophomore, varsity), field hockey (junior varsity, varsity), golf (girls), tennis (girls), volleyball (girls junior varsity, varsity), and water polo (boys and girls junior varsity, varsity).

Winter sports — Basketball (boys and girls junior varsity, varsity), soccer (boys and girls junior varsity, varsity), wrestling (co-ed).

Spring sports — Badminton (co-ed), baseball, diving, golf (boys), rugby,[1] softball (junior varsity, varsity), swimming (boys and girls), tennis (boys), track and field (co-ed), volleyball (boys junior varsity, varsity).

Clubs

Clubs include Anime Club, Black Student Union (BSU), Christian Club, California Scholarship Federation (CSF), Colorguard, Drama Guild, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Future Farmers of America, French Club, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), Hip-Hop Club, Honors, Interact Club, International Club, Lacrosse Club, Magic Club, Mock Trial, MeChA, Native Tribes United, Patriot Club, Roller Hockey Club, Rugby Club, Teach for Tomorrow, Video Game Club.

The Oak Leaf

The Oak Leaf is Live Oak High School's newspaper that covers school-related events, voices student opinion, and spotlights exceptional students and faculty. The monthly paper is the product of student writers, photographers, editors, and page designers. In recent years, however, due to lack of funding, publication of the paper has been in decline.

Emerald Regime marching band

The Live Oak Emerald Regime marching band is a competing marching band in the Western Band Association "Class AA" division. Its uniform colors are the same as the school's — green and gold.

It originated in the summer of 1970 with 36 members, led by Michael Rubino and Cricket Hathaway. At first, the band was primarily for local band reviews and the Live Oak High School football games at the old campus (the current Britton Middle School campus). In 1976, the band received the Grand National Championship award in Whitewater, Wisconsin, winning "best winds", "best marching", and "best general effect". The Emerald Regime took the same award again in 1978.

Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, the Emerald Regime was very strong in its performances, winning numerous awards and embarking on many trips to numerous countries. The program calls a band trip a "Journey of a Lifetime".

Michael Rubino retired in 1998, and Jeff Wilson took his place. Despite this change in leadership, the band continued its tradition of excellence, continuing to travel to many different locations and winning many awards. In 2003, Greg Bergantz became the director of the bands at Live Oak High School. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the financial support for music programs in the Morgan Hill Unified School District diminished, and with the opening of Ann Sobrato High School, the numbers of the Emerald Regime slowly reduced the band's size from the "AAA" division to the "A" division in the WBA.

The band was best remembered for several memorable "Journeys of a Lifetime," two of which occurred in 1987. The Emerald Regime's first major trip was to China, where the Emerald Regime was the first marching band to march on the Great Wall of China. As a result of that trip, the band took a trip to New York City, where the members marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[2] In 1990 the Emerald Regime also toured and played concerts in the Soviet Union during the waning days of that communist regime, with performances in Moscow, Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad), and Estonia.

Current leadership

The current director, Jason Locsin, is an Emerald Regime alumnus and a 2002 Live Oak graduate. Since 2008 he has been working to increase the numbers of the Emerald Regime and has managed to do so . He, along with his staff, have helped lead the Emerald Regime to three straight Class A championship wins. For the 2010 season, the Emerald Regime swept first place and all caption awards in class "A" at the WBA Championships. They also went undefeated all that season, winning first place and all caption awards in Class "A" at the competitions they attended.

Cinco de Mayo incident

On May 5, 2010, five LOHS students arrived at school wearing T-shirts and bandanas bearing emblems of the American flag.[3] The school's administrators, led either by Principal Nicholas L. Boden or Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez (reports vary as to which), sent home four of them for refusing to remove the T-shirts on the Pueblan holiday of Cinco de Mayo. School officials deemed the garments "incendiary" and "disrespectful," fearing that displaying the American flag would incite fights with the Mexican-American student body. The four students were told they could choose to change their clothes or go home for the day.[4][5][6][7]

Some of Live Oak's Mexican-American students said that they felt disrespected by the boys' action and demanded an apology. One Mexican-American student stated, "I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day. We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."[4]

The boys and their parents were livid over the school's actions, defending the students' right to wear the American flag. They alerted the local media to the event.[4]

The Morgan Hill Unified School District bureaucratically distanced itself from the actions of Live Oak school officials, characterizing the incident as "extremely unfortunate" and stating the matter was under investigation.[8] The school district superintendent, Dr. Wesley Smith, said, "While campus safety is our primary concern and administrators made decisions yesterday in an attempt to ensure campus safety, students should not, and will not, be disciplined for wearing patriotic clothing."[5][9][10][11]

On May 6, approximately 200 Hispanic teens, most of whom were Live Oak High School students, walked out of their classes and marched through the downtown and to city hall in protest of what they regarded as disrespect from their American-flag-wearing peers. The crowd carried Mexican flags and sported the red, white and green of Mexico's national emblem. Two days later, a crowd of students led by several Hispanic students gathered in the amphitheater and held an anti-racism rally advocating acceptance and tolerance among the students.[6]

On May 7, the school district held a press conference regarding the incident, in which Boden apologized for the school administration's handling of the incident and explained why it handled it in the way that it did.[12]

On May 8, 100 members of the local Tea Party movement chapter protested in Morgan Hill in support of the four students.[13]

On May 10, the ACLU of Northern California sent a letter to the Morgan Hill Schools Superintendent protesting that the students' First Amendment rights had been violated and asking that the School District "take additional steps to inform students that their rights to free speech will be respected in the future".[14] On May 11, about 250 people attended the scheduled school board meeting.[15] More than 30 people addressed the board about the incident, while many parents in attendance either cheered in unity or booed in opposition to the opinions expressed therein.[16]

On November 8, 2011 Chief United States District Court for the Northern District of California Judge James Ware of San Francisco dismissing the students' lawsuit.[17] While public school students have the right to engage in non-disruptive free speech, that right "does not require that school officials wait until disruption occurs before they act," Ware said in dismissing the students' lawsuit.[18] The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco affirmed, finding that when limiting school speech it does not matter if a substantial disruption is being caused by the speaker or by the listeners’ reaction.[19] Petition for rehearing en banc was denied with three judges dissenting, decrying their colleges for giving in to the heckler's veto.[20] The student’s final appeal to the United States Supreme Court was denied without comment.[21]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ http://www.liveoakrugby.tk
  2. ↑ Live Oak Emerald Regime History http://www.emeraldregime.org/history.htm
  3. ↑ Phillips, Joseph C. (May 9, 2010). "Joseph C. Phillips: Of Flags and Cinco de Mayo". Opinion/Reviews. HipHop Republican. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Kiriyama, Georgia (May 6, 2010). "Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees". NBC Bay Area.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Miller, Joshua Rhett (May 6, 2010). "California Students Sent Home for Wearing U.S. Flags on Cinco de Mayo". Fox News.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bryant, Lindsay (May 6, 2010). "Hispanic students march through downtown for respect". Morgan Hill Times.
  7. ↑ "Live Oak High School Morgan Hill T-Shirt!". LALATE. May 6, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  8. ↑ Morgan Hill Unified School District (May 5, 2010). "MHUSD Official Press Release Regarding May 5th Activities - 5/5/10 PM Edition". Breaking News. Morgan Hill Unified School District. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  9. ↑ Smith, Dr. Wesley (May 6, 2010). "Email to MHUSD Employees - 5/6/10". Breaking News. Morgan Hill Unified School District. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  10. ↑ Morgan Hill Unified School District (May 6, 2010). "Message Sent Home to Parents via Autodialer Message System - 5/6/10". Breaking News. Morgan Hill Unified School District. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  11. ↑ Morgan Hill Unified School District (May 6, 2010). "Message Sent Home to Parents via Autodialer Message System - 5/6/10 - Spanish Version". Breaking News (in Spanish). Morgan Hill Unified School District. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  12. ↑ Boden, Nicholas L. "MHUSD Press Conference Regarding May 5th Activities & Principal's Apology to the Live Oak Community" (PDF). Breaking News. Morgan Hill Unified School District. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  13. ↑ Bryant, Lindsay (May 8, 2010). "Tea Partiers rally in support of LOHS students, America". Morgan Hill Times.
  14. ↑ Harumi Mass, Julia (11 May 2010). "Students' American Flag T-Shirts Are Protected Speech". Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  15. ↑ (PDF) http://www.mhu.k12.ca.us/documents/Board_Agendas/100511%20Agenda.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ Bryant, Lindsay (May 12, 2010). "Hundreds gather at school board meeting to address Live Oak T-shirt flap". Morgan Hill Times.
  17. ↑ Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified Sch. Dist., 822 F. Supp. 2d 1037 (N.D. Cal. 2011).
  18. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/cinco-de-mayo-american-flag-shirts-banned-court-decision_n_1092920.html
  19. ↑ Volokh, Eugene (27 February 2014). "Not Safe to display American flag in American high school". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  20. ↑ Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School Dist., 745 F.3d 354 (9th Cir. 2014).
    Volokh, Eugene (17 September 2014). "Not safe to display American flag in American high school — denial of rehearing en banc". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
    Owens, Eric (19 September 2014). "Happy Constitution Day! Ninth Circuit Affirms That It’s Illegal To Wear American Flag Shirts On Cinco De Mayo". Daily Caller. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  21. ↑ Richey, Warren (30 March 2015). "Does wearing American flag incite violence? Supreme Court lets stand ruling.". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
    "Justices reject appeal by US flag-wearing students". Town Hall. Assocaited Press. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.

External links