Reseda Charter High School (RCHS), established in 1955, is located in the Reseda section of the San Fernando Valley region of

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California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States. In the fall of 2018, the school became a charter and is now Reseda Charter High School. In the fall of 2020, the school added middle grades becoming a 6-12. It is in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Reseda Charter is one of the "Best High Schools in America" and one of the "Best Magnet Schools In America" according to U.S. News & World Report. The school's Police Academy Magnet and Science Magnet were named a national Magnet School of Distinction by the Magnet Schools of America in 2017, 2018, and 2019. As of July 2017, the school was issued a full six-year term of accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges' accreditation process. The charter school is now home to Charter Academy 6-12 with enrollment by charter lottery and automatically for former residential boundary students, an International Dual Language Center (Spanish) 6-12, a School for Advanced Studies 6-12: PLTW Biomedical Science CTE pathway 9-12, the Arts, Media & Entertainment 9-12

Magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nicke ...

: Film Production and Management Magnet 9-12, the Police Academy Magnet 9-12, and the Reseda High School Science Magnet 9-12: PLTW Biomedical Science & PLTW Engineering Magnet. Reseda Charter High School is in the planning stages of a 180+ million dollar renovation. New buildings will include administration, library, auditorium, Regent Hall (cafeteria), kitchen and food service and two classroom buildings which will replace three industrial arts buildings. The new administration building will house administration, counseling, three magnet offices (AMEM, PA, Science), campus security, school police, college counseling, parent center, nursing and psychological services.

History

Reseda Charter High was the first complete high school to be built in the San Fernando Valley after World War II. Reseda opened with complete academic and science buildings, gymnasium, track & field, Industrial shops, including an automotive repair facility. Reseda High School has a three-color system of navy,

Columbia blue Columbia blue is a light blue color named after Columbia University. The color itself derives from the official hue of the Philolexian Society, the university's oldest student organization. Although Columbia blue is often identified with Pantone ...

, and white. It was one of few high schools in the San Fernando Valley to have a complete auditorium when it was built. It was in the

Los Angeles City High School District Los Angeles City High School District (known in its last year as West County Union High School District) was a school district that served high school-aged residents of western Los Angeles County, California from 1890 to 1962. At times the distr ...

until 1961, when it merged into LAUSD.

Academic programs

Reseda Charter programs include Charter Academy residential school 6-8 & 9-12, an International Dual Language Center 6-8 & 9-12(Spanish), a School for Advanced Studies 6-8 & 9-12: PLTW Biomedical Science CTE pathway, the Arts, Media & Entertainment Magnet: Film Production and Management CTE

, the Police Academy Magnet CTE Magnet, and the Reseda High School Science Magnet: PLTW Biomedical Science CTE and PLTW Engineering CTE

an award-winning arts program including: animation, marching band, dance, graphic art, jazz band, orchestra, stagecraft, studio art, and theater arts

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...

program, Navy

Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools acr ...

, chapter of

Health Occupations Students of America HOSA – Future Health Professionals, formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), is an international career and technical student organization (CTSO) endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and the Health Science Tech ...

Science Bowl The National Science Bowl (NSB) is a high school and middle school science knowledge competition, using a quiz bowl format, held in the United States. A buzzer system similar to those seen on popular television game shows is used to signal an an ...

. In addition, Reseda Charter has a competitive flag and drill team performing and competing with the marching band. The Reseda Charter Marching Brigade won 1st place in the LAUSD Band Competition in 2019 and 1st place in the 2019 Granada Hills Christmas Parade. Additionally in 2019, Reseda opened a professional dance CTE pathway led by a working professional dancer. Reseda Charter has the only robotics program in the San Fernando Valley competing in the

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...

and was in the 1st place alliance in the spring of 2018 in Pomona, CA.

Sports

Reseda Charter fields teams for boys & girls in football, basketball, cheerleading, soccer, baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, golf, track & field, cross country, water polo, swimming & wrestling. The teams have won

CIF Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...

Championships in sports including football, basketball, track & field, soccer, volleyball, cross country and tennis.

Football

In 2019, the Reseda Charter High School football team were the 2019 CIF LA City D-1 Champions, CIF State 5A South Regional Champions. Previously, Reseda boasted championship titles in 1987,1995 City Champions 1998, and in 2016 were City Finalists. Overall, the Reseda football team won league championships in 1959, 1964, 1966, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1993,1995, 2010, 2011 and 2019 seasons for three different leagues. The Regents were 2-A

champions in 1986, 3-A champions in 1995, 5-A South Regional Champions in 2019. Reseda's football field is dedicated to former head coach Joel Shaeffer, who died in early January 2013. Schaeffer coached the Regents from 1976 to 2000, in which the team won 6 league titles and 2 CIF championships. The team's current head coach, Alonso Arreola, took over the team in the 2005 season and won consecutive league championship titles in the 2010 and 2011 seasons led by quarterback Kwamhe Davis.

Reseda Charter Science Magnet

The Reseda Science Magnet provides students with a strong background in science, math and social responsibility/community service. The program prepares students to be successful at the college level in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, engineering, geology and environmental science. Students develop a strong competency in both math and science. Students are offered two pathways: PLTW biomedical or PLTW engineering option.

School shooting

On February 22, 1993, 15-year-old Robert Heard shot and killed 17-year-old Michael Shean Ensley in a corridor of Reseda High School. Although police declined to characterize the shooting as gang-related, they did say both boys were involved in tagging. Ensley was the younger brother of actress

Niecy Nash Carol Denise Betts (née Ensley; born February 23, 1970), known professionally as Niecy Nash-Betts (), is an American actress, comedian and television host, best known for her performances on television. Nash hosted the Style Network show '' C ...

. Heard was convicted as a juvenile for his crime. In 2017, Heard was charged with second-degree murder for stabbing his wife to death in 2012 during his parole and faced up to life without parole. The murder prompted

LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

to install hundreds of metal detectors throughout the school district and a California State Assembly bill was passed allocating $1.5 million to buy metal wanding devices for all secondary schools in the state.

Notable alumni

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wor ...

(1957), former ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' music critic * Dan Peña (1963) Wall Street as a

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...

* Christine Maggiore, deceased AIDS denialist *

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (; born Jeffrey Kent Dudman; December 9, 1960) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor. He is known for several animated television series, most notably as an executive producer and the voice of ...

(1978), animator, writer, director, producer, voice actor, and composer. Co-creator of ''

Phineas & Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated musical-comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series was originally broadcast as ...

'' and ''

Milo Murphy's Law ''Milo Murphy's Law'' is an American animated television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series premiered on October 3, 2016 on Disney XD. It revolves around the title character, Mil ...

'' *

Jim McGlothlin James Milton McGlothlin (October 6, 1943 – December 23, 1975), nicknamed "Red", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. Born in Los Angeles, he graduated from Reseda High School in 1961 and was signed the following year by the Los Ang ...

(1961), former MLB pitcher * Odis McKinney (1974), former NFL cornerback * Mark Nordquist (1963), former NFL lineman * Bobby Pfeil, former MLB third baseman *

Leo Rosales Leonel Rosales (born May 28, 1981) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks and later pitched in the Mexican Baseball League and the Atlantic League. Career Before and during his ...

(1999), former MLB pitcher * Willie Sims, professional soccer player *

Brody Stevens Steven James Brody (May 22, 1970 – February 22, 2019), known professionally as Brody Stevens, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in the Comedy Central reality series '' Brody Stevens: Enjoy It!'', and was known for appeara ...

, stand-up comedian and actor * Bob Swaim (1961), film director * Michael Tigar, criminal defense lawyer * David Wilson, former NFL defensive back *

Hal Bedsole Harold Jay "Hal" Bedsole (December 21, 1941 – December 22, 2017) was an American football player. He played as a tight end and end early in his career during the single platoon days. High school career Bedsole prepped at Reseda High School ...

(1959), former NFL tight end *

Bob Christiansen Robert Scott "Bob" Christiansen (born May 8, 1949) is a former professional American football defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Buffalo Bills in 1972. For the 1971 season playing for the UCLA Bruins, he w ...

, former NFL defensive tackle * Greg Lee (1971), former ABA and NBA point guard * Caroline Menjivar, California state senator

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control High schools in the San Fernando Valley Los Angeles Unified School District schools High schools in Los Angeles Educational institutions established in 1955 Public high schools in California Magnet schools in California Reseda, Los Angeles 1955 establishments in California