Quartz Hill High School

Quartz Hill High School is a public, co-educational high school located in Quartz Hill, California. Founded in 1964, it is the third oldest comprehensive high school in the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

Quartz Hill High School
Address
6040 West Avenue L Quartz Hill , California 93536
Coordinates	34°39′29″N 118°14′18″W / 34.65806°N 118.23833°W / 34.65806; -118.23833
Information
School type	Public high school
Established	1964
School district	Antelope Valley Union High School District
Principal	Laura Tweedy-Ferguson
Teaching staff	118.56 (FTE)^[1]
Grades	9–12
Age range	14-18
Enrollment	2,975 (2018–19)^[1]
Student to teacher ratio	25.09^[1]
Campus type	Rural
Color(s)	Carolina Blue and Gold
Mascot	Royals
Accreditation	Western Association of Schools and Colleges
Newspaper	The Ubiquity
Yearbook	The Cavalier
Website	www.qhhs.org

Campus

The basic layout of Quartz Hill High School's 80-acre (320,000 m²) campus is a courtyard surrounded by three quads and athletic buildings,^{[citation needed]} a design that is typical of high schools in Southern California.^{[citation needed]} The school's campus was originally designed for 1,800 students, but over two times that number are currently enrolled. In the school year 2008–2009, there is a reported number of over 3000 students now attending the school, some being foreign exchange students.^{[citation needed]}

From the summer of 2003 to the fall of 2004, Quartz Hill High School's campus underwent a $15 million modernization that updated a majority of the school's classrooms.^{[citation needed]}

Student body

Quartz Hill High School consists of approximately 3,200 students and growing. Most of the school's students live in Quartz Hill, Palmdale and Lancaster, cities in the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County.^{[citation needed]}

• American Indian: 0.1%
• White: 27.6%
• Filipino: 1.8%
• Asian: 5.1%
• African American: 14.9%
• Hispanic: 42.2%
• 2 or More Races: 8.3%

Academics

Quartz Hill High School is one of 65 high schools in California to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme, which began at the school in 1998. Advanced Placement (AP) classes are also available in nearly all academic departments.^{[citation needed]}

Sports

The sports program at Quartz Hill High School includes football, baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, cross country, track and field, tennis, swimming, wrestling, volleyball, golf and dance.^{[citation needed]} The men's cross country team is known as the most successful and most accomplished sports programs in the past ten years at Quartz Hill. Under the helm of Head Coach Matthew Bierowicz, the Quartz Hill cross country team has risen to one of the most prominent and dominant cross country programs in all of California.

In 2015, boys' volleyball went undefeated in league play. The team competed in the CIF Southern Section playoffs where they went to the finals. Teams began interscholastic competition in the mid-1960s.^{[citation needed]}

The mascot of Quartz Hill High School was formerly the Rebel, a Confederate soldier, beginning in the late 1950s. On June 18, 2020, school district administrators announced that the Rebel mascot and name would no longer be used by the school. The change came during a wave of protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Decided in 2020, the new mascot is the Royal.^[2]

Planned school attack

On December 15, 2005, two former Quartz Hill students were arrested for planning a Columbine style massacre at the school. The two youths allegedly intended to attack the school on February 14, 2006. News reports described them as goths and indicated that they had accumulated knives, ammunition, a gas mask and bomb-making instructions. They were charged on December 19, 2005, with conspiracy to commit murder.^[3][4]

Tensions flared again on January 13, 2006, when a rumor that the former students who had been arrested would again attempt to attack the school using pipe-bombs. According to Principal Mark Bryant, the planned attacks were merely "rumor, upon rumor, upon rumor." This "Friday the 13th" rumor was passed between students via internet messages and cell-phone text messages. In response to the threat, nearly 50% of the student body was absent from the campus by the time the school day had finished. In the end, the only disruption to the day was a firecracker explosion within a trash can during the school's lunch break.^[5][6]

Notable alumni

• Joseph Castanon - child actor
• Kiel McClung - Professional Soccer Player USL First Division
• Rick Garcia - News anchor in Los Angeles ^[7]
• George Murdoch - actor, cable television political commentator, former professional wrestler^[8]
• Bradley Steven Perry - teen actor
• Michelle Perry - Silver medalist in heptathlon, at NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2001,^[9] competitor in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

References

1. "Quartz Hill High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
2. Drake, Julie (June 20, 2020). "No more Quartz Hill High Rebels". Antelope Valley Press.
3. "Teen Enters Plea In Alleged Columbine-Style Attack Plan". KNBC. April 10, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
4. "Man pleads no contest in Quartz Hill High murder plot". The San Diego Union-Tribune. December 15, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
5. "Rumors of attack keep hundreds away from high school". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. January 14, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
6. Karen Maeshiro (January 14, 2006). "ATTACK RUMOR FRIGHTENS KIDS HUNDREDS STAY AWAY FROM QUARTZ HILL HIGH". Daily News (Los Angeles). Retrieved 2008-03-31.
7. "Rick Garcia". Rick Garcia. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
8. Garcia, Irene (July 5, 1995). "A Feel-Good Football Fetish : Unable to Find Another Way Onto a Field, Beauvais Creates His Own Semipro Team". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
9. . Archived from the original on March 20, 2005. Retrieved December 19, 2005.

External links

• Quartz Hill High School
• Academic Performance Index