Sir Francis Drake High School

Sir Francis Drake High School
Address
1327 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
San Anselmo, California 94960
Coordinates 37°59′01″N 122°34′19″W / 37.98361°N 122.57194°W / 37.98361; -122.57194[1]Coordinates: 37°59′01″N 122°34′19″W / 37.98361°N 122.57194°W / 37.98361; -122.57194[2]
Information
School type Public, comprehensive high school
Founded 1951
School district Tamalpais Union High School District
Oversight Western Association of Schools and Colleges,
Accrediting Commission for School]
Superintendent Tara Taupier
School number CEEB Code: 052770
Principal Liz Seabury
Assistant Principals
  • Chad Stuart
Staff 142
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1030 (2015-16)
 • Grade 9 272 (2014-2015)
 • Grade 10 265 (2014-2015)
 • Grade 11 242 (2014-2015)
 • Grade 12 204 (2014-2015)
Language English
Campus Suburban
Area Upper Ross Valley and San Geronimo Valley, Marin County
Color(s) Green and White and Black
Mascot Petey the Pirate
Team name Pirates
Communities served Fairfax, Forest Knolls, Lagunitas, Nicasio, San Anselmo, San Geronimo, and Woodacre
Feeder schools Lagunitas School Distric]
Nicasio School Distric]
Ross Valley School District
Website Official website

Sir Francis Drake High School is a secondary school located in San Anselmo, California. It is named after the English privateer and naval hero Sir Francis Drake, who purportedly landed in the area in 1579. The school's mascot is a pirate named Petey.

The school was established in 1951 as the second high school in the Tamalpais Union High School District. It is located at 1327 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, situated on a 21-acre (85,000 m²) campus bordered by two creeks. The site was formerly known as Cordone Gardens.[3]

Approximately 99% of Drake’s 2015 students graduated.[4]

History

Sir Francis Drake high school was founded in 1951 in San Anselmo, California, providing schooling for students from Fairfax, Forest Knolls, Lagunitas, San Geronimo, Woodacre, San Anselmo, and Nicasio grades 9–12. This was the second high school to be introduced into the Tamalpais Union High School District, the first being Tamalpais High School.[3] Until 1958, Sir Francis Drake High School served other towns of Marin that are now served by Redwood High School, including Corte Madera, Ross, Larkspur, Greenbrae, and Kentfield.[3]

Between 1992 and 1995, Drake High School started a new program of small learning communities due to the poor performance of students, which was affecting the perception of the school.[5] Drake has received two state grants for these programs; one in 1996–1997 and the other being in 2000.[3] Since then, there have been four Freshman–Sophomore Academies and two Junior–Senior Academies.[6]

In 2012, Drake implemented a new technology program called "Echo". Its goal was to encourage communication, collaboration, and improve teacher practices.[7] ECHO is active in two of the four Freshmen-Sophomore academies: Trek[8] and Galileo.[9]

School Awards

Drake High School has received many awards for its academic success through the 90's.

In 1990 was Designated as a Next Century School by RJR Nabisco Foundation for its "entrepreneurship in education."[3][10] Drake was one of the thirty school to receive this award.

In 1999 Drake High School was designated as a California Distinguished School.[3][11]

In 2003 Drake was the first high school to be recognized has a Bay Area Green Business School for its environmental awareness around campus.[3][12]

Academies

Sir Francis Drake High School has five currently running academies. Three of those five (TLC, ROCK, and DaVinci) are referred to as "Small Learning Communities," or slc's, and are designated for freshmen and sophomores. The other two (ComAcad and SEA-DISC) are the only academies referred to as such, and are designated for juniors and seniors.

Former Academies

Before the 2016-2017 school year, there were four small learning communities, those being TREK, Galileo, Mobius, and ROCK. Of those four, only ROCK is still active. TREK and Galileo had curriculum similar to The Learning Collaborative, and were effectively converted into the latter after being dissolved. Mobius, conversely, was most comparable to DaVinci, and was replaced by it.

The Learning Collaborative

The Learning Collaborative (commonly referred to as "TLC") is Drake's newest small learning community, in addition to being its most populous slc by a great margin. It replaced two former slc's simultaneously, those being Galileo and TREK. The Learning Collaborative's long term goal is to enrich students academically while preparing them for the real world.

ROCK

ROCK was started in 1992, making it the first academy.[13] ROCK is a Freshman-Sophomore academy which has an focus on the arts. ROCK focuses on four large group projects a year that help to nurture an environment for writers, artist, scientist, and problem solvers.[13] The four ROCK teachers are Dr. Michael Wing (Science), Mary Kitchens (English), Paul Grifo (Social Studies), and Jasper Thelin (Art/Drama). ROCK is considered by students to be one of the more difficult frosh-soph programs.

DaVinci

DaVinci was created in 2016, and has an emphasis primarily on STEAM classes ( science, technology, engineering, art, and math), with its two required electives for Freshman being art and principals of technology. There are 5 primary DaVinci teachers; Mary Buchannan (Science), Marleen Kendall (History), Cathy Sarkesian (English), Rod Milstead (Engineering), and Adam Bebe (art). As of 2017, DaVinci is currently the smallest SLC in terms of student population.

Sea-Disc

Sea-Disc is a Junior-Senior academy with a focus on group project revolving around environmental education and protection.[14] The program focuses on giving students hands-on experience taking care of the environment with laboratory experiments and Field Trips, helping students to make a difference. Students also are asked political and environmental questions without a defined answers and have to find an answer.[15]

Comacad

The Communications Academy of Sir Francis Drake High School is an inter-disciplinary two year program of English, Economics and Digital Communications.[16]

Extracurricular activities

Basketball

In 1982 both the boys and girls basketball teams took the state division II title. The boys basketball team returned to the states championship in 2014 but lost.[3]

Jolly Roger

The school newspaper, the Jolly Roger is published almost every month. The 1986-87 edition was a winner of Columbia University’s Silver Crown Award for high school newspapers in 1988.[17] The Jolly Roger has been a regular recipient of the Medalist rating, given to the top 5% among high school newspapers in its class in United States.

Mountain Biking Club

The school's NICA NorCal League mountain bike team is notable for being one of the first in the nation and has won numerous regional and statewide competitions.[18] The team is nine time NorCal League champions (2004, 2006, 2009-2017) and five time California State champions (2009-2012, 2015-2017),[19] being beaten by Redwood High School in 2013 and 2014[20]

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Notes

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Sir Francis Drake High School
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Sir Francis Drake High School
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "History of Drake - DHS Handbook / History of Drake - DHS Handbook". www.tamdistrict.org. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  4. ↑ "Sir Francis Drake High School - San Anselmo, California - CA - School quality". www.greatschools.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  5. ↑ Small Learning Communities: A Documentary, DHS Trek, December 15, 2014, retrieved 2015-06-27
  6. ↑ "Academies / Academies Homepage". www.tamdistrict.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  7. ↑ "About / Drake ECHO Information". www.tamdistrict.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  8. ↑ "TREK". TREK. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  9. ↑ "Galileo / Introduction". www.tamdistrict.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  10. ↑ "Nabisco Awards $9.7 Million in Grants to 15 Schools". The New York Times. 1991-04-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  11. ↑ "2009 Distinguished Middle and High Schools - California Distinguished Schools Program (CA Dept of Education)". www.cde.ca.gov. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  12. ↑ "ABAG Green Business Program". www.greenbiz.ca.gov. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  13. 1 2 "ROCK / Overview". www.tamdistrict.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  14. ↑ "Home". www.drakehs.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  15. ↑ "What is SEA-DISC?". www.drakehs.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  16. ↑ "Communications Academy | Making media that matters". www.comacad.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  17. ↑ Columbia Scholastic Press Association, 1988 Scholastic Crown Recipients, accessed March 14, 2007 Archived December 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ "About Drake MTB « Drake MTB Online". www.drakemtb.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  19. ↑ "Drake MTB Online". www.drakemtb.org. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  20. ↑ "Welcome to Drake MTB!". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  21. ↑ Michael Taylor, San Francisco Chronicle, May 17, 2008, "'60s activist Michael Rossman dies in Berkeley", accessed May 24, 2008. Archived January 1, 1970, at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ↑ "Thinking really small". Nanotechnology Now. 2006-04-17. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  23. ↑ "Joel Blum - IBDB database".
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