Harvest Park Middle School 

In Pleasanton, California, Harvest Park Middle School is conveniently located. Harvest Park, built in 1968, is the oldest of the middle schools in Pleasanton, but it has a long-standing history of excellence. Harvest Park serves students from grades six through eight. Harvest Park has become more diversified since opening in 1970. Pleasanton was a city of approximately 94.9 percent Caucasian and 2.5 percent Asian in the early 1980s. That had changed to 90.9 percent Caucasian and 5.8 percent Asian by the early 1990's. With 49.1% Asian, 6.1% Hispanic and 37.3% White, Harvest Park today celebrates its ethnic diversity.

 

Part of Harvest Park’s history are several awards. With many staff member responsible for these achievements still serving at Harvest Park Middle School, these awards remain important and worthy of mention:

• National School of Character in 2005

• National Blue Ribbon School in 2002

• A California Distinguished School 1994, 2001, 2005 and 2013

 

Harvest Park library experienced a fire on July 3rd, 2018, causing damage to part of the building. Fortunately, the bulk of the library's material has been spared. By the end of September 2020, the renovation of the new premises will be completed.

 

What’s in a name?

“Harvest Park” was “planted” in the middle of what had been an agricultural area that produced bountiful harvests of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and sugar beets for generations of local families.

 

In 1968, Harvest Park Middle School opened. That same spirit of goodwill and collaboration between the town and the school district allowed their school to acquire a full-size gymnasium some 30 years later, jointly sponsored by the two government agencies. Their  gymnasium is fitted with double locker rooms, one set for daytime use by students, the other for nights and weekends for community use as part of the youth and adult recreation program of the city.

 

Harvest Park Middle School represents another significant part of the history of Pleasanton, California, by its very name. A tree-shaded open space between our middle school and our next-door neighbor, Walnut Grove Elementary, is the real Harvest Park. In order to plan public parks near as many local schools as possible, the Pleasanton Unified School District and Pleasanton City Council worked closely together.

 

For much of its history, Harvest Park has served sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. Students in those grades had previously attended the original Pleasanton Campus, on the site of the new school district office, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school. However, the original Pleasanton School was closed in the 1980s when enrollment dipped, and local elementary schools had space to accommodate kindergarten through sixth-grade students from their attendance areas. For a few years, every Pleasanton student in seventh and eighth grade attended Harvest Park, then called an intermediate school.

 

The school is proud to have its own TV studio, from which students in every classroom can broadcast regular announcements, campaign speeches, and other programs. A common feature of the regular broadcast is a dialogue between the puppets Character Ed & Edwina, who use satire to reinforce the character qualities of their group known at Harvest Park as Compassion, Fairness, Respect, Accountability, Dignity, and Self-Discipline characteristics of CHRRIS. Students can choose between electives in addition to television production, including world language (Spanish and French), instrumental and choral music, theater, home economics, leadership, service learning, computers, and painting.

 

The use of laptop computers for students' reading and writing assignments was pioneered by Harvest Park Middle School. This started in 2003 as a voluntary initiative involving a few students, but has since expanded to include about 30% of our student body. The use of this technology has strengthened the skills of our students in research, revision of first-draft writing, and timely contact with teachers.