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California High School
California High School
Location
	9870 Broadmoor Drive; San Ramon, California 94583; United States
Coordinates	37°44′48″N 121°56′46″W / 37.74667°N 121.94611°W
Information
Type	Public
Established	1973
CEEB code	053229
Principal	Demetrius Ball
Teaching staff	111.75 FTEs
Enrollment	2,869 (2023–2024)
Student to teacher ratio	25.67
Color(s)	Black and orange
Athletics conference	East Bay Athletic League
Nickname	Cal, Cal High, The Grizzlies
Team name	The Fighting Grizzlies
Newspaper	The Californian
Website	www.calhigh.net

California High School (commonly referred to as Cal High) is one of two public high schools located in San Ramon, California, United States (Dougherty Valley High School is the other). It is one of four high schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District and serves students from the western portion of San Ramon and the unincorporated area of Norris Canyon. Its mascot is the grizzly bear.

As of the 2014–15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,639 students and 107.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 24.5:1. There were 78 students (3.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 39 (1.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.^[3]

Cal High's athletic rivals are Monte Vista High School and San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, and De La Salle High School in Concord, California.

Campus

Cal has an all-weather track and an aquatic center, including a multi-use athletic stadium and fields (football, soccer, lacrosse, and track and field). Outside, there are six tennis courts, four baseball/softball fields including one baseball field and one softball field intended for games, and an indoor gym and stadium. In 2004, a two-story, ten-classroom building was completed and was designated the World Language building. In 2006, the school added a new main building (67 classrooms on 3 stories) and a new library. In 2007, the school completed a new careers and technology building, student quad, and counseling building. In 2008, the new fine arts building was completed. In March 2010, a second gymnasium was completed on the site of outdoor basketball courts, called the Event Center. In April 2010, a new theater, which was under renovation for three years, opened. It has nine classrooms and is fully fitted with a video production studio and sound room, and an art gallery to display student work. Cal high has a large student and faculty parking area, though demand exceeds available space.^[4] In light of this, many of the streets around the school are permit parking zones. Cal High also has a recently renovated weight room, equipped with lifting machines and 12 fully stocked Olympic weightlifting cages used mainly by the football team and weightlifting class. Twelve years of construction were concluded with the installation of SunPower solar panels over the back parking lot in the summer of 2011.

Schedule

Unlike other schools in the district, Cal High operates on a block schedule. Classes are 95 minutes long from Monday through Friday. The base schedule consists of six 95-minute periods; students have three classes per school day. Odd-numbered classes are on one day and even numbered classes the next. Some students opt to add an extra 60-minute "B-period" class to their schedule. B-period classes meet on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for 60 minutes from 2:40-3:40 pm.^[5] Students have a designated "tutorial" period after their first period of the day and lasts for 30 minutes. During this time period, they can read, study, collaborate on work, or get help from teachers. There is no tutorial on Wednesday, hence the day is shorter ending at 2:05 pm.

Awards and recognition

During the 2006–07 school year, California High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,^[6] the highest award an American school can receive.^[7]^[8]

Cal High's student-run monthly newspaper is The Californian. The first school newspaper, The Bear Facts, was started in 1973.

California High School was ranked No. 250 in the top 500 US high schools by Newsweek in 2011,^[9] placing it within the top 1.5% of the over 18,000 high schools in the United States.^[10] In 2005, Cal High was a California Distinguished School.^[11]

In 2020, the California High School National History Bowl Team won 2nd place. They subsequently won 4th place in 2021.^[12]

In 2024, the California High School Men's Tennis Team, coached by Manny Vasquez (Varsity Head Coach), and Ron Jow (Junior Varsity Head Coach), won the CIF Northern Section, becoming the best high school tennis team in Northern California.^[13]

Notable people

Alumni

David Bingham (2008) – Major League Soccer player for Charlotte FC.^[14]
Colby Buzzell (1995) – Author of multiple books and well-distributed magazine articles^[15]
Chuck Cary (1978) Professional baseball player^[16]
David Klech (2006) American track and field athlete^[17]
Sandy LaBeaux (1978) – professional football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Gamblers^[18]
Chris Verhulst (1984) – NFL Professional Football Player Houston Oilers (1988–1989), Denver Broncos (1990)^[19]
Andrew Wiedeman (2007) – Former professional soccer player^[20]
Ryan Wright (2018) – NFL Professional Football player, punter^[21]
Sam Shapira (2010) - Dropout^{[citation needed]}

Faculty

Tony Sanchez – Head football coach from 2004 to 2008. Went on to coach the Bishop Gorman High School (Nevada) and University of Nevada, Las Vegas football programs. Sanchez turned around California High "from doormat status to a berth in the North Coast Section finals," according to ESPN.^[22]

Gallery

Memorial sign
The science building (pre-2008/09 renovation)
The foreign language building
The library and main building

References

^ United States Geological Survey (November 9, 1995). "GNIS Detail - California High School". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
^ "California High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c School data for California High, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^ http://www.chs.srvusd.k12.ca.us/CHSHOMEPAGE/facilities.html Archived October 4, 2006, at the Wayback Machine — California High School website: "Facilities"
^ California High School Official Site
^ U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 2003 through 2006 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Retrieved May 11, 2006.
^ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department Archived August 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
^ Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005. "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
^ "Newsweek rankings of the top US high schools". Newsweek. June 19, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
^ "High Schools in the U.S." (PDF). National High School Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 3, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
^ "Message From Principal". Archived from the original on September 22, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
^ Marshall. "2020-2021 Bowl Results". National History Bee & Bowl - High School Division. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
^ "CIF - Northern Section". CIF - Northern Section. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
^ "Earthquakes' David Bingham in hunt for perfection". The Mercury News. February 19, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
^ Nevius, C.W. (September 13, 2005). "'My War' -- a soldier's wild ride". SFGate. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
^ "California High School - Hall of Fame". chs.srvusd.net. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
^ "Klech in pursuit of 'a fresh start' / Ex-prep star leaving UCLA". SFGate. June 16, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
^ "Houston-Gamblers.com".
^ "2002 Hall of Fame Inductees". Chico State Athletics. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
^ Eiges, Brandon (February 5, 2010). "Alumnus turns pro in soccer". The Californian. p. A1.
^ Smith, Guerry (November 5, 2021). "Spectacular specialist: Tulane punter Ryan Wright having tremendous senior season". NOLA.com. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
^ Sherman, Mitch (October 4, 2013). "Sanchez sets bar at Bishop Gorman". ESPN. Retrieved April 13, 2015.