Gahr High School

Richard Gahr High School
Address
11111 E. Artesia Boulevard 33.874696°N 118.097087°W / 33.874696; -118.097087 Cerritos, California 90703
Information
School type	Secondary
Founded	1965
School board	ABC Unified School District
Superintendent	Gary Smuts
Principal	Gina Zietlow
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,900
Language	English
Colour(s)	Blue, white and gold
Mascot	Gladiator
Team name	Gladiators
Website	Gahr High School web site

Richard Gahr High School, often simply known as Gahr High School, is a public school in Cerritos, California, serving grades 9-12. Gahr High is part of the ABC Unified School District.

Though it has a comparatively small student population at around 1,900, Gahr is known as a very ethnically diverse campus, (located in "the most ethnically diverse place in America", according to a California State University, Northridge study, as Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Filipino Americans and African Americans together constitute a large majority at more than 70%. The school's graduation rate is also 16% higher than the county average.

History

Gahr High School was completed in 1965 as the first high school in both the newly unified ABC Unified School District, and the recently incorporated City of Dairy Valley (the city would be renamed to its current state two years later). Indeed, the originally proposed name for the school was "Dairy Valley High School". The school was officially named after Richard Gahr, who had served as the school district's Superintendent. During the 1970s, as the student population in Cerritos rapidly grew, Cerritos High School was created for district expansion, and during its construction the latter used part of the Gahr campus.

In 2006 Gahr High School was invited to apply to be a California Distinguished School, and early in 2007, it was readily inspected. Now it has "California Distinguished School" to add to its resume.

Statistics

California Standardized Testing Rankings for 2006Data reported are the percent of students achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards).

Student population racial makeup (2006)

Race	Percentage of population
African-American	15.7
American Indian or Alaska Native	0.6
Asian	33.9
Hispanic or Latino	35.6
Pacific Islander	1.0
White (Not Hispanic)	12.1
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged	25.7
English Learners	8.0
Students With Disabilities	8.0
Subject	School	District	State
English-Language Arts	41	51	42
Mathematics	33	52	40
Science	42	46	35
History-Social Science	38	44	33

2005-2006 School Accountability Report Card RICHARD GAHR HIGH

Expenditure per student for 2002-2003

Data reported in dollars per student

District	Similar Districts	State Average All districts
$6,497	$6,882	$6,822

Notable alumni

• Barberie, Bret (1985) - Major League Baseball player (1991–1996)
• Chestnut, Morris (1986) - actor (boyz in the hood)
• Mack, Shane (1981) - Major League Baseball player (1990–1994)
• Kris Medlen-Major League Baseball Player for Atlanta Braves^{[citation needed]}
• Nieto, Tom (1978) - Major League Baseball player (1984–1990)
• Osuna, Al (1983) - Major League Baseball player (1990–1994, 1996)
• Payne, Nicolle (1994) - UCLA water polo goalie; Silver medalist in 2000 Sydney Olympics; Bronze medalist in 2004 Athens Olympics.
• Shak, Steve (1996) - Pro Soccer player and first round draft pick of MLS Superdraft in 2000, played for the NY Metro-Stars and the Colorado Rapids.
• Zorn, Jim (1971) - Seattle Seahawks Quarterback (1976–1987); Head Coach of the Washington Redskins (2008–2009).
• Ware, Casper (2008) - NCAA basketball player for the Long Beach State 49ers.
• Sung, Louis (2008) - NCAA track and field athlete for the University of Dallas track and field team.

External links

• Official web site
• Gahr High School Athletics
• Gahr High page at Greatschools.net
• School Wise Press school profile