Castlemont Community of Small Schools

Castlemont Community of Small Schools is a community of three small schools in Oakland, California, created by splitting up Castlemont High School, formerly known as East Oakland High School. The schools are:
* Castlemont Leadership Preparatory School
* Castlemont Business and Information Technology School
* East Oakland School of the Arts

Castlemont High School was founded in 1928 in a medieval-style building. The architecture inspires many of the school traditions, such as the sports teams being named "Knights" and "Crusaders" and the school newspaper "Ye Castle Crier". The motto is "Build on and make thy castles high and fair, rising upward to the skies."

Used to have respectable high school basketball teams, 1973, 1976, & 1979 winners of the Tournament of Champions (T.O.C.), formerly the northern California championships, and once had a respectable track team in 1975 Maurice Glass held high school indoor sprint record. In 1983, Derrick Adams took first place in the 130 lbs wrestling California State Championship, the only Oakland Section person to ever place first in his weight class.

Formerly had a respectable choir, "The Castleers," whose members in the 1970's toured the world performing a variety of songs that included R&B and gospel.

Castlemont Community of Small Schools forms part of the Oakland Unified School District.

Alumni

Notable alumni of Castlemont Senior High School include:
*Larry Graham, former bass player with Sly and the Family Stone
* Joe Morgan (b. 1943), baseball Hall of Famer ^{[http://www.bashof.org/inducteebios/jmorgan.htm]}
*Clifford T. Robinson (Class of 1977), NBA star
* Fred Silva (b. 1927), NFL official from 1968 to 1988, referee for Super Bowl XIV ^{[http://www.evergreentimes.com/121704/sports.htm]}
*Tony! Toni! Toné!, musical group

External links

* [http://tlc.ousd.k12.ca.us/castlemont/ Official Castlemont Community of Small Schools website]

* [http://www.castlemontalumni.org/ Castlemont High School Alumni Association]

* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/18/BAGI65MG6J37.DTL San Francisco Chronicle news article regarding small schools]