JOHN MUIR HIGH SCHOOL (PASADENA, CALIFORNIA)

'John Muir High School' is a four year comprehensive secondary school located in Pasadena, California. It was named after the conservationist, John Muir, who explored many of California's natural wonders.

Contents

The School

Early Years

Current

Scandal

Trivia

Alma Mater

Notable alumni

References

External links

The School

Early Years

The school's buildings were originally a part of ''John Muir Junior College'' (not to be confused with John Muir College in San Diego, CA).^[1] The junior college merged with Pasadena City College, and the buildings were changed over to a two-year high school in 1955. (The senior students of the first graduating high-school class in 1955 were freshmen of the previous two-year junior college in the prior year.) It later increased to become a full four-year high school.
Prior to 1964, mostly Caucasian and Asian students from the communities of La Canada Flintridge, California joined the near equal mix of African-American, Hispanic and Asian students from the surrounding school area, and enrollment was nearly 3,000 students. In 1965, La Canada Flintridge, California built its own school system and removed their students. Shortly after that, the Pasadena City School District created Blair High School, siphoning off another large portion of the school's population.

Current

Approximately 1300 students attend each year. The student body is made up of 42% Latino/Hispanic, 47% African-American, 9% are Caucasian, and 2% are "Other" (which includes 1.1% Asian/Pacific-Islander). It maintained a school wide average class size of 27 students and a pupil-to-teacher ratio of 21:1 for the 2002-03 school year, during which a total of 49 fully credentialed teachers were on staff.^[2] According to National rating systems, John Muir received 2 out of 10, 10 being the highest, well below the national average. Consequently, John Muir high School has been under federal investigation, a form of probation, for some time.
In the school year 2004-2005, approximately 100 students at John Muir were removed from the regular school system due to poor grades and placed at the remedial Rose City. However the number exceed the school's capacity, and 'Rose City North' was created on the North Western part of the campus, annexing a portion of the class rooms.
John Muir High School has two Academies, the Business and Finance Academy, and the Science Engineering and Technology Academy.
John Muir High School is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Scandal

In 2000 a teacher, Cyrus Javaheri, pleaded guilty to engaging in group sex with minors. The teacher lured two students from the school in addition to another minor through the internet. Furthermore, numerous incidences of cyber sex were conducted between the teacher and various minors as young as 12.^[3]
In 2002, a white teacher named Scott Phelps was the center of controversy when he asserted that the majority of the students who are failing and disruptive were black.
Opinion was divisive with whites and blacks from the community on both sides. While some students and teachers defended that his assertion, that the majority of the underperforming students were black, was accurate others took offense to it. Subsequently he was placed on administrative leave but allowed to return to the school a few days later.

Trivia

★ The sports team (and mascot) is The Mustang.

★ The cross-town rival school is Pasadena High School.

★ The two schools have an annual tradition in November called the ''Turkey Tussle'', during which the two schools' football teams play a game at the Rose Bowl. The winning school takes possession of a ceremonial bell, which is rung at various events during the year in celebration.

★ The ceremonial bell was stolen at the end of the 2005 school year, and was found on February 7, 2006 near a road in the Angeles National Forest.^[4]

★ The name of the school yearbook is "Hoofbeats", in reference to the school mascot, the mustang.

★ The school newspaper is called "The Blazer", in reference to the ''trailblazing'' done by the school's namesake.

★ The school is located on Lincoln Avenue, which is a street named after the famous city, Lincoln, Nebraska, rather than the equally famous 16th President of the United States.

★ During the 1960s, the John Muir Band and African swing-style Drumline were well known as one of largest (and loudest) show bands in Southern California. At regional "band days" the Drumline played so forcefully all the other bands on the field lost their synchronization and marched out of step with each other.

★ Tupac Shakur attended the 1996 Senior prom at Muir as a date of one of the students.

Alma Mater

The school's official song is as follows:
:Hail Alma Mater, Blue & Gold So Fair
:We Sing thy Fame, We Love thy Name
:Thy Strength Shall never Fail.
:We Sing thy Praises, Our Love Shall Never Die
:Blue and Gold all Hail to thee
:John Muir High!

Notable alumni

;Notable alumni of John Muir High School (graduating 1955 or later):

★ Sultan McCullough (1998) Running back for Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns

★ Koichi Nishimura (1956), chief operating officer of Solectron.^[5]

★ Rod Sherman (1962), professional football player.

★ Sirhan Sirhan (1963), convicted assassin of Robert F. Kennedy.^[6]

★ John Beal (1964), film and television composer "Vega$," "Eight Is Enough," "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley." ^[7]

★ Richard Bellis (1964), film and Emmy Award-winning television composer "Stephen King's It."^[8]

★ Octavia Butler (1965), award-winning science fiction author (d. 2006)

★ Darrell Evans (1965), baseball player.

★ Robert B. Lowe (1971), journalist, 1981 Pulitzer Prize winner.

★ Juliana Gondek (1971), opera singer.

★ David Lee Roth (1972), rock singer, lead singer of Van Halen until 1984.

★ Renee Tajima-Peña (1976), documentary filmmaker, nominated for Academy Award in 1980.

★ Alan Wiggins (1976), MLB baseball player (d. January 1991)

★ Inger Miller (1988), track star and Olympic Medalist

★ Darick Holmes (1989), NFL football player

★ Stacey Augmon (1986), NBA basketball player

★ Ricky Ervins (1987), NFL football player

★ Kirk Wagner (1987), NBA basketball player

★ Darryl Stephens (1992), Actor

★ Jacque Vaughn (1993), NBA basketball player

★ Johnathan Clinkscale (2001), star lineman for Wisconsin, NFL practice squad.

★ Chad Brown (1988) NFL football player

★ Ryan Hollins (2002) NBA basketball Player
;Notable alumni of John Muir Junior College (graduating prior to 1955):

★ John Van de Kamp (1952), Attorney General of California (1982-1991).

★ Jackie Robinson (1936)

★ Fred Phelps (1951), head of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.
''Years listed above in parentheses are the year of graduation.''

References

1. History of John Muir High School: Site locations
2. 2003-2004 School Accountability Report Card
3. Protecting Our Kids
4. Victory Bell Recovery
5. Hall of Fame
6. Sirhan Sirhan
7. IMDb - John Beal
8. IMDb - Richard Bellis

External links

★ John Muir High School profile provided by the Pasadena Unified School District

★ John Muir High School Blazer Newspaper
; Alumni general websites

★ Alumni registration for all class years

★ Alumni registration for all class years, operated by Glendale Online

★ John Muir High School Alumni Association (1950s-2000s)
; Alumni websites by class years

★ John Muir High School class of 1985

★ John Muir High School class of 1976

★ John Muir High School class of 1972

★ John Muir High School class of 1970

★ John Muir High School class of 1967

★ John Muir High School class of 1963

★ John Muir High School class of 1959

★ John Muir High School class of 1956

★ John Muir High School class of 1955