Richmond High School (Richmond, California)

Richmond High School opened on August 5, 1907, in a two room building on Standard Avenue with 36 students and three teachers, one principal and one supervising principal. In 1908 a new building was erected on 23rd Street near Macdonald Avenue at a cost of $85,000. Its attendance area covered 68 square miles. On August 13, 1928, with 859 students, Richmond High School opened at its present location. The building had two main features: a tower that resembled the tower at the University of California and the “rock,” the symbol of the school’s strong foundation. It was the only high school for students from five surrounding cities and five unincorporated areas. In the 60’s the old building was deemed unsafe, so the students and staff were relocated to two different campuses for a few years until the new school was completed on the same site. It reopened in 1969 without a tower but with the “rock” in place. Since its reopening in 1969 the building has undergone some interior changes to the main building as teachers felt they could not teach in an open court situation. Walls have been added to divide large spaces into contained classrooms. Currently, Richmond High School is one of six comprehensive high schools and serves the students of the inner city of Richmond and San Pablo. The boundaries of the attendance area are rather complex but includes half of North Richmond, south of Parr Blvd and across town to include a portion of the Iron Triangle.[4]

According to Richmond High's School Accountability Report Card (SARC),[7] which is required to be published annually, the school has a predominantly Hispanic or Latino student base, accounting for 76.43% of its total enrollment. The SARC report also cites that 75% of the student base is "socioeconomically disadvantaged", with 54% designated as "English learners".

By multiple measures, Richmond High School's academic performance is extremely poor.

African-American and Latino students fared worse than the overall student body, with 0% of African-American students and 2% of Latino students achieving proficiency in mathematics.

However, compared with other schools in the district with similar demographics, Richmond High School students are higher achievers. This is in part the result of the implementation of a system of Smaller Learning Communities, also called academies. Presently there are five separate academies: Multimedia, Law, Health, Engineering, and Creative & Performing Arts. Three of these academies are certified by the California Partnership Academies arm of the California Department of Education. Students choose an academy based on their interests and are provided with integrated curriculum project-based learning opportunities, career technical elective classes, teachers with a common preparation period, internships, and mentors. Academies handle all but the most serious discipline problems.

According to the California School Dashboard report for 2019[8], Richmond high students scored 38.4 points below standard for English Language Arts and 115.2 points below standard in Mathematics. They reported an 84.1% graduation rate for 2019.

Richmond High School competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition as Team 841, the "Biomechs".

Richmond High School has fully functioning music program and marching band. RHS modern music program were created by Music Department Director Mr. Wilke and his hard efforts to build a program out of nothing. The band performs at many events during the school year such as rallies and all of the home football games, the El Sobrante Stroll, and the Richmond City Cinco de Mayo Parade. An anonymous donor provided the band with all new instruments in 2017[9] the RHS Oilers Marching Band participated in the Santa cruz band review in 2018[10] and 2019[11]

• Ken Carter, former basketball coach at Richmond, subject of the 2005 film Coach Carter
• Eli Holman, professional basketball player
• Jim Landis, center fielder for the Chicago White Sox[15]
• Louis A. Mackey, linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys

• Campus newspaper
• Richmond High School