- Deer Valley High School (Antioch, California)
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Deer Valley High School 
Established 1996 Type Public secondary Principal Keneth Gardner Students 3721 Grades 9–12 Location Antioch, California, USA District Antioch Unified School District Colors Teal, Black, Silver Mascot Wolverines Newspaper The Millennium, Wolverine Weekly Website http://www.dvhs-antioch-ca.schoolloop.com Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California, is a public secondary school serving southeast Antioch in Contra Costa County, California. It opened in 1996.
In 2007, the Antioch Unified School District named Scott Bergerhouse and Clarence Isadore co-principals. The co-principal model has previously been implemented in some larger schools in southern California.
In February 2010, Deer Valley and the rest of the AUSD schools were informed that that they will be issuing a uniform policy in the 2010-2011 school year. This policy proved to be a failure for the school and was discontinued by the start of the 2011-2012 school year.
Contents
School Site Council
The Deer Valley School Site Council is a group of parents, teachers, students and other school employees elected by their peers to meet with the school co-principals in order to:
- Develop a comprehensive school site plan
- Plan, monitor, and review its effectiveness
- Develop a budget aligned to categorical program funds
- Review and revise the plan and budget annually
- Recommend Single Plan for Student Achievement to the School Board
- Recommend the plan for targeting use of other categorical or supplemental funds to the School Board
- Ensure that the school is continually engaged in identifying and implementing curriculum and instructional practices
Academics
The school is divided into four "houses", each of which has its own vice-principal and secretary. At the freshman and sophomore levels Deer Valley uses a teaming concept, where groups of students share the same English, math, science, and history teacher. In addition to core classes, a wide variety of elective classes are offered to students. In addition to instrumental and choral music, foreign language, drama, automotive, culinary, and art classes, students may also enroll in video production, digital art, web design, animation, law, manufacturing, photography, or careers with children among many others.
Deer Valley also has two academies: The Business Technology Academy and the ESPACE academy (Earth, Space, Astronomy Center for Education). Students in the Business Technology Academy will be provided a curriculum focused on a business theme with related standards-based academic classes and career-technical classes implementing supplemental technology. Increased communication between teachers, students, and parents; increased student engagement; increased frequency of writing and revisions; and increased individualized instruction are all goals of The Business-Tech Academy. The ESPACE academy has one of the few planetariums on a high school campus in the state of California. Students from DVHS have used space probes to investigate a number of questions for school projects, most notably the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Mars Global Surveyor. A Law Academy is currently in the planning stages for the 2009-10 school year. In addition, Deer Valley had held, for nine consecutive years, the highest API scores in the area (some the highest in the East Bay)[citation needed].
DVHS Planetarium
Deer Valley High School is one of the few high schools in the Bay Area to have a Planetarium. The Planetarium has been in operation since 2004 and hosts biweekly shows for the community.
They are open to the public. The current show schedule starts shows at 8 PM and has star observing at 9 PM on alternating Thursdays when school is in session.
Departments
Deer Valley High has many different types of classes students may take, which are separated into different departments;
- Career Technology (including a Law Academy which opened in the 2009-10 school year)
- English
- Mathematics
- Physical Education
- Reform Facilitators
- Science
- Social Science
- Special Education
- Visual and Performing Arts
- World Languages
2009 Shooting
In September 2009, at about 8:29am, a 16-year-old student of Deer Valley High School was shot in the arm and chest nearby the school.[1] The shots were fired from a vehicle, which then drove off. The victim was lifted by air to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek and underwent surgery.[1] The school, along with all other schools in the district, then went into lockdown later that morning.[1] 19-year-old Yousuf Mohammad Aziz was arrested in connection with the shooting, which is reported to have been gang-related.[2][3]
References
- ^ a b c Vega, Cecilia (September 17, 2009). "Antioch teen shot while walking to school". abc7news.com. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7017436. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ^ King, Simon (September 17, 2009). "Police Arrest 2 in Antioch Deer Valley High School Gang Related Shooting". Brentwood Grove. http://www.brentwoodgrove.com/2009/09/17/police-arrest-2-in-antioch-deer-valley-high-school-gang-related-shooting/. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ^ Sakamoto, Kimberlee (September 17, 2009). "Police Arrest Two in Connection With Shooting at Deer Valley High School". KRON 4. http://www.kron4.com/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/3124/reftab/36/t/Police%20Arrest%20Two%20in%20Connection%20With%20Shooting%20at%20Deer%20Valley%20High%20School/Default.aspx. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
External links
Categories:- Educational institutions established in 1996
- High schools in Contra Costa County, California
- Antioch, California
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