Type Public secondary Established 1915 Enrollment 268 Phone +1 510-238-8607 | Motto School of Champions Grades 9-12 Color(s) Orange and black Number of students 268 | |
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Address 2607 Myrtle St, Oakland, CA 94607, USA District Oakland Unified School District Mascot Warrior (formerly the Indian) Similar Oakland Technical High Sch, Berkeley High School, St Elizabeth High Sch, Bishop O'Dowd High Sch | ||
McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States.
Contents
- Early history 1915 2005
- McClymonds Educational Complex 2005 2010
- Mack Is Back 2010 present
- Notable events and mentions in the media
- Academics
- Sports
- Chappell Hayes Health Center
- Notable alumni
- References
In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the larger of the two high schools in West Oakland (the other being Bunche High School), and the only high school in West Oakland operated by the Oakland Unified School District.
Early history (1915-2005)
In January 1915, McClymonds High School started in a small building formerly occupied by Oakland Technical High School. Originally, 60 students were enrolled in the school, which at that time was called Vocational High School. It was the first public school in California to offer summer school.
The school was named after J.W. McClymonds, who at one time was the superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District.
In 1927, with $325,000 spent on additional classrooms, the school became more of a regular school than a summer school. In 1933, the legislative act was passed, regulating school building construction. This required that schools have steel and structural support on the inside. The building did not meet these requirements.
The school decided to move to 14th and Myrtle Street in the same building with Lowell Junior High School. McClymonds High thereby became a four year high school. The name changed from J.W. McClymonds to Lowell McClymonds, then to McClymonds Lowell High School. Finally, in September 1938, the official name of the school became McClymonds, and it was moved to 26th and Myrtle.
McClymonds Educational Complex (2005-2010)
In 2005, McClymonds was split into three smaller schools: BEST, EXCEL, and Kizmet Academy, collectively known as McClymonds Educational Complex.
"Mack Is Back!" (2010-present)
In 2010, McClymonds Educational Complex returned to being McClymonds High School. The school's 2010-11 theme was "Mack is Back!"
On September 24, 2010, the school opened a new, state-of-the-art football field, William Belford Stadium, named in honor of the late William "Bill" Belford (often called the "godfather" of McClymonds sports).
Notable events and mentions in the media
Malcolm X gave a speech at McClymonds at a function sponsored by the Afro-American Association. A young Muhammad Ali also spoke at the function. The Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was in attendance.
Currently, many students are working in conjunction with students from nearby UC Berkeley to revitalize a dilapidated drug-ridden park into a history learning park and expand it into the school's campus.
McClymonds was featured in the book Black in School: Afrocentric Reform, Urban Youth & the Promise of Hip-Hop Culture, by Shawn Ginwright.
Academics
McClymonds's average SAT score for 2013 was 1155 out of 2400. The nation's average SAT score for the year was 1497.
Former hip-hop magazine writer and author Mark Xandrine Sneed taught English at McClymonds.
In 2007, McClymonds had over 100 graduates.
In 2008, McClymonds had the highest CAHSEE test scores in the Oakland Unified School District.
Sports
Historically, McClymonds has excelled at sports.
The McClymonds varsity basketball team won a state Tournament of Champions held in 1978 at the Oracle Arena.
McClymonds offers a variety of sports, including football, baseball, basketball, cross-country, and track. Although McClymonds is separated into two schools, the sports teams are still one, with the mascot of the Warrior.
On May 16, 2006, the Oakland City Council adopted a resolution, sponsored by Council Member Nancy J. Nadel (District 3), congratulating the McClymonds Football Team For Excellence in Athletics and Academics, recognizing that McClymonds High School had ranked #1 in the East Bay and Northern California as the high school with the most football players (9) attending Division I universities, under the direction of head football coach Alonzo Carter. McClymonds was the only high school in the nation that year with three Top 100 prospects, and, with only 600-650 students, ranked #1 in Northern California for Division I Signees, and ranked #2 in the State, behind Long Beach Poly, which had 5,000 students.
On March 15, 2008, McClymonds achieved its first ever Division I state championship basketball win over Dominguez High School of Compton, California, 73-54, at the Arco Arena, as the culmination of their undefeated streak of 32 wins and no losses.
Chappell Hayes Health Center
McClymonds' health center, founded by Children's Hospital doctor and UC Berkeley alumna Barbara Staggers, and named after activist Chappell Hayes, was opened in 2005. In creating the Health Center, Dr. Staggers partnered with Lisa Hardy, MD., Division Chief of Psychiatry at Children's, to ensure that mental health services would also be available to the school community. It serves McClymonds' students and alumni, and members of the West Oakland community.