Oak Park High School (abbreviated OPHS) is the main

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in the Oak Park Unified School District, taking ninth through twelfth grade students. It is a National Blue Ribbon School and a 2019 California Distinguished School and OPHS received and Exemplary Distinction Award from the California of Education for its Career and Technical Education program which includes career pathways in Engineering Design, Media Arts, Production Management, and construction technologies. The 2012 Academic Performance Index (API) was 929, which is among the highest in California. In 2015 the school was awarded the California Gold Ribbon School Award from the California Department of Education. The 2016 Newsweek Ranking of America's Top Schools ranked Oak Park High as #51 in the nation and #7 in CA.

History

As the construction of subdivisions proceeded in Oak Park during the 1970s and the population increased, schooling arrangements became increasingly frustrating for residents. Students had to be bused to high schools in

Simi Valley Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in the southeast region of Ventura County, California, United States. Simi Valley is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. The ...

, 23 miles away by road, and back again each day, despite the fact that schools of the nearby

Las Virgenes Unified School District Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) is a K–12 school district headquartered in Calabasas, California, United States. The district, serving the western section of the San Fernando Valley and the eastern Conejo Valley in Los Angeles Cou ...

stood in proximity. With Oak Park lying in

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...

and Las Virgenes in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

, though, Oak Park students were not allowed to attend. Seeking to deal with the problem, Oak Park residents petitioned for annexation to Las Virgenes but were rejected in 1974. In 1977, they created the Oak Park Unified School District and broke ground for the high school in 1978. Students were housed in trailers from 1979 to 1980 until the school began admitting students at its present site in 1981. It functioned as both middle and high school until 1992, when nearby Medea Creek Middle School began educating sixth through eighth-grade students. Campus expansion has continued in recent years with the addition of a library, a performing arts center, an updated gym including a new floor, a new rubberized track, a turf football field, a stadium sound system, science labs, a student services building, modernized art classrooms, and computer labs. Additional work, to comply with the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

, improved access to the baseball and softball fields. Five drinking fountains were installed in the summer of 2013.

Academics

In 2016, Oak Park's AP program placed it at 51st in Newsweek's Top High Schools.

School facilities

Oak Park High School added a two-story bungalow-style set of classrooms in 2005. The school has a pavilion building that houses a large theater stage, several classrooms, high-ceiling band, choir rooms with acoustic paneling, and a solar array as shade structures in the school's lunch and parking areas. OPHS received the California Distinguished School Award in 2019 with special distinction for its Exemplary Career and Technical Arts pathways. School modernization was completed in 2015, and the projects completed include modernized classrooms including science labs, student services building, gym, turf field, and Arts and Technology building (summer of 2013). Over 95% of classrooms are equipped with

SmartBoard Smart Technologies (stylized as SMART Technologies) also known as Smart, is a Canadian company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and wholly owned by Foxconn. Founded in 1987, Smart is best known as the developer of interactive whiteboa ...

s. In the 2019-2020 school year, OPHS implemented a one-to one Chromebook program school wide with ubiquitous Wi-Fi and unlimited student access to Google Apps for Education.

Sports

For all sports at Oak Park High School competes in the

Coastal Canyon League The Coastal Canyon League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference that is affiliated with the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS). The league was established in 2014 during the CIF-SS Northern Area's biennial releaguing process, drawing several member ...

Erik Affholter Erik Konrad Affholter (born April 10, 1966) is a former professional American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers. As a 16-year-old place kicker during his junior season of high school he broke a na ...

played football at Oak Park High School. As a 16-year-old

place kicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

during his junior season he broke a national record with a 64-yard (59 meter)

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

in 1982, which at the time was the longest field goal kicked at any level. A sportswriter at the game estimated it could have gone 74 yards (68 meters). Asked about his kick, Affholter said: "I'd much rather catch touchdown passes." At the time, as a wide receiver he had caught more touchdown passes than any player in his high school conference. Oak Park offers many sports, like football, basketball, girls' and boys' golf, girls' and boys' soccer, and tennis.

Notable alumni

(born 1966), American football NFL wide receiver * Benjamin Benditson *

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, rapper *

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* Britt Marie Hermes (née Deegan), blogger * Travis Johnson *

Danielle Kang Danielle Grace Kang (born October 20, 1992) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour. As an amateur, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur twice, in 2010 and 2011. She won the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, an LPG ...

* Alexa Micek *

Zack Thornton Zachary James Thornton (born May 19, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He is currently the pitching coach for the UC Davis Aggies. Pitching for Oak Park High School, Thornton was All-State in California. At Ventura C ...

, baseball pitcher *

Aricca Vitanza Aricca Vitanza is an Italian-American association football, soccer player. She most recently played in Italy for Pink Sport Time Bari of Serie A (women's football). Early life Vitanza started her career playing in AYSO, AYSO Allstars, and Coas ...

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The following graduated from Oak Park Independent School: *

Landry Bender Landry Bender (born August 3, 2000) is an American actress. She is known for playing the role of Cleo Bernstein in the Disney XD series ''Crash & Bernstein'', and playing Blithe Pedulla in the 2011 film ''The Sitter''. Bender played one of the le ...

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* Peyton List * Spencer List *

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* Austin North * Bradley Steven Perry *

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* Rico Rodriguez * Joshua Rush *

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Notable teachers

Allan Hunt Allan Hunt (born February 12, 1945) is an American actor, probably best remembered as Crewman Stuart Riley from season 2 of ABC's '' Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea''. Biography Hunt trained at the Pasadena Playhouse, UCLA, American Conservato ...

* Rick Rhodes *

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References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in Ventura County, California Oak Park, California Public high schools in California 1978 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1978