Saratoga High School (California)

Saratoga High School
Address
20300 Herriman Avenue
Saratoga, California, 95070
United States
Coordinates 37°15′58″N 122°1′44″W / 37.26611°N 122.02889°WCoordinates: 37°15′58″N 122°1′44″W / 37.26611°N 122.02889°W
Information
Type Public high school
Established 1959
School district Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District
Principal Paul Robinson
Staff 72 (2012-2013)
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,419 (2011-2012)
Color(s)      Red
     Navy Blue
     White
Athletics conference Santa Clara Valley Athletic League
Team name Falcons
Newspaper The Falcon
Yearbook The Talisman
Communities served Saratoga, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos
Feeder schools Redwood Middle School
Website http://www.saratogahigh.org/

Saratoga High School is a public high school in Saratoga, California, United States. It is part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District. The school is jointly accredited by the California Department of Education and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Student enrollment averages around 1350. U.S. News & World Report ranked Saratoga as the 152nd best public high school in America.[1]

Academics

SHS Football Field and Track

Music department

The Saratoga High School Marching Band performed in the 86th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 22, 2012.[2]

Marching Band

The Saratoga High School marching band has over 220 members, which is over 20% of the school population.

Activities

Athletics

Saratoga Falcons

The Saratoga Falcons compete in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) of the CIF Central Coast Section (CCS).

Saratoga Football has won five CIF Central Coast Section championships: 1973, 1976, 1980, 1987, 1996.[3] Because of complaints from residents, lights for the football field were not installed until 2006. In the past, the team has had to play at Los Gatos High School. In April 2006, the Trustees of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District approved permanent lights for the football field.[4] Nearby West Valley College has been blocked from both lights and even stadium seating since the campus was constructed in 1974.[5]

SHS Baseball won a Division II CCS championship in 1999.[6]

In 2009, the girls' varsity tennis team defeated rival Monta Vista High School 5-2 for their first CCS championship in the history of the program and went on to win the title again in 2010.[7]

Chess Team

At the 2005 National Grade Level Chess Championships in Houston, the 9th graders were national champions.([8][9] The team won the NorCal State Championship 6 consecutive years (2004–2010).[10][11]

Drama department

Saratoga High School is also home of International Thespian Society Troupe #6354. Every year, the members of Troupe #6354 travel down to Ontario and participate in multiple events at the Southern California Thespian Conference. The department produces a musical every spring, and a straight play in the fall.

National History Bee and Bowl

Saratoga High School won the National History Bowl academic quiz competition in 2015.

Campus

The school has 8 tennis courts, an all weather track, an artificial turf football field, a quad, and an Olympic-size swimming pool.[12]

McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center

McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center at Saratoga High School.

The McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, a community facility, was completed on the campus around 2005. It was originally planned for the early 1960s but construction was postponed and the funds used for seismic upgrades to the Los Gatos campus. Public and private funds were raised 40 years later and it was scheduled to open in early-2004, but budget and construction delays pushed the completion date back to August, 2005. The center is named after Saratoga residents Eric McAfee and Marguerite McAfee, who donated $1 million toward its construction. The lecture center is now being operated by Adrian Stapleton, a stage tech director.[13]

Suicide of Audrie Pott: Saratoga High School Rape Case

Saratoga High School was the subject of controversy for the alleged sexual assault and the subsequent bullying and suicide of then-15-year-old student Audrie Pott in September 2012.[14][15]

Notable alumni

Notes

  1. ↑ "Saratoga High School in SARATOGA, CA | Best High Schools | US News". Education.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. 2014. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  2. ↑ http://saratogamusic.org/documents/2011nywbf/1-2011_SHS_NYWBF_Invitation.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.cifccs.org/history/footballchamponly.htm
  4. ↑ "Saratoga News - News | 0618 | Wednesday, April 26, 2006". Community-newspapers.com. 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  5. ↑ http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/12.14.00/mpnews3-0050.html
  6. ↑ http://www.cifccs.org/history/baseball.htm#1999
  7. ↑ http://www.cifccs.org/history/tennisgirls.htm#2009
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ http://www.calchess.org/news/2005_12_08_news_story.pdf
  10. ↑ "Chess team breaks six-year win streak at state tournament". Saratoga Falcon. 2011-04-26. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  11. ↑ "Little known chess team aims for sixth straight state championship". Saratoga Falcon. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  12. ↑ Burleigh, Nina. "Sexting, Shame and Suicide." Rolling Stone. September 17, 2013. Retrieved on November 4, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Saratoga News | 0536 | September 7, 2005". Community-newspapers.com. 2005-09-07. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  14. ↑ "New defendant added to suit in Audrie Pott death". Bay City News (Saratoga, California: ABC News). July 26, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Audrie Pott's parents agree to settle with two defendants". Bay City News (Saratoga, California: ABC News). August 9, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2013.

External links