Northgate High School

Northgate High School (NHS) is a public high school located in the Northgate suburb of Walnut Creek, California , USA. The most recent of the five high schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District was built in 1974 and is home to approximately 1,500 students from Walnut Creek and Concord, California, in grades 9–12. Its name derives from its location at the northern entrance of Mount Diablo State Park.

 

Northgate High School opened in 1974 to relieve pressure on the nearby Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord. Gradually, students graduated; the school graduated in its first class in 1976. Northgate was the last high school to be built in the Unified School District of Mt. Diablo.

 

In September 1978, the school hosted a debate on Proposition 6, a state proposal that would make it compulsory for school boards to fire openly gay and lesbian teachers. The debate was between the sponsor of the proposal, John Briggs, and the San Francisco supervisor, Harvey Milk. It was the last debate that Milk had taken part in before he was assassinated.

 

A petition was made in December 2007 to move Northgate to the Acalanes Union High School District. The Mt. Diablo School District Board and the Contra Costa County Education Office both denied the petition.

 

In 2016, the Northgate CAPS (Community Advocacy for our Public Schools) group launched a new campaign to separate Northgate High and its primary and secondary schools into a new, separate school district. On 2-3 May 2017, the Contra Costa County Education Board held public meetings on the petition. The County Board recommended that the proposal be rejected; the State Education Board could still accept the proposal but did not do so by July 2018.

 

Northgate High School was named a distinguished school in 2007.The school has 60 certified teachers. 21 Advanced courses are offered in the fields of science, math, English, foreign language , social science and art. Approximately 97% of graduates attend four-year or two-year colleges and universities. The school had a graduation rate of 94 per cent in 2010–2011.

 

Unlike some other schools in the Mt. Diablo district, there are no formal academies in Northgate. For newcomers, however, it does offer a "pathway" to Global Perspectives. A fixed student cadre consists of three "threaded" classes (English 1, World History, and Art Design) that combine content in all three. Project-based learning is designed to strengthen concepts taught in classes.

 

The course catalog also offers several sets of suggested courses for students with a specific interest, but they are not planned collaboratively; they include sequences in communications, environmental studies, animation and engineering. Every senior must participate in the Mock Congress during the fall and must submit a Senior Project at the end of the school year.

 

The Northgate High School Athletic Department oversees 2 competitive varsity athletic teams competing in the Diablo Valley Athletic League[18] (in the North Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation). Northgate sports include football, cheerleading, basketball , baseball, soccer, volleyball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, track and field, softball, water polo and wrestling. During the 2013-14 year, the school set up a new center to provide water teams and facilities for the school's sports medicine program with a pool. The aquatics facilities were completed in 2015 and are now used for water polo and swim team practices and meets, as well as an aquatics unit in freshmen PE.