Campbell Union High School District

The Campbell Union High School District, referred to as the CUHSD, is a school district in the greater San Jose, California, USA area, including Campbell and Saratoga. Its five main campuses, Branham, Del Mar, Leigh, Prospect, and Westmont, serve more than 7800 students, and employ 550 teachers and staff. Recently, all of those five campuses have become distinguished schools. As of 2007, the superintendent is Rhonda Farber.

Its official site is [http://www.cuhsd.org http://www.cuhsd.org] .

The following are schools operated by the CUHSD:Note: Student enrollment figures based on 2002-2003 school year data

Administration

As of 2007, the superintendent of the district is Rhonda Farber. The five-member Board of Trustees, which establishes policies for the district includes Matthew Dean, Diane Gordon, Royce Peterson, Pam Parker, and Margie Mitchell. Members are elected to staggered four-year terms. [http://www.cuhsd.org/board/index.htm]

History

Campbell Union High School District was organized on August 13, 1900. The first high school to open its doors as part of the district was Campbell High School (now closed) on September 14, 1900 with a registration of 35 students, consisting of 23 girls and 12 boys. Two teachers were hired to educate the students: Professor E. A. Powers and Miss J. M. Newton. The first graduating class was one student, Charles Beardsley, who went on to Stanford and became a lawyer, thus proving Campbell High School's academic merit. [http://www.campbell.net/history/index.shtml]

In the late '50s, the district began to plan for the baby boom after World War II, and began building additional campuses. First was Del Mar, which was begun in 1957, after which followed Blackford (now closed under that name) in '59, Leigh in '60, then Westmont in '61, Branham in '66, and Prospect in '68. The largest campus is Leigh, the smallest is Prospect. Most of the campuses built in that era follow the same general design plan, including a quad as an important fixture, and rows of wings of classrooms. [http://www.cuhsd.org/ltfip/history.html] The superintendent of the CUHSD at the time of the district's expansion, Larry Hill, made a deal with the brickyard adjacent to Del Mar High School, (which is now Del Mar's football Bowl), to get the 'clinker' bricks at a discount. These were used in all the schools the district was building at the time, which is why many of the older buildings have a lot of brick in them. [http://www.cuhsd.org/ltfip/hist_del.html]

Larry Hill, (a.k.a. Laurance J. Hill), was also Campbell High School's principal, beginning in 1946, and is credited with much of the district's growth and planning in his years in office, which ended in 1969. An award in his name is given out every year at each high school in the district.

Campbell High School, although the namesake school of the district, was closed in 1982, because of declining enrollment in the area and in the district. Westmont and Del Mar's attendance boundaries subsequently expanded to pick up the slack. In 1985, after some negotiating, the City of Campbell purchased the campus, including the historic Heritage Theater, (built in 1938), and it became the Campbell Community Center. [http://www.ci.campbell.ca.us/heritagetheatre/history.htm]

Branham High School was closed in 1990 and leased to Valley Christian until 1999, when the district decided it should be reopened. The result of its closure is that many of the other schools in the district still use equipment designated as belonging to Branham, although it is now open again. The first year Branham only had classes of freshmen and sophomores. The redistricting that took place for Branham in 1999 affected Leigh and Del Mar the most, the attendance boundaries stretching north to Campbell, and west to Camden. [http://www.cuhsd.org//downloads/boundary_map.pdf]

Blackford as a comprehensive high school closed in 1990, and became a continuation high school. In 2002, the district built a new facility on the same site as Blackford, and moved the continuation high school there, renaming it Boynton, after its street address. [http://www.svcn.com/archives/campbellreporter/12.19.01/campus-0151.html] They now lease out the Blackford campus to various other tenants. [http://www.cuhsd.org/ltfip/hist_bla.html]

Technology

All of the computers in the district access the internet through the district's network, which can dramatically slow down any transferring of large files anywhere in the network. As of 2005, the district installed a firewall, which blocks sites deemed not appropriate to be accessed at school, including Myspace, among others. This has caused some controversy, and a great deal of debate, at all the schools affected.

All teachers have a district email account, which is run from the servers at the district office, and all teachers enter grades electronically through AERIES, a grade reporting program that then allows students and parents to check their grades online. [http://www.cuhsd.org/aeries.htm] The district also has its schools on SchoolLoop, which allows teachers to communicate with students over the internet. [http://help.schoolloop.com/cuhsd.htm]

Contact Information

: Campbell Union High School District: 3235 Union Avenue: San Jose, CA 95124: [phone]: [e-mail]: [http://www.cuhsd.org http://www.cuhsd.org]

References

* Miskulin, George F. "A History of The Campbell Union High School District (1900-1988)". pp. 25-26.
* The [http://www.cuhsd.org CUHSD website]
* The History of Campbell High Schools on [http://www.campbell.net/history/index.shtml Campbell.net]

External links

* [http://www.cuhsd.org Campbell Union High School District] (official website)
* [http://www.boynton.cuhsd.org Boynton High School] (official website)
* [http://www.branham.cuhsd.org Branham High School] (official website)
* [http://www.delmar.cuhsd.org Del Mar High School] (official website)
* [http://www.leigh.cuhsd.org Leigh High School] (official website)
* [http://www.prospect.cuhsd.org Prospect High School] (official website)
* [http://www.westmont.cuhsd.org Westmont High School] (official website)
* [http://www.cuhsd.org//downloads/boundary_map.pdf Attendance Boundaries]