- La Sierra High School
Infobox_School
name = La Sierra High School
location = 4145 La Sierra Avenue
Riverside flagicon|California|size=20pxCalifornia
flagicon|USA|size=20pxUnited States
motto = "Soaring high with pride."
established = 1969
type = Public
principal = Doctor Robert Cunard
mascot =Eagle
colors=color box|navy Navy
color box|white White
website= [http://www.alvord.k12.ca.us/LaSierra/index.html La Sierra High] |La Sierra High School, located in Riverside,
California ,United States , is a public high school in theAlvord Unified School District that was founded onAugust 28 ,1969 . As of 2008 Dr. Robert Cunard serves as the principal.The two main feeder schools for La Sierra High are Arizona Intermediate and Villegas Intermediate schools. La Sierra's rival is
Norte Vista High School , the other public high school in Alvord Unified.History
La Sierra High School is opened in 1969 with Dr. William Conlon as the first principal. It was a mainly white middle-class school with only about 1500 students. Arizona Middle School was the only feeder middle school.
After Dr. Conlon left for a position at the district office, Mr. Menzia (who came from Norte Vista) became the second principal. After retiring, Dr. Marc Jackson became principal. After only two years, he left and interim principals were put into place. Dr. Robert Cunard, from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, became the current principal.
Some other changes include student demographics. Although the majority of La Sierra students are still middle-class, 27% use free/reduced price lunch. 55% of the students are Hispanic, making up the majority of English-Learners.
La Sierra was originally built over a swamp. That is why when it rains a lot there are such large puddles in the fields for a few days.
Recent events
In 2005, La Sierra High was awarded a 6-year clear accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, making La Sierra High the first comprehensive high school in the entire Inland Empire to earn this distinction.
As of the 2007-2008 school year, approximately 3200 students attend La Sierra High. Many of the 2007-2008 valedictorians have joined some of the nation's top universities, e.g. University of California Berkeley,the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Dartmouth College.Fact|date=June 2008
Hillcrest High School, which was supposed to open in 2009, will eventually be built in order to relieve crowding at La Sierra but has not finished yet, but when it does many students will be forced to go there.
Academics and test scores
Academics
La Sierra offers 16 AP Courses in Art Portfolio, Biology, Calculus (AB and BC), Chemistry, Economics, Environmental Science, English Language, English Literature, European History, French Language, Government, Physics B, Spanish Language,Spanish Literature, Statistics, and U.S. History. La Sierra hopes to adopt a Computer Science course within the next few years.
Test scores
API
As of 2005, La Sierra High School has increased its API to 715 from the 2004 base score of 679. Although it met the schoolwide growth target, it did not meet the state subgroup growth targets. To encourage schools to improve achievement for all students, the state computes APIs and sets improvement targets for the different student subgroups at the school.
According to the California Department of Education, the teachers at La Sierra have 11.1 average teaching experience and have spent an average of 10 years teaching in the Alvord Unified School District (as of 2005-2006 school year). The average class size is ~ 34.
tudents
*Breakdown by ethnicity Fact|date=February 2007
*Home languages of English learners Fact|date=February 2007
chool colors
La Sierra High School's official school colors are blue and white. Red is the unofficial color recently added.
Notable Alumni
Jesse James (founder of West Coast Choppers)
References
External links
*
* [http://www.alvord.k12.ca.us/LaSierra/index.html La Sierra High School]
* [http://www.lasierrarunning.com La Sierra Cross Country and Track]
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