Piner High School
Encyclopedia
Piner High School is a public preparatory school in Santa Rosa, California
, United States. It is part of the Santa Rosa High School District, which is itself part of Santa Rosa City Schools
.
Piner High School was opened with 9th, 10th, and 11th grades in the fall of 1966. The next year it became a four year high school, with the class of 1968 being the first graduating class of the school history. The class of 1975 was the last of the four year classes until 1996, when Piner was reestablished as a four year high school to alleviate overcrowding of local middle schools.
The central quad was completed for the fall of 1970, and the class of 1974 was the first class to enjoy crossing campus without going through the mud during rainy winters.
Piner High School was named for a family of squatters who occupied nearby lands for several decades in the late 19th century. Many locations in the area northwest of Santa Rosa took on this name, as the Piner family became quite notorious and certainly the most recognizable name in the area.
All original classroom buildings are constructed with all classrooms accessed directly from the outdoors with main entrances on the outside of the square and secondary entrances through an atrium in the center of the building. Each classroom building was designated for a group of related academics, such as the Language Arts building, the science and math building, the social studies and business building, and the arts and shop building.
During restructuring in the 1990s the use of the buildings was altered so that some of the classroom buildings were designated for the use of one of five specialty schools within the larger school, including a small specialized school for those with learning handicaps.
In the past four years, Piner High School has remodeled more than half of the buildings, as well as adding new structures.
.
Freshman and sophomore years the students will take accelerated and in depth classes denoted Honors classes at Piner, which will prepare them for rigorous college courses. In their Junior and Senior years, they will take four classes, including Honors and AP classes, at Piner and, at lunch, will be bussed to the Junior College to take two classes, earning up to a year of college credits.
Sports that Piner High offers are:
(source: California Department of Education)
The school's population for the 2008-09 school year is approximately 1282 students, down from the 2006-07 enrollment of 1530, which reflects a general pattern of declining enrollment in the area.
Piner is one of the most racially diverse schools in the Santa Rosa School District.
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
, United States. It is part of the Santa Rosa High School District, which is itself part of Santa Rosa City Schools
Santa Rosa City Schools
Santa Rosa City Schools are the combination of two school districts in Santa Rosa, California: the Santa Rosa Elementary School District and the Santa Rosa High School District...
.
History
Piner High School was built in 1966 in Santa Rosa, California. Initially it was surrounded by orchards and pastures. By 1975 the City of Santa Rosa expanded to the back fence of the school. In the late 1980s further expansion included more housing on two sides and Youth Community Park (including an award winning skate park) across the street.Piner High School was opened with 9th, 10th, and 11th grades in the fall of 1966. The next year it became a four year high school, with the class of 1968 being the first graduating class of the school history. The class of 1975 was the last of the four year classes until 1996, when Piner was reestablished as a four year high school to alleviate overcrowding of local middle schools.
The central quad was completed for the fall of 1970, and the class of 1974 was the first class to enjoy crossing campus without going through the mud during rainy winters.
Piner High School was named for a family of squatters who occupied nearby lands for several decades in the late 19th century. Many locations in the area northwest of Santa Rosa took on this name, as the Piner family became quite notorious and certainly the most recognizable name in the area.
Construction and Modernization
Piner High School is unusually designed in that there are indoor hallways but student lockers are located on the outside of buildings, secured during non-school hours with hurricane fencing. Each building was constructed with wide overhangs and interconnecting covered walkways between buildings to shelter students from the weather.All original classroom buildings are constructed with all classrooms accessed directly from the outdoors with main entrances on the outside of the square and secondary entrances through an atrium in the center of the building. Each classroom building was designated for a group of related academics, such as the Language Arts building, the science and math building, the social studies and business building, and the arts and shop building.
During restructuring in the 1990s the use of the buildings was altered so that some of the classroom buildings were designated for the use of one of five specialty schools within the larger school, including a small specialized school for those with learning handicaps.
In the past four years, Piner High School has remodeled more than half of the buildings, as well as adding new structures.
- The administration offices were moved to a brand-new two story building along with ten EnglishEnglish studiesEnglish studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
classes and three languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
classes, and 5 historyHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
classes. Along with the new Administration buildings, other classrooms are located in another two story building that is connected to the Administration building. - A new culinary arts building was established at the old location of the administration offices.
- A new libraryLibraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, performing artsPerforming artsThe performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, and scienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
wing were also built on the campus. - A new performing arts center, which was finished in the year 2001. It seats 360 students.
- A new football field with artificial turf, snack bar, and bleachers.
Mascot
Piner High School's mascot is Prospector Pete. Prospector Pete is a popular visitor to sports home games and school events. He was a popular attendee at the Sonoma County 2010 Human Race walking with member of Piner High School's PTSA group. He also featured prominently on Piner High School's float in the 2010 City of Santa Rosa Rose Parade.Early College Magnet Program
In the 2006-2007 school year, the Early College Magnet Program started. This program prepares students for college and by the time they finish high school, they will have completed a year of college. This is in part with the Santa Rosa Junior CollegeSanta Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College is a community college located in the city of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California. Founded in 1918, it is the tenth oldest community college in the state. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a "junior" version of nearby University of California at Berkeley...
.
Freshman and sophomore years the students will take accelerated and in depth classes denoted Honors classes at Piner, which will prepare them for rigorous college courses. In their Junior and Senior years, they will take four classes, including Honors and AP classes, at Piner and, at lunch, will be bussed to the Junior College to take two classes, earning up to a year of college credits.
Athletics
Piner High School is a member of the 4-A North Bay League of the North Coast Section of the California Interscholastic FederationCalifornia Interscholastic Federation
The California Interscholastic Federation is the governing body for high school sports in the state of California. It mirrors similar governing bodies in other states; however, it differs from some of the others in that it covers most high schools in the state of California, both public and...
Sports that Piner High offers are:
- BadmintonBadmintonBadminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- CheerleadingCheerleadingCheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
- Golf (Men's and Women's)GolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- Soccer
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- SwimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
- Tennis (Men's and Women's)TennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track and FieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
- WrestlingScholastic wrestlingScholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
Clubs
Piner High School has several student-organized and teacher-supervised student groups as of the 2010-2011 School Year:- Academic Spirit Club
- Associated Student Body
- BadmintonBadmintonBadminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
Club - California Scholarship Federation (CSF)
- ChemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
Club - ChristianChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Club - Early College
- Key ClubKey ClubKey Club International is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International family of service-leadership programs...
- Math Circle Club
- Movimiento (Latino) Club
- PHAST (Piner High Astronomy Science & Technology) Club
- Volunteer Club
- World Awareness Club
Parent Involvement
Piner High School offers a variety of groups and ways for parents to be involved in their student's education. Groups include the Parent-Teacher-Student Association (PTSA) PTA, Piner Boosters, ELAC, Piner Foundation, and Project Grad.Teacher Awards
In February 2011, Simone Spearman, an English teacher at Piner, was named by the California Federation of High Schools as California High School Educator of the Year.2010-2011
- 1,054 students:
Hispanic African American Asian Pacific Islander White, non-Hispanic Multiracial American Indian 52.8% 5.2% 9.1% 1.1% 28.6% 1.9% 0.9%
(source: California Department of Education)
The school's population for the 2008-09 school year is approximately 1282 students, down from the 2006-07 enrollment of 1530, which reflects a general pattern of declining enrollment in the area.
Piner is one of the most racially diverse schools in the Santa Rosa School District.