- Montgomery High School (Santa Rosa, California)
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Montgomery High School Location 1250 Hahman Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
United StatesInformation Type Public high school Established 1958 School district Santa Rosa City Schools Principal Laurie A. Fong Faculty 84.1 (on FTE basis)[1] Grades 9 - 12 Enrollment 1,959 (as of 2005-06)[1] Student to teacher ratio 22.7[1] Team name Vikings Information 707-528-5191 Website School website Montgomery High School is a public high school located in Santa Rosa, California. It is part of the Santa Rosa High School District, which is itself part of Santa Rosa City Schools. The current principal is Laurie A. Fong. Other information can be obtained at the official Montgomery High School website. Montgomery is a magnet school known for its strong academics, award-winning faculty, and athletics.
Montgomery High School was named after Bill Montgomery. Montgomery is considered the first person from the city of Santa Rosa to have died in World War II. William "Billy" Montgomery was killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 while serving aboard the USS California. The school was established in 1958 and is located on 1250 Hahman Drive. The school mascot is the Viking.
Montgomery participates in the International Baccalaureate Organization as an IB World School, providing the IB Diploma Programme as well as the full complement of classes available to juniors and seniors. Montgomery High School has been an IB World School since July 1995.[2]
As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,906 students and 84.1 classroom teachers (on a FTE basis, for a student-teacher ratio of 22.7.[1]
Contents
Awards and recognition
During the 1990-91 school year, Montgomery High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[3] the highest award an American school can receive.[4]
Montgomery was recognized as a California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education in 1990.[5]
Athletics
Montgomery also has a very strong athletic program and has had regional winning teams in most of the sports throughout the years.[citation needed]
Cross Country
Possibly Montgomery’s most continuously successful sport, the Viking’s distance squad has sent at least one representative to the state championship meet every year for the past decade. Starting in 1982, with the a group of seniors on the JV team that beat Cardinal Newman in the NBL's, other titles continued from there.[6] The 2000 Girls team took the state title, led by top individual finisher Sara Bei (now professional runner and Olympic hopeful Sara Hall). Alongside current coach Val Sell, the Vikings have successfully signed at least one runner every year to a high- caliber Div. I school and continue to successfully develop strong-minded and determined athletes. “Our sport is your sports punishment.” 2011 senior Julie Nacouzi raced at the 2011 IAAF World Junior Cross-Country Championships in Spain.
Badminton
The Montgomery badminton team plays matches under the categories of women's singles, men's singles, women's doubles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles. The team competes during the spring in matches against schools such as Santa Rosa High School. During the Badminton season of 2007 to 2008, the team was undefeated. The team has placed first in the league from 2007-2010 as well.
Football
Jason Franci has coached the Vikings for 37 years, compiling a 207-100-8 record career record. In the last eleven seasons, the team has won three NCS Championships, the most recent being in the 2004-2005 year. From 2000 to 2004 Montgomery played in four of five NCS Championship games, winning in 2000 and 2004.
Baseball
Montgomery has a baseball team, and we are amazing just like the rest of our sports.
Men's Basketball
The team has won the NBL championship three times in the last ten years. The Varsity basketball team is coached by Tom Fitchie who is in the sports hall of fame at Sonoma State University. Fitchie has been coaching at Montgomery for 25 years and is second on the all time wins list for North Bay League coaches.Montgomery has been a basketball powerhouse the last ten years.[citation needed] The team won the 2011 North Coast Section championship game.
Women's Basketball
The team consistently vies for the North Bay League championship and has made it to the league tournament championship game three years in a row (2009-2011). The Lady Vikes also regularly compete in the North Coast Section and in 2010 advanced to the CIF State Tournament. The Varsity team is coached by Steve Bell, who also starred at Montgomery as a player.
Men's Tennis
Coached by Paul Cornwall since the team's inception, Montgomery's Men's Tennis has been a consistent NBL Championship contender for the last decade. Cornwall has proven to be a gracious, honest and dedicated coach and mentor to advanced players and novices alike, some of whom have never before picked up a racket. The team is known for the depth of its players' lunges and is infamous for its non-traditional "BALLS!" pre-match rally cry. Important is the fact that Cornwall continues to lead a traditionally side-lined sports team to league championships year after year. Like many of Montgomery High School's coaches, he has made a lasting impression on high school athletes and on Sonoma County athletics alike.
Volleyball
The volleyball program consists of a junior varsity and a varsity team. They are doing very well this year, as well as in past years.
Soccer
2010 season Viking MENS soccer team won NCS. That's all there is to be said.
Clubs
Montgomery has a diverse collection of clubs, most of which are student run with teachers as advisors.
Rubik's Cube Club
Montgomery's Rubik's Cube Club is a club offers opportunities for students interested in learning to cube to get one-on-one training with students who already know the secrets of the cube and are willing to patiently teach their skills. The club meets at lunch on Thursdays in room 75.
Journalism Club
Montgomery's Journalism Club produces a student-run newspaper that can be viewed online here[3]. The Viking View has won numerous regional and national awards.
Ms. Butler's Apostrophe Club
Ms. Butler, an English teacher, started this club in order to educate students in the proper use of the apostrophe. This has encouraged many of her students to correct possessive and contraction errors when they arise. To join the apostrophe club a student must receive two consecutive perfect scores on a series of apostrophe quizzes. Inductees are given a special pencil engraved with the legend "Ms. Butler's Apostrophe Club."
ComedySportZ Club
In 2005, Brandon Keeton and Mike Marqua started the Comedysportz club, and became a part of the ComedySportZ High School League. The team competed in the High School League Tournament in San Jose, CA in 2007 and 2008, and had a total of 10 games at MHS. Montgomery is the only high school in Sonoma County, California that a ComedySportZ club, and is one of the few teams in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area). Comedysportz is now one of the most recognized clubs on campus, as well as one of the most popular ones.
Classes
Electives include Appreciation of the Arts, where students study film and art history, Guitar, and more. Languages available for all students are Spanish, Chinese, and French. Latin and German are available in later years.
Montgomery also has a Performing Arts department. Multiple shows are put on a year,usually a Drama in the Fall, Comedy in the Spring and generally a Musical in between. Shows such as Arthur Millers "The Crucible" and Neil Simons' "Rumors" have been put on at Montgomery's small but successful theater. Musicals such as "The Music Man", "Kiss Me Kate", "Guys and Dolls" and others have been put on as well. Montgomery's Drama Department was chosen from more than 2,000 nominated high school programs as one of 48 schools to represent the United States and Canada at the prestigious Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, in Summer 2011.
Demographics
2010-2011
- 1,745 students:
Hispanic African American Asian Pacific Islander White, non-Hispanic Multiracial American Indian 31.6% 2.9% 5.7% 0.5% 52.5% 4.2% 1.4% (source: California Department of Education)
Administrative Staff
For the academic year 2011-2012
- Laurie Fong - 6th year as Principal, previously Vice Principal
- Christopher White - 6th year as Vice Principal, formerly teacher at Allen High School
- Janice Smith-Billing - 10th year as Assistant Principal, previously Assistant Principal at Piner & Allen High schools
- Mitchell Carter - 4th year as Assistant Principal, formerly principal at Rancho Cotate High School from 2000–2005 and American High School in Fremont, CA 2005-2008
In the 2010 Administrator Awards, the Sonoma County Office of Education named Fong High School Principal of the Year and White Vice Principal of the Year.
Notable alumni
- Melba Pattillo Beals (1941-), member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who were the first to integrate Little Rock Central High School; Attended Montgomery for her senior year.[7]
- Nancy Ling Perry (1947–1974), member of the Symbionese Liberation Army.[8]
- Mel Gray (1948- ), Wide Receiver for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1971-1982.[9][10]
- Mark Illsley (1958- ), writer & director of Happy, Texas
- Scott Ware (1983- ), Former Safety from USC and the practice squad of the Indianapolis Colts
- Kahlil Bell (1986- ), Running back for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. Attended Montgomery for freshman and sophomore years.[11]
- Koa Misi (1987- ), Outside linebacker for the Miami Dolphins.[12]
- Dan Hicks (1941- ) Singer in Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks and The Charatans
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Montgomery High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 12, 2007.
- ^ Montgomery High School, International Baccalaureate Organization. Accessed September 4, 2007.
- ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006.
- ^ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department, 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."
- ^ Award Winners for Sonoma County, California Distinguished Schools, California Department of Education. Accessed September 4, 2007.
- ^ [http://www.vikingxc.com/resources/1982%20MHS%20XC%20Season.pdf.
- ^ Interview with Melba Patillo Beals, Scholastic Press, January 31, 1998. Accessed September 4, 2007. "I went to Santa Rosa, CA, taken in by Dr. and Mrs. George McCabe, who I still call mom and dad today.... I finished high school in California. Montgomery High School — an integrated school."
- ^ "ARRESTS REVIVE GRIM AND SURREAL MEMORIES OF TIME WORTH FORGETTING", The Press Democrat, January 18, 2002.
- ^ Mason, Clark. "Donald Ellis", The Press Democrat, March 30, 2006. Accessed January 29, 2008.
- ^ Mel Gray, database Football. Accessed January 29, 2008.
- ^ [1], The Press Democrat, May 2, 2009. Accessed December 26, 2009.
- ^ [2], Utah Official Athletic Site, Accessed December 26, 2009.
External links
Categories:- Blue Ribbon schools in California
- California Distinguished Schools
- International Baccalaureate schools in California
- High schools in Sonoma County, California
- Santa Rosa, California
- Educational institutions established in 1958
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