Northgate High School is a public high school in Walnut Creek, California, United States, in the suburban Northgate area. The campus, which was constructed in 1974 and serves approximately 1,500 students in grades 9–12 from Walnut Creek and Concord, is the most recent of five high schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. It gets its name from its position at Mount Diablo State Park’s north entrance.
Proposition 6, a state proposition that would have made it illegal for school boards to dismiss openly gay and lesbian teachers, was debated at the school in September 1978.
The debate was between John Briggs, the initiative’s sponsor, and San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. It was Milk’s last debate before he was assassinated.
A petition to move Northgate to the Acalanes Union High School District was filed in December 2007. The motion was rejected by both the Mt. Diablo school board and the Contra Costa County Office of Education.
Northgate CAPS (Community Advocacy for our Public Schools) launched a new initiative in 2016 to create a new school system that will include Northgate High and its feeder elementary and middle schools.
The Contra Costa County Board of Education held public hearings on the petition on May 2–3, 2017. The county board of education voted against the proposal; the state board of education could also take it up, but as of July 2018, it had not done so.
In 2007, Northgate High School was designated as a distinguished school. The school has 60 licensed teachers on staff. Technology, math, English, foreign language, social science, and art are among the 21 Advanced Placement courses available.
Around 97 percent of graduates enroll in either four-year or two-year colleges and universities. In 2010–2011, the school had a graduation rate of 94 percent.
Northgate does not have any organized academies, unlike several other schools in the Mt. Diablo area. It does, however, include a “pathway” for freshmen in Global Perspectives. Three “threaded” classes (English 1, World History, and Art Design) are taken by a set of students who create links between the material in all three. Project-based learning is intended to reinforce lessons learned in training.
The Northgate High School Athletic Department manages two Diablo Valley Athletic League-affiliated varsity athletic teams (in the North Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation).
Football, cheerleading, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, track and field, softball, water polo, and wrestling are among the activities offered at Northgate.
During the 2013-14 academic year, the school broke ground for a new center that will house a pool for the aquatics teams as well as sports medicine services.
The aquatics facilities were finished in 2015 and are now used for water polo and swim team workouts and meets, as well as a freshmen PE aquatics unit.
The Jack De Rieux Little Theatre, which was remodeled and expanded in 2006, serves as the primary venue for all Northgate performing arts programs.
A Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, two Jazz Bands, Orchestra, and Marching Band make up the instrumental music program (all are regular courses except the extracurricular marching band).
Concert band is the entry-level band, with only 9th grade students participating. Symphonic Band is the main instrumental music group, with members usually in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades.
Orchestra is a string orchestra made up of students of all ages; prior experience with private teachers or Orchestra in middle school is required.
They also have a choir program and a drama program.
None of the classrooms had permanent walls when the school was built; instead, they had half-high walls that could be relocated to allow more space if needed. Since the concept was deemed a fire threat, classrooms were later retrofitted with partitions.
In schools, movable walls were replaced by full-height walls. Following the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the school was forced to close for several months due to the discovery of asbestos.
Portable classrooms were used on the school premises and the old Castle Rock Elementary grounds during the 1990–91 school year.
Walnut Creek, California is blessed with some of the area’s top high schools. Here’s a quick list for you to check out:
All of these wonderful schools are located just a short distance from our location at 1777 Botelho Drive, Suite 110 in Walnut Creek! Stop by for a visit anytime!
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