Menlo-Atherton High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
555 Middlefield Road , 94027 | |
Coordinates | 37°27′40″N122°10′30″W / 37.46111°N 122.17500°W |
Information | |
Type | public comprehensive |
Motto | Strength in Diversity |
Established | 1951 |
School district | Sequoia Union High School District |
Principal | Karl Losekoot |
Faculty | 112.91 (FTE) [1] |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 2,125 (2022–23) [1] |
Student to teacher ratio | 18.82 [1] |
Color(s) | Maroon Gold |
Nickname | Bears |
Publication | M-A Chronicle, The Mark |
Feeder schools | Hillview Middle School, La Entrada Middle School, Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School |
Website | www.mabears.org |
Menlo-Atherton High School (known as M-A to locals [2] ) is a four-year public high school secondary school located in Atherton, California. Menlo-Atherton is part of the Sequoia Union High School District. [3]
Menlo-Atherton has been named one of the top secondary schools in the nation by the United States Department of Education as part of its National School Recognition Program. It was selected as a California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education in 2007 and 2013. [4] [5] In 2005, Newsweek ranked the school as the 259th best school in the United States. [6] Menlo-Atherton also offers the most Advanced Placement courses in the district with 24, ranging from Studio Art to US History. [7]
Since the closure of Ravenswood High School, Menlo-Atherton has been racially diverse, drawing from Atherton, Menlo Park, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, and Portola Valley. The school's motto is "Strength in Diversity". [8]
Typically, 97% of graduates continue their education. 37% opt for two-year colleges, 60% go to four-year colleges. [3]
M-A offers the following Advanced Placement courses: Art History; Biology; Calculus AB/BC; Chinese Language; Chemistry; Computer Science A; Computer Science Principles; English Language/Composition; English Literature; Environmental Science; French Language; Latin; Physics; Psychology; Spanish Language; Spanish Literature (approximately every other year); Statistics; Studio Art; and US History. M-A has an 77% pass rate on AP exams, [9] with 41% scoring a 5. [10] It also has the Advanced Via Individual Determination program and the Computer Academy, programs for students seeking a smaller, supportive learning environment. [3]
GPA Range | Number of Students | Percent |
---|---|---|
4.2 and above | 76 | 15% |
3.8-4.19 | 106 | 22% |
3.4-3.79 | 80 | 16% |
3.0-3.39 | 60 | 12% |
2.6-2.99 | 48 | 10% |
2.2-2.59 | 63 | 13% |
2.0-2.19 | 17 | 3% |
Below 2.0 | 42 | 9% |
Menlo-Atherton has nearly 60 teams at the varsity, junior varsity and freshman levels in 15 sports that they offer. Over 46% of the student body participates in a sport with 1,100 athletes in the 2018–19 season. M-A has emerged as one of the most accomplished athletic programs in Northern California, winning 2 CIF State titles (Football & Girls Wrestling-individual title), 8 Central Coast Section titles, and 13 Peninsula Athletic League titles in the 2018–19 school year. The Bears have also won the PAL Commissioner's Cup the last 11 years in a row and in 12 of the 13 years of its existence. The Commissioner's Cup is awarded annually to the Peninsula Athletic League school that best exemplifies the league's commitment to sportsmanship and excellence in athletics. Points are awarded to each varsity team in each sport that they participate in, by the order of finish in league play and for sportsmanship.
In 2017, Co-Athletic Directors Paul Snow and Steven Kryger were named NorCal Athletic Directors of the Year by the California Coaches Association. That same year saw Adhir Ravipati named the NorCal Football Coach of the Year, and in 2018, Jane Worden and Brett Koerten were named State Swim Coaches of the Year, also by the California Coaches Association. In 2017, Menlo-Atherton was named the Northern California Public High School of the Year by Prep2Prep.com for their athletic achievements.
In the 2024 NFL Draft, Menlo-Atherton 2021 alum Troy Franklin was selected as a fourth-round pick and 102nd overall for the Denver Broncos. [11]
Menlo-Atherton is home to a professional-level 492-seat theater, the Menlo-Atherton Center for Performing Arts. It is home to the school play and musical; band, orchestra, guitar, and choir concerts; the Menlo-Atherton Student Film Festival; [12] the Bear Arts Expo, a collaboration between all of M-A's arts classes; [13] and many other school events. It also hosts events related to the City of Menlo Park, which partially financed its construction, and is a regular venue of ensembles and music festivals including the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Music@Menlo. [14]
The Advanced Jazz Ensemble regularly travels to festivals around the world, including the annual Reno Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival. The band is supported by the Band Boosters. [15]
The center is home to M-A Drama, Menlo-Atherton's chapter of the International Thespian Society. M-A Drama produces a play and a musical each year. M-A Drama is supported by M-A Drama Boosters. [16]
In November 2022, two separate students brought guns to school. The first incident was on November 10, when M-A staff called Atherton Police after receiving an anonymous tip that identified a student as possessing a gun. School staff conducted an administrative search of the student and located a SIG Sauer P226 9mm pistol with one round chambered and nine rounds in the magazine in the student's waistband. M-A staff decided not to inform students or parents until after the school day. [17] On November 29, Atherton Police arrested a student for bringing a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P Shield .380 pistol to school after staff reported there was a firearm in an unattended backpack. After this incident, Principal Karl Losekoot alerted parents the next day but not students until two days after. [18]
In November of 2023, Chloe Gentile-Montgomery and another teacher taught a lesson on dominate and counter-narratives that included discussion of the Israel-Palestine conflict. One slide included a video from Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, which is a Turkish propaganda group and another slide claimed the United Nations says that Israel is illegal. [19] The slide presentation prompted backlash from community members, leading to a Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustee meeting to divulge into a verbal altercation and the police being called. [20] After the slide presentation became public and the Board Meeting, the Deborah Project and Zachor Legal Institute [21] sent California Public Records Act requests for all lesson materials from all classes about Israel, Palestine, or Zionism, along with all Ethnic Studies materials and electronic communications about Ethnic Studies. [22]
Atherton is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 6,823 as of July 2023. The town's zoning regulations permit only one single-family home per acre, and prohibit sidewalks.
Miramonte High School is a four-year public high school located in Orinda, California, United States. It is part of the Acalanes Union High School District. The school has a college-preparatory program, with 15 Advanced Placement courses offered.
Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and located in Atherton, California, United States.
Mark Richard Grieb is a former Arena football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League (AFL). Grieb currently serves as the head coach of the Sacred Heart Prep Gators football team in Atherton, California. He was a 13-year veteran of the AFL, having played quarterback for the Anaheim Piranhas (1997) and San Jose SaberCats. Grieb also played in NFL Europe for the Scottish Claymores (1998) and in the XFL with the Las Vegas Outlaws (2001). Grieb is the second quarterback in AFL history to throw for over 47,000 yards, over 900 touchdowns, over 3,800 completions, and over 10,000 pass attempts. He officially retired on November 8, 2012. He played college football at University of California, Davis. Grieb passed for 48,080 yards between the Arena League, XFL and NFL Europe.
Menlo School, commonly referred to as just Menlo, is a private college preparatory school in Atherton, California, United States. The school comprises a middle school, grades 6–8, with approximately 230 students and a high school, grades 9–12, with about 600 students. The middle and high school share a campus and have some overlapping administration, such as the Head of School.
Saint Francis High School, founded in 1955 by the Brothers of Holy Cross, is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory secondary school located in Mountain View, California, United States. The Brothers of Holy Cross serve both on the faculty and on the Board of Directors. The school is located in the Diocese of San Jose in California.
The Las Lomitas Elementary School District is a public school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving parts of the communities of Menlo Park, Atherton and Ladera, with its headquarters in Menlo Park.
The Sequoia Union High School District is a public union school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving the southern San Mateo County communities of Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Ladera, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City, and Woodside. The District currently serves more than 9,000 students, and also owns the radio station KCEA.
Santa Teresa High School is a public high school located in the suburban Santa Teresa neighborhood of southern San Jose, California. The school is a member of the East Side Union High School District and serves students from grades 9 through 12. The average student enrollment is 2,300 students, with an average ratio of 25 students for every teacher.
Dudley Sargent DeGroot was an American athlete and coach, primarily of American football. He served as the head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1944 and 1945, tallying a mark of 14–5–1; his winning percentage of .737 is the best in franchise history for coaches with at least one full season. DeGroot was also the head football coach at Santa Barbara State College—now the University of California, Santa Barbara—from 1926 to 1927, San Jose State University (1932–1939), the University of Rochester (1940–1943), West Virginia University (1948–1949), and the University of New Mexico (1950–1952), compiling a career college football head coaching record of 117–67–9. In addition, he served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1947.
Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational school in Atherton, California, United States. It was established in 1898 by the Society of the Sacred Heart and is governed by an independent board of trustees.
KCEA is a broadcast radio station licensed to Atherton, California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula. The station broadcasts a music format featuring big band, swing and adult standards in addition to local high school sports. KCEA is owned and operated by Sequoia Union High School District.
Richard William Roth is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events.
Gregory Fenton Buckingham was an American competition swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, and former world record-holder in two events.
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The Menlo Oaks are the athletic teams that represent Menlo College, located in Atherton, California, in intercollegiate sports as a member of NCAA Division II and the Pacific West Conference (PacWest) since the 2024–25 academic year; while its men's & women's wrestling and men's volleyball teams compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Oaks previously competed as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) from 2015–16 to 2023–24 and the California Pacific Conference (CalPac) from 1996–97 to 2014–15.
Raymond Solari was an American football player and coach. He was a two-time letter winner playing college football for the California Golden Bears in 1949 and 1950. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 1951 NFL draft. Solari served as the head football coach at Menlo College in Atherton, California from 1972 to 1994. Menlo competed as junior college, before moving to NCAA Division III competition in 1986. He was the head football coach at South Pasadena High School in South Pasadena, California from 1956 to 1971, tallying a mark of 120–43–5.
TIDE Academy, commonly shortened to TIDE, is a small public high school located in eastern Menlo Park, California, United States and the newest school within the Sequoia Union High School District. Founded in 2019 with a freshman class of 102 students, the school features specialized curriculum intended to prepare students for STEM careers. Despite drawing students from across the district's borders for its unique curricular emphasis, the school is officially neither a magnet school, nor a charter school. TIDE is a comprehensive ("traditional") high school with the full range of curriculum, clubs, sports, and administrative support as the larger high schools.
Troy R. Franklin is an American professional football wide receiver for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oregon Ducks.
Iszac Henig is an American swimmer specializing in short distance freestyle races, and an undergraduate at Yale University. He gained particular notice as part of the debate about transgender people in sports when he came out as a trans man, while continuing to swim on the Yale women's team and achieving All-America status at the NCAA Division I Championship. In 2022, he moved from the women's to the men's swim team at Yale, even though it would cost him wins in his final season.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)First-team All-Peninsula Athletic League and All-San Mateo County as senior at Menlo-Atherton High School in Menlo Park, Calif
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