Amador Valley High School is a comprehensive public high school in Pleasanton, California, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, along with Foothill High School and Village High School.
Founded as Amador Valley Joint Union High School (AVJUHS), it graduated its first class in 1923. Major construction and renovations were undertaken after district voters approved bonds in 1922, 1965, 1997, and 2016.
The school is a four-time California Distinguished School and a three-time National Blue Ribbon School. In national competitions such as We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, the Amador Valley team has won the 1995 and 2022 national titles. The Amador Valley Wind Ensembles have performed at national venues and conferences, including Carnegie Hall and the Midwest Clinic. Several Amador Valley athletic teams have won multiple California Interscholastic Federation North Coast Section Division I titles since 2010, including the softball team which MaxPreps named 2014 mythical national champion following a perfect season.
History
Region and districts Amador Valley High School, originally Amador Valley Joint Union High School, was named for its location in the Amador Valley (part of the Tri-Valley area of the San Francisco East Bay). The valley's namesake was a wealthy Californio rancher, Don José María Amador. The school selected the Don as its mascot, in honor of the title used by Amador; Don is a Spanish term used as a mark of high esteem for a distinguished nobleman or gentleman.
Amador Valley High School is located in Pleasanton, California. While Pleasanton provided elementary and middle school education since its early years, students proceeding to high school attended nearby Livermore High School until 1924. Out of concerns of overcrowding and transportation for the commuting students, Pleasanton parents and students advocated for a local high school in the early 1920s. The activism culminated in a voter bond referendum on March 14, 1922, to establish the Amador Valley Joint Union High School District (AVJUHSD) and build the high school. Amador Valley's first class graduated in 1923.
From 1922 to 1988, the school was part of the AVJUHSD. This district taught high school students from Pleasanton, nearby Dublin, and the local rural community. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 led to the building of a series of local freeways and increased population and student enrollment. In 1969, the school reached its maximum capacity, about 1,895students. To accommodate the larger student population, Dublin High School was founded as part of the AVJUHSD. Both schools held classes on the Amador Valley campus during the 1968–69school year. A continued influx of families to the area prompted the foundation of another high school within the AVJUHSD, Foothill, in 1973.
Following a 1988ballot measure, the AVJUHSD merged with the Pleasanton Joint School District to form the Pleasanton Unified School District. Prior to the district unification, the AVJUHSD operated Amador Valley High School, Foothill High School, and Dublin High School. Dublin High School was annexed into the Dublin Unified School District. As of 2022, the Pleasanton Unified School District contained two comprehensive high schools (Amador Valley and Foothill), one continuation high school (Village), three middle schools, nine elementary schools, one preschool, and an adult education program.
The school grounds are bordered on the east and southeast by Santa Rita Road, a Union Pacific railroad track on which the Altamont Corridor Express runs, and Arroyo Valle. To the north are several businesses and residential districts lie on the western border. The campus is the launch point for annual community parades and protests, including the Alameda County Fair Fall Festival Parade and the Tri-Valley Women's March.
Development
Classes were first held at Amador Valley on August 14, 1922, at the school's initial location at the Pleasanton Grammar School, serving 59students. The first class of eight students graduated in 1923, and the school quickly became known for its municipal bands and sports teams.
The initial school land, building, furnishings, and upkeep was funded by a $110,000 bond authorized by district voters on September 26, 1922. Construction started in 1923 on the Rancho Valle de San Jose property, to accommodate 200 students upon its completion in 1924. The initial school building was built in Mediterranean Revival style and included "five regular recitation rooms, a science laboratory with lecture room, a sewing room, a cooking room, a room for commercial branches, two drawing rooms, a shop with two connecting work rooms, a library, a reception room and office for the principal, a teachers' room, a nurses' room, and gymnasium".
Pleasanton mothers started a school lunch program in 1927 to provide students with a better environment for learning. Parents donated pots and pans, and a newly hired cook prepared lunches, to be eaten at new tables and benches. The tables and benches were constructed by the custodian and the music teacher from the wood of horse stalls formerly on the campus. This project led to the formation of a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) chapter at Amador Valley in the late 1920s.
District voters approved a $1.5million school bond issue in 1965, with the authority to borrow up to $5million more. The bond was directed towards site procurements and new construction. Much of the "original" Amador Valley High School building was demolished then significantly reconfigured in 1968.
The Amador Theater was added to the main campus building in 1932. As of 2019, the theater remains the city's largest performing arts facility. The theater has hosted school plays, band concerts, performances, lectures, and assemblies. The theater survived the demolition of the rest of the campus in 1968 and was restored after a community fundraising effort. The Amador Theater underwent another substantial renovation and expansion between 1981 and 1989, at a total cost of $2million. The project was mostly funded by the City of Pleasanton, which took ownership of the theater the same year. The land under the theater remained owned by the school district.
The teachers union and the Pleasanton school districts failed to come to an agreement on a contract for the 1985–86school year. In protest of a breakdown in negotiations, Amador Valley teachers went on a rolling strike in 1986. The school brought in substitutes to replace the picketing teachers. After over a week of walkouts and negotiation including a state mediator, the teachers went back to work having won immediate 8percent pay raises. Amador Valley teachers are unionized under the Association of Pleasanton Teachers, California Teachers Association, and National Education Association. As of the 2021–22school year, the average teacher salary is $88,971, which is 3% more than the average California teacher salary of $86,376.
The city passed a general obligation bond, MeasureB, in 1997. The bond granted the school district $69million to replace old and crowded facilities and modernize the school campus. The measure enabled the addition of renovated science classrooms, a multipurpose room, a library and media center, and a sound-proofed music building. The parking lot and central quad were expanded, with more than 550 parking spaces in the new lot, and classrooms were equipped to be more energy efficient. A new two-story building was completed in 2004, containing twenty-four classrooms. The following year, the school aquatic center was remodeled.
City voters passed another general obligation bond, MeasureI1, in 2016. This was the district's first bond passed since MeasureB in 1997. The bond granted $270million to the school district to repair and improve district facilities, as well as provide new science equipment and learning technology. As a part of these renovations, the school district constructed a two-story instructional building on the Amador Valley campus, including "five standard classrooms, three science classrooms, two computer science labs, and two rooms specifically for special day class students". Construction commenced in 2020 and concluded in 2022, at a total cost of $18,400,000.
The passage of Prop 39 funded the 2019 addition of solar panels to the student parking lot. The cost of $650,000 is projected to save about $1.8million in electricity costs over 25years. The solar panels provide renewable electricity to the high school and create covered parking in a re-oriented lot.
Court cases
The AVJUHSD challenged the constitutionality of the 1978 California Proposition13, which placed a cap state-wide on county real estate taxes. The proposition limited property tax assessments to the 1975standard, eliminating $7billion of $11.4billion in annual property tax revenue to the state. According to The Washington Post, the "severe" limitations this imposed on state funding forced local governments and most school districts in California to make "drastic cutbacks". A 1978 article in the Los Angeles Times predicted that the proposition would jeopardize the state's ability to receive about $98million of Federal Impact Aid each year since the state could not maintain prior levels of spending.
The district argued that the measure was "so drastic and far-reaching that it was 'a revision' of the state Constitution and not a mere amendment". The district was unsuccessful in its suit. In their ruling, the judges distinguished between "amendment" and "revision". The court confirmed that an initiative cannot "revise" the constitution; Proposition13, however, was an amendment to the California Constitution and not a "revision". In 2009, Amador Valley was cited by dissenting Justice Carlos R. Moreno in arguing the non-constitutionality of California Proposition8.
Amador Valley administrators censored 1999 Salutatorian Nicholas Lassonde's graduation speech for being "too religious", claiming that it "violated separation of church and state". Lassonde filed suit against the school district and school principal, claiming that the censorship violated his First Amendment rights. In Lassonde v. Pleasanton Unified School District, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against Lassonde citing a precedent from Cole v. Oroville Union High School District (9th Cir. 2000). The court upheld the censoring of student graduation speeches, concluding that in this case, "if the school had not censored the speech, the result would have been a violation of the Establishment Clause".
Academics
Enrollment As of the 2023–24school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,574students and 112.43classroom teachers , for a student–teacher ratio of 22.89. Seven percent of Amador Valley students are involved in special education, three percent qualify for English language learner support, and eight percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. School enrollment grew 27% between 2000 and 2005, primarily because of new residential development. After 2005, enrollment growth slowed to an average of four percent per half-decade as of 2020.. Enrollment across the Pleasanton Unified School District peaked during the 2018–19schoolyear, with yearly declines since 2021–22. The enrollment decline accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Amador Valley reached a peak enrollment of 2,744 students during 2020–21schoolyear. The school district forecasted that enrollment at Amador Valley would fall by nearly 500 students by 2028.