Piedmont High School (California)


Piedmont High School is a public high school located in Piedmont, California, United States. Piedmont High School is part of the Piedmont Unified School District.
Piedmont High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education. Piedmont High School was also a California Distinguished School. Piedmont has a widely known Bird Calling Contest. This contest dates back to 1963.

Background

Piedmont High School offers ninth through twelfth grade.
Many families move into Piedmont for the schools once their children reach school-age.
Piedmont's colors are purple and white, and its mascot, the Highlander, reflects the school's Scottish heritage.

History

In September 1922, the Piedmont Unified School District opened the city's first high school. It was funded by a bond passed by voters in 1920.
Piedmont High School was the last public school in California to require uniforms, which disappeared in the 1970s.
The social scene was once dominated by social clubs, which resembled college sororities and fraternities, reminiscent of Lindsay Lohan's Mean Girls. While the social clubs raised money the organizations with which they were affiliated, their charitable exterior was just a front for what they really were, mainly drinking clubs. The male clubs died out in the mid-1990s when they grew irrelevant, but the female social clubs didn't end until 2004 when the incoming senior class exhibited overwhelming indifference and distaste for retaining the tradition. ”The school was covered in the New York Times when in the mid-1990s it began breathalyzing all students before dances.
The school was the site for anti-semitic graffiti and hate speech in 2017 as well as the FSL, or the Fantasy Slut League, in 2012.

Campus

Piedmont High School has an open campus, and students can leave during brunch, lunch, and unscheduled periods. The campus is between Piedmont Park on the right of the school and Piedmont Middle School and Witter Field on the left.
The center of campus is a grassy area referred to as "the quad." The quad is center of campus, connecting the Alan Harvey Theatre, the library, the cafeteria and student center, and the amphitheatre. Classes are scattered around campus, with the music and science buildings the furthest apart.
The campus was originally built on a portion of Piedmont Park, and dog-walking trails behind the school connect to the park.

Architecture

The school was built in 1921 in a neoclassical design, part of the same plan that built the Piedmont city's Exedra. Since its design by architect W.H. Weeks, the school has undergone several reconstructions, for reasons such as expansion, earthquake retrofitting, and combatting dry rot.
In 1974, the school was declared unsafe, under state earthquake laws. It was demolished, and three new classroom buildings and a gymnasium were built. The original library, quad, and administration buildings were rehabilitated.
Reconstruction in the 1970s reflected the "back-to-nature" look popular at the time, using wood instead of shingles. The school's "breezeway," an open, wide corridor running between the school's main buildings, exemplifies this.
The last construction was an expansion of the gymnasium, during the 2003-2004 school year, to include an entrance room that also displays trophies. The school has undergone further construction in accord with Measure E, which issued $56 million in bonds to the reconstruction of school facilities to meet earthquake safety guidelines.

Academics

Piedmont High School is an academically strong school, scoring a 10 out of 10 for test scores at the website GreatSchools.net. In 2008, it was ranked in the top 100 schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school newspaper reported that the average of GPA of 2006's graduating class was 3.47.

Courses

Advanced Placement

As of 2009-2010, the school offers the following AP courses.
In addition, honors courses in physics, chemistry, and statistics are offered.

Creative and performing arts

Art classes come in various fields: music, visual art, drama, dance. The school also produces a musical every year.

Electives

Other electives offered include Clan-O-Log and the Piedmont Highlander, law and society, public speaking, multiple computer classes and creative writing.

Foreign language

Spanish, French and Mandarin are the only three foreign language courses that are offered, and American Sign Language is offered over the summer. In 2007-2008 an AP Mandarin course was added. Prior to the 2007-2008 school year, Mandarin classes ranged from Mandarin I to Mandarin V. The Mandarin program was added in 1995-1996, when it replaced German.

Recent changes

2006-2007
An AP European History course was added, while the junior-level course Honors Chemistry was opened to qualifying sophomores.
2007-2008
The current Mandarin V was replaced by AP Mandarin.
The science curriculum changed from the system of "Integrated Science" to specific subjects, such as biology. In the old system, student took Integrated Science I as freshmen, Integrated Science II as sophomores, and either chemistry or honors chemistry as juniors. The new system allows incoming freshmen to choose between physical science and biology. The options are shown in detail below:
GradeFor most studentsFor students demonstrating strong interest in scienceFor students showing mastery of middle school science
9thphysical sciencephysical sciencebiology
10thbiologybiology, and
chemistry or honors chemistry		honors chemistry
11thchemistry or honors chemistry, and
optional second science elective		honors chemistryup to two science electives
12thup to two science electives up to two science electives up to two science electives

ROP-funded journalism, sports medicine, and biotechnology were added.
Also, math progression was clearly defined as follows
GradeFor students less adept in mathematicsFor students proficient in mathematicsFor students advanced in mathematics
9thAlgebra IGeometryAlgebra II
10thGeometryAlgebra IIMath Analysis
11thAlgebra IIMath AnalysisAP Calculus AB
12thMath AnalysisAP Calculus ABAP Calculus BC

Graduation requirements

Four years of English are required to graduate, as well as two years of math, and completion of two years of Laboratory Science. In addition, all students must take one year of an art class, one year of foreign language, one semester of any computer class, and one semester of social psychology. Freshmen are required to take physical education unless they are nationally ranked in a sport. Sophomore and junior year, only one semester each year is required, which can be replaced by one season of a school sport.
The minimum graduation requirements are as follows:
The school decided to form its own honors society following the 2005-2006 school year. The new group, the Piedmont Honors Society, has a GPA cut-off of 3.60. In addition, there is a community service requirement of 15 pre-approved hours for sophomores, 25 for juniors, and 35 for seniors. The class of 2007 is the last class to maintain eligibility and membership with CSF.

School publications

The school newspaper is the Piedmont Highlander and the yearbook is the Pride, but was known as the Clan-O-Log until 2017. Both have existed since the early decades of Piedmont High history, and participants of each publication are involved by taking the offered course. In 2006, the Highlander placed sixth in the National Scholastic Press Association's Best of Show contest. In 2007, the library's Teen Advisory Board revived publication of the literary magazine The Highland Piper, which had last been published in the 1970s. Publication has since been discontinued.

Demographics

The majority of the student body is White, 68 percent, and Asian, 22 percent. In 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle highlighted the lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity in Piedmont in a Sunday front-page story. Comparing schools in Oakland and Piedmont, the article wrote that "wealth has created separate and unequal schools in Bay Area and elsewhere."
The majority of high school students have lived in Piedmont since elementary school. As in the surrounding cities, only residents of the city can attend school at the district, unless a parent is a district employee.

Library

At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, the library set up the Teen Advisory Board, a group for students to contribute to the library through writing book reviews, recommending purchases, buying books, decorating the library, organizing library events, and publishing a literary magazine. The literary magazine, The Highland Piper, was launched in the spring of 2007 to publish student original writing. It took its name from the school literary magazine published in the 1930s. It was last printed in June 2009, but a new edition is planned for spring 2014.

Bird Calling Contest

Piedmont High is home to the nationally known Leonard J. Waxdeck Bird Calling Contest. Winners of the contest have been featured on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The contest was started in 1963 by biology teacher Leonard J. Waxdeck.

Sports

PHS offers a variety of varsity and junior varsity sports. In addition, many Piedmont students participate in the national championship-winning rowing team Oakland Strokes; at least one Piedmont graduate, Scott Gault, has competed in the Olympics and World Rowing Championships.

Fall

Piedmont High football ex-coaches Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries created the A-11 offense, a controversial football offense in which any of the 11 players on the field is eligible. The offense relies on confusion, and its unconventional look can wreak havoc on even bigger, stronger and faster teams.
In 2004 and 2005, the nationally ranked women's basketball team won two consecutive division IV state championships.
In 2005, the men's varsity Cross Country team became the only men's team to win a state title in the history of the school.
In 2010, Piedmont lacrosse posted a 15-7 record and won a regular season BSAL championship.
In 2011, the boys tennis team finished the season as BSAL League champs, not having lost a league match in 11 straight years.
PHS uses the Highlander, a kilt-clad Scotsman caricature playing the bagpipes, as its mascot.

Notable alumni