Aliso Niguel High School

Aliso Niguel High School
Location
28000 Wolverine Way Aliso Viejo, California, United States
Information
Type	Public high school
Established	1993
School district	Capistrano Unified School District
Principal	Chris Carter
Faculty	120
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2,976
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Black, teal, white
Mascot	Wolverines
Newspaper	The Growling Wolverine
Yearbook	The Legend
Website	www.alisoniguel.com

Aliso Viejo, California

Aliso Niguel High School (ANHS) is a high school located in the city of Aliso Viejo, California, U.S. Most of its students reside in the communities of Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. The school is a California Distinguished School, a National Blue Ribbon School, and a New American High School. Aliso Niguel was ranked as number 217 in Newsweek's 2011 list of the top 500 high schools in the nation, falling within the top 5% of high schools nationwide.

History

Opening its doors in 1993 with a student body of 1600, ANHS became the fourth high school in the Capistrano Unified School District. With the implementation of Digital High School grant in 2000, Aliso Niguel High School invested over $1 million in new technology and related instruction. Additionally, all teachers have e-mail addresses and web sites for swift communication with parents. Organized parent involvement takes the form of an active PTSA and a wide range of parent booster organizations. fa In 1996, Aliso Niguel was selected as a California Distinguished School, the youngest school ever to be recognized as such by the State Department of Education. In 2000, Aliso Niguel High School received national recognition as a Blue Ribbon School and New American High School. In 2004, The Western Association of Schools and Colleges granted Aliso Niguel a six-year term of accreditation, which it renewed for an additional six year period in 2010.

Student ethnicity

Year	Caucasian	African Am.	Hispanic	Asian	AmerInd	Unspecified	Total
2006	2164	82	295	409	8	163	3121
2007	2218	85	304	404	10	175	3226

Facilities

Although the high school started small (with about 1,400 students) in their first year, the high school grew rapidly over the years, and it still continues to grow to this present day. Currently, the school has 26 portable classrooms in its southern parking lot adding to 22,080 square feet (2,051 m²), and 100 permanent classrooms. The permanent buildings are 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²) forming a grand total of 222,080 square feet (20,632 m²) on the campus, making Aliso the largest school in the district.

Academics

In 2005, the school's students scored within the top 90% of all schools on the California High School Exit Exam. 90% of all students that took the English Language Arts passed and 91% passed in the Math section.^{[citation needed]}

Sports

Aliso Niguel's sports teams are known as the Wolverines and compete in the South Coast League of the California Interscholastic Federation's Southern Section. From 1998 to 2005, they were members of the Sea View League, and in the Pacific Coast League before 1998.

Fine and practical arts

ANHS Band

Marching band

The Aliso Niguel Marching Band is a representative class that rehearses outdoors. As part of the Western Band Association, they perform in four marching competitions and participate in the WBA finals. They also perform in the Laguna Niguel Holiday Parade in the second Saturday in the month of December every year. The marching band won the title for 2008 WBA combined 1/2/3A Grand Champion.

Controversies

Dance ban

In September 2006, the Principal Charles Salter canceled the remainder of all school dances in response to students "freak dancing" and arriving drunk to the first dance of the year. Salter stated that he would bring back dances if, and only if, students and parents could cooperate and develop a solution to "the problem." This story initially received regional attention. The story gained widespread, national attention later that month when the school's annual Homecoming Dance was banned.

The dance ban was covered by the BBC, NPR, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, and the national news program Geraldo at Large. The principal later reinstated the dances with explicit rules that were developed by five parents, five students and three school officials. The first dance under the new rules was the Winter Formal of February 2007. These rules include the type of dancing students are allowed to do. Also, in order to attend any school dance, students and their parents must sign a dance contract before buying a ticket. Although students are upset over losing their Homecoming dance, many are relieved that the ban has been lifted and hope that this will not happen again.

Protests

ANHS students protested against the Iraq war by walking out of school on March 20, 2003, the day after the U.S. began military strikes in Iraq. Students marched from campus onto a nearby hill overlooking the school, where they stood for hours, holding signs bearing anti-war slogans that could be seen by other students and teachers on campus.

On April 2, 2010, nearly 500 students walked out of their first period class to protest impending teacher pay cuts. At about 7:50 A.M. roughly 400 students had congregated under the large canopy in front of the school. After being ordered numerous times to return to class by a number of high-ranking school officials, the students ignored the order, and marched up the driveway to the one road leading to the school. They overran it, waving signs, and chanting in support for their teachers. After reaching the main intersection of Aliso Creek Road, and Wolverine Way, the students took over the four corners of the intersection and continued waving signs and chanting. Numerous passing drivers showed support by leaning in their horns, or waving out the window. At about 8:30 A.M., Capistrano Unified School District Officials showed up to witness the protest, although school officials followed the mass of students in order to prevent a riot like situation that occurred at nearby Dana Hills High School, several days earlier. For the most part, the protest remained peaceful, albeit loud and energetic. Police were also on hand to make sure nothing got out of hand. At 9:30, students began to march back to the high school, to return to classes, only to find proctors waiting for them, and all classroom doors locked. The students were detained (under the canopy at which the protest started), but were later released during passing period. The rest of the school day was allegedly filled with false fire alarms, but nothing more. The protest received immediate coverage from the local newspaper Orange County Register [1], as well as the local contingent of national new corporation CNN [2]. Capistrano Unified School District even released a response to the incident saying,

"People have emotions, and those emotions sometimes get expressed when you're young in ways that aren't acceptable." "It doesn't surprise me. But we don't want to see our students missing time in class. They're going to college and they're going to be tested, and they need that class time," said school board President Anna Bryson. [3]

Immediately after the incident, in an article published to The OC Register, school officials promised that students will be disciplined for their actions, saying that "Even Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi served the consequences for their civil disobedience."[4]

Some parents allegedly support their students actions, saying the walkout may help the district "Wake Up". [5]

Notable alumni

Sasha Cohen

• Sasha Cohen, Olympic figure skater
• Ivan Koumaev, participant on So You Think You Can Dance (Season 2)
• Derek Lee Rock, drummer for ska band Suburban Legends
• Josh Partington, lead guitarist for Something Corporate
• Skip Schumaker, Major League Baseball outfielder and second baseman, St. Louis Cardinals
• Kyla Ross, American gymnast

External links

• Aliso Niguel Homepage
• GreatSchools.net