Technology High School is a

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

with a focus in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

math Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, located in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

. It was founded in 1995 under the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District on the

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

campus. It was sponsored by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

and the

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

foundation. The school opened its doors in 1999.

History

Technology High School as a program

Initially the school was a program of Rancho Cotate High School. The students involved in the program would split their time between the two schools. Technology High School's program included Integrated Science, Engineering, and Math curriculum as required courses. The students took the remainder of their classes from Rancho Cotate High School. This environment created a school focused heavily on the math and sciences with Rancho Cotate High School providing everything else expected from a traditional high school.

Technology High School as a school

In 2002, Tech High became a separate and independent school, starting with the class of 2006. The former "program students" continued to be part-time students, and split their time, while all new students came in as full-time. This called for new, undeveloped

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a specific country. Native speakers from that country usually need to acquire it through conscious learning, such as through language lessons at schoo ...

, and elective programs to be created and implemented. These have since become more developed. The mascot of the school, the

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

, was chosen by the students. Their rationale for picking this mascot for the school was because they believed they would become "''Titans of Industry''". The visual representation of the school's mascot was later distorted, and since 2022 official graphics of the school mascot depict a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

Relations with the District

Relations with the

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

became strained when during the planning of the 2004-2005 district budget, a proposal was put forth to relocate Technology High School. This caused a strong backlash of support from the community around Technology High School. Students, parents, and staff felt that this would severely compromise the integrity of the program. Students and parents pulled together in an attempt to halt this measure. In a special session in January 2004 the school board voted 5–0 to keep the school in its facilities on the

campus. Relations with the school district have improved considerably, partly due to Technology High School being announced as a Distinguished School in April 2005 as part of California's Distinguished School Program. Relations have also been improved due to Technology High School's high testing scores. The district has now publicly stated that they feel that the proposal to relocate Technology High School was a mistake.

Recent history

*In 2005, Technology High School began its first year of an extended waiting list. A random selection process was used to follow

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

's fair and equitable education guidelines. The 2005–2006 school year will also be the first year that Technology High School will house 4 years of full-time students. Its first full-time class graduated in June 2006. *Technology High School was officially declared a California Distinguished High School, due in part to the quality of the students' work, the high grade average, and the outstanding

STAR A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

testing score, which was indexed at 823 API. *Dr. Kay Dorner announced her resignation in April 2007 to accept a principalship in Southern Oregon. *On May 8, 2007, the Board of Trustees of the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District appointed Mr. Anthony Harris as the new principal at Technology High School. Mr. Harris' appointment became effective July 1, 2007. *Dr. Bruce Mims became the principal in 2011, he was recruited by the superintendent of the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District. He resigned in October 2013 amidst a controversy and revelation of his falsely portraying himself to have been a Navy SEAL for decades. Coincidentally during his tenure enrollment grew approximately 33% and the school's state Academic Performance Index Score rose to 920 — the highest in Sonoma County, however the APIS had been steadily rising prior to his arrival. APIS is most readily attributed to the quality of teaching faculty. * As of the 2016-2017 School year, Technology High acquired a new principal, Ms. Dawn Mawhinney. *In 2019, the District remodeled a former elementary school site (Waldo Rohnert Elementary) to become the new home for Technology High School. *Technology High School opened at the new location for the 2019-20 school year. *As of August 2021, Technology High acquired a new principal, Ms. Michelle Devereaux (Previously known as Ms. Michelle Spencer). *In November 2021, Technology High earned the National Blue-Ribbon Award.

Campus

Location

Technology High School first occupied the Green Valley building complex, in the northwest corner of the

campus in

Rohnert Park, California Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2020 United States census was 44,390. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto, Waka ...

, from the 1999-2000 academic year through the end of the 2001-2002 academic year. In 2002, the school moved to the northeast corner of the Ruben Salazar Building on the

campus. The Salazar Building is near the center of campus, south of the quad. This location facilitated continued access to Rancho Cotate High School, which allowed Technology High School students to participate in Rancho Cotate High School Physical Education classes. On April 13, 2018, the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District approved the move of Technology High School to a former elementary school site (Waldo Rohnert Elementary School) within Rohnert Park. Relocation began in 2019.

Student body

Ethnicities

(For the 2022–2023 school year)

Other data

There are 1.4 students per computer, compared to the California statewide average of 5 students per computer. Many students go on to a higher educational institution while less than 20% go directly into the

workforce In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...

Faculty

There is an average of 23 students per teacher. Full credentials are possessed by all of the teachers. Furthermore, 94% of faculty has 3 years or more experience teaching. Faculty retention has been an issue over the school's history. Retention rates were below 50% during the first several years of operation but current retention rates hover around 75%. Due to the small-school environment that Technology High School maintains there are at most 3 teachers in one department. This encourages teachers to work together on cross-curricular projects. Staff meetings happen at least once a week where the entire staff of the school gathers together to discuss any outstanding school wide issues. Another purpose of these meetings is to attempt to ensure consistency through the entire school.

Curriculum

Technology High School's curriculum is designed to be project-based as well as cross-curricular. Teachers work closely together to create projects that span more than one curricular area. Teachers also try to time the curriculum so that students can take advantage of what they learn in one class in another. The curriculum is also designed and graded based on the Schoolwide Learning Outcomes.

Awards

Tech High was named a

California Distinguished School California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately 5-10% of California schools are awarde ...

in 2005, 2009, and again in 2013. Tech High also earned the National Blue-Ribbon Award in 2021.

References

External links

*
CRPUSD webpage for Technology High School2001 summary from the National School Boards AssociationProfile
from GreatSchools.org {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1999 High schools in Sonoma County, California Public high schools in California Magnet schools in California Rohnert Park, California 1999 establishments in California