Palisades Charter High School
| Palisades Charter High School | |
|---|---|
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| Established | 1961[1] |
| Type | Public |
| Principal | Dr. Pam Magee |
| Students | 2,742 students[2] |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Colors | Royal blue, Columbia Blue and White[3] |
| Mascot | Dolphins |
| Newspaper | Tideline |
| Website | palihigh.org |
Palisades Charter High School (usually abbreviated as "Pali High,"or "Pali," uncommonly as "PCHS" / "PHS" ) is a secondary school in Los Angeles, California, United States. The public high school serves the neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades, Palisades Highlands, Kenter Canyon and portions of Brentwood (including Brentwood Circle). Residents in Topanga, an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, may attend Palisades or Taft High School.[4][5]
The school serves grades 9 through 12. Formerly directly administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District school, with the land still owned by the district, the school is now an independent charter school, no longer administered by LAUSD. Its current enrollment numbers 2742 students, and many of them endure long bus rides to attend one of the most highly-ranked public high schools in the Los Angeles area. In 2005, "Pali" was recognized as a California Distinguished School.
The school is located at 15777 Bowdoin Street, Pacific Palisades, California, 90272.
Paul Revere Charter Middle School feeds into Palisades.
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[edit] History
The school was founded in 1961.[1] The Class of 2011 will be the 49th graduating class.
Prior to the founding, the property was called All Hallows Farm and for many years was owned by the Conway family: Hollywood film director Jack Conway; his wife, actress Virginia Conway — daughter of silent screen star Francis X. Bushman — and their two sons, one of whom, Pat Conway became an actor as well. This property was subsequently rented to actress Debbie Reynolds and her husband, singer Eddie Fisher. It was then taken, some years later, by the State by eminent domain to build the high school.
Several members of the class of 1965 were profiled in a Time magazine article, which led to a best-selling 1976 book by class members David Wallechinsky and Michael Medved, What Really Happened to the Class of '65?.[6] The book featured interviews with several members of the class, whose experiences were recounted both individually and in groupings around shared themes such as the Vietnam War and the draft, drug experimentation, and sex. Various teachers from the school also were interviewed, among them English teachers Miss Jean O'Brien, history teacher Mr. Johnson, and Mrs. Rose "Mama G" Gilbert, who is the only teacher from the original 1961 hiring left. At age 91, Mrs. Gilbert is the oldest active teacher in the LAUSD.[7] The success of the book later inspired a short-lived television docudrama-style series of the same name, which ran from December 1977 to July 1978.[8]
This school was the focus of a false email chain letter started around 2002. The message falsely claimed that a satiric message to parents about student truancies and homework problems was actually on the school's answering machine. The message was originally written in response to parent outrage that students who skipped class more than ten days per 90-schoolday semester (not counting legitimate absences, like sickness) could receive a failing grade in that class. This was reported on several web sites, including TruthOrFiction.com,[9] Snopes,[10] and BreakTheChain.org.[11]
Disregarding a majority vote of the parents and students, which came down 1740–1010 against, the board of directors voted in 2006 to change the starting date of school for the 2007–2008 school year, which upset the student body, many of whom took action by skipping class in protest. After much disagreement among the principal, the Board, teachers, parents, and students, the school finally announced on Tuesday, May 8, that the calendar change would not be enacted, mostly due to ongoing contract discussions with United Teachers Los Angeles which reminded administrators of a clause which prevented schedule changes without teacher approval.
[edit] Campus
The campus is bounded by Temescal Canyon Road to the east, Sunset Boulevard to the north, El Medio Street to the west, and Temescal Academy (formerly known as first Temescal Canyon Continuation School and later Temescal High School) to the south.[12] It is bisected by Bowdoin Street, which runs between the school's football field and the academic center of the school. Located only a mile from Will Rogers State Beach, the football stadium is called "Stadium by the Sea."[citation needed]
Many movies have been filmed at Palisades. One of the first major motion pictures to be shot at Pali High was Carrie. Directors George Lucas and Brian De Palma held a joint audition for Carrie and Lucas's Star Wars (1977) on the Palisades campus. Other movies filmed on site include Crazy/Beautiful (2001), The Glass House (2001), Old School (2003), Freaky Friday (2003), Havoc (2005) and Project X (2012).
Pali High was also used for the Sweet Valley High book, Party Weekend and the Sweet L.A. Life saga.
As of 2010, approximately 43% of the student body, 1,180 out of 2,742 students, were bused to Palisades Charter High School from more than 100 Los Angeles zip codes.[13] In 1994, approximately 70% of the student body, 1,176 out of 1,680 students, were bused from South-Central and East Los Angeles.[14]
[edit] Student body
For the 2008–2009 school year, the school's ethnic composition was 37% White/Caucasian, 30% Hispanic, 23% African-American, 8% Asian, and 2% "other".[15] The school's demographics have changed since becoming a charter school. In 1994, 70% of the students were minorities and 30% were White/Caucasian.[16]
[edit] Notable alumni
Pali is the alma mater of many individuals, including:
- J.J. Abrams '84 – screenwriter and television show creator [17]
- Alex Alben '76 – author, columnist, Internet executive
- David Baerwald '78 - composer, songwriter, musician, producer[citation needed]
- Scott Alexander[18] – screenwriter
- A. Scott Berg '67[19] – Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer
- Jeff Bridges – actor
- Christie Brinkley '72 – Supermodel and spokeswoman
- Peter DeLuise – actor
- Roy Fegan '79[20] – actor, Hollywood Shuffle and The Five Heartbeats
- Chris Ferguson – poker player
- Alex Greenwald – actor and musician
- Susanna Hoffs '76 – member of The Bangles
- Raffi Hovannisian, '77 – first Foreign Minister of the independent Republic of Armenia
- Willa Holland – actress
- Elizabeth Keifer '79 – actress
- Steve Kerr – 5 time NBA Champion
- Jennifer Jason Leigh – actress and director
- Ahmad Ali Lewis- Hip-Hop artist, member of 4th Avenue Jones
- Daniel S. Loeb – hedge fund manager
- Lauren London- actress
- Jeff Madsen – poker player, youngest winner of a World Series of Poker bracelet
- Ron Mael and Russell Mael- musicians (the band Sparks)
- Michael Medved '65 – film critic, radio host, and commentator
- Penelope Ann Miller – actress
- Matthew Nelson and Gunnar Nelson – musicians, formerly of the chart topping early 90s band the Nelsons
- David Newman – film score composer '71
- Michael Newman – former lifeguard and firefighter, and Baywatch actor
- Thomas Newman – film score composer
- Philip Price (musician) '78 – musician, lead singer of the band Winterpills
- David Roback – musician, Rain Parade, Opal, Mazzy Star.
- Katey Sagal – actress
- Jean Sagal and Liz Sagal – former Doublemint Twins and sisters of Katey Sagal
- Michael Sandel '71 – professor at Harvard[21]
- Jay Schroeder – football, Los Angeles Raiders[22]
- Geoff Schwartz – football, Carolina Panthers
- Amy Smart – actress
- Arnie Spanier – sports talk radio host
- Kent Steffes – Olympic Gold Medalist, Beach Volleyball, 1996, professional beach volleyball player
- Ted Stryker '89 – KROQ-FM DJ
- Hallie Todd '79 – actress (maiden name: Hallie Eckstein)
- Kiki Vandeweghe – 1976, NBA forward and then general manager Denver Nuggets[17]
- David Wallechinsky '65 – author and essayist
- Forest Whitaker '79[20] Academy Award-winning actor, director, and producer
- will.i.am (William James Adams Jr.) – musician, member of The Black Eyed Peas
[edit] Sending schools
As some LAUSD zoned high schools do not have enough space to educate all residents in their attendance boundaries, some schools send excess students to Palisades.[5]
They were, as of spring 2007:
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b "LAUSD School Profile Page". http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8798. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
- ^ "School Profile". http://palihigh.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=51512&type=d&termREC_ID=&pREC_ID=67633&rn=7500082. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
- ^ "School Description". Campus. http://www.palihigh.com/school_description.jsp?rn=8470. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
- ^ http://www.palihigh.org/ourpages/auto/2008/1/31/1201801274118/Palisades%20Chtr%20HS%20Attendance%20Area.pdf?rn=2636086
- ^ a b "Enrollment Demands May Force a Lottery at PaliHi." Palisadian-Post. February 14, 2007. Retrieved on October 22, 2011.
- ^ Tevi Troy. "Right Read: Michael Medved engages and explains," National Review, February 9, 2005.
- ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17595740/ "Millionaire Teacher Won't Quit at 88!"
- ^ Michael Peck. "Televisionary" (Q&A column), June 28, 2005.
- ^ truthorfiction.com
- ^ snopes.com
- ^ breakthechain.org
- ^ "Temescal Academy Is Under Way". Danielle Gillespie, Palisadian-Post. http://www.palisadespost.com/news/content.php?id=5187. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
- ^ http://www.palisadespost.com/news/content.php?id=5529
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-19/news/we-5997_1_westside-schools
- ^ "School Profile". Student Body. http://www.palihigh.com/school_profile.jsp. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-19/news/we-5997_1_westside-schools
- ^ a b http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/13/local/me-teacher13 (Page 3) retrieved 4/16/2009
- ^ http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Scott_Alexander/1114128#fullBio retrieved 4/18/2009
- ^ http://www.princeton.edu/paw/archive_old/PAW96-97/15-0507/0507feat2.html retrieved 4/18/2009
- ^ a b 1979 Palisades High School Yearbook
- ^ http://chronicle.com/article/Michael-Sandel-Wants-to-Talk/48573/
- ^ http://www.palisadespost.com/content/index.cfm?Story_ID=4201 retrieved 4/16/2009
[edit] Additional references
- SportsLine.com on Geoff McArthur Retrieved August 6, 2005.
- collegesports.com Player Bio: David Koral :: Football Retrieved August 6, 2005.
- CLASS Speaker: Jay Schroeder Retrieved August 6, 2005.
[edit] External links
- Official website: Palisades Charter High School
- A History of Pali High...
- Mrs. Gilbert's still working at Pali--"Go Mama G!" from the Palisades Post
- [1] Official Palisades Charter Lacrosse Team website
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