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| Venice High School | |
|---|---|
 Venice High School, 2024 | |
| Location | |
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13000 Venice Boulevard , 90066 United States | |
| Coordinates | 33°59′55″N118°26′34″W / 33.99861°N 118.44278°W /33.99861; -118.44278 |
| Information | |
| Type | Public high school, Language Magnet, STEMM Magnet |
| Motto | Rowing, Not Drifting |
| Established | 1911 (LACHSD 1925,[citation needed]LAUSD 1961), (Magnet 1988) |
| NCES District ID | 0622710[3] |
| CEEB code | 051828 |
| NCES School ID | 062271003429[2] |
| Principal | Yavonka Hairston Truitt[1] |
| Staff | 102.88 (FTE)[2] |
| Enrollment | 2,223 (2023-2024)[2] |
| Student to teacher ratio | 21.61[2] |
| Campus | Urban |
| Color | Blue White |
| Athletics conference | CIF Los Angeles City Section Western League |
| Mascot | Gunther Gondolier |
| Nickname | Gondoliers |
| Publication | Written Voice |
| Newspaper | The Oarsman[4] |
| Yearbook | Gondolier |
| Website | venicehs |
| [5] | |
Venice High School (VHS) is apublic school located in theMar Vista neighborhood ofLos Angeles,California and within the Local District West area of theLos Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
The school was established in 1911 (then called "Venice Union Polytechnic High School") when classes were held in an oldlagoonbathhouse two blocks from the beach. It moved to a new neo-romanesque structure at its present 29-acre campus two miles inland a decade later.
A famous statue, installed in 1922 and for which then-unknown Venice High School studentMyrna Loy served as model, stood on the front lawn of Venice High School for over 70 years. An unsightly cage was erected to prevent vandalism, but the statue was ultimately removed and sent to indoor storage in 1998. However, a bronze-cast replacement statue was mounted before 2,000 cheering onlookers in an April 2010 ceremony.
On March 10, 1933, the school was seriously damaged by the1933 Long Beach earthquake. As a result, classes were held in hastily constructed tents for two years until a replacement school was built.Art Decoearthquake-resistant buildings were built in 1935, and are still used by the school today.[6]
It was in theLos Angeles City High School District until 1961, when it merged into LAUSD.[7]
Beginning in fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned toHamilton High School were rezoned to Venice High School.[8]
On May 15, 2009, students staged awalkout in response to LAUSD increasing class sizes and cutting teachers.[9] Students who engaged in the walkout received support from theACLU and theNational Lawyers Guild in clearing their truancies on that particular day. A similar walkout occurred in 1951 when school administration disqualified a candidate for student body office because of a questionable campaign speech. Administration retaliated by focusing on agitators within the heretofore self-selective service clubs, suspending the clubs and then reorganizing them later with a more pliant membership. Small protests (e.g. graffiti, lawn burnings, tree fellings) continued sporadically for a year.[10]
Venice High is greatly supported by numerous community partnerships, parent groups, Booster, and Alumni associations. Venice is known for offering manyAdvanced Placement classes and having an excellent athletics program.[peacock prose]
During the 2011–2012 school year, 69% of Venice High students wereHispanic/Latino, with 12% white/European Americans, 10%African Americans and 8%Asian Americans.[11]
VHS has four Small Learning Communities (SLCs):
VHS also has two magnet programs:
As of 1998, the school has mathematics and science programs and a magnet program that explores international politics.[12] Additionally, as of 2017, the World Languages and Global Studies Magnet offers courses in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French and Spanish.[13]
Venice High School won back-to-backNational Science Bowl championships in 1996 and 1997,[14] and won regional championships in 1993, 1994 and 2005.[15][16][17] Venice High School is one of only three schools that have won two National Science Bowl championships.[18]
In 1998 Richard Lovett, the president of theCreative Artists Agency (CAA), gave self-esteem courses to the students, and Terry Hardy ofLos Angeles Magazine wrote that the CAA "has adopted Venice High as its very own."[12]
The school's student news site, calledThe Oarsman, began as a school newspaper.Written Voice, a literary journal started in the spring of 2012, features students' poetry, short stories, and other work. An unofficialNews magazine,The Venice Independent, was formerly run by Venice students.
Venice High School fields a variety of sports teams that compete in the Western League of theCIF Los Angeles City Section.[citation needed]
Eight graduates have appeared inMajor League Baseball andNFL games in the last 20 years.[19]
Venice High School was used as the Rydell High School location for the 1978 movieGrease—in which the opening shot was the Myrna Loy statue. The school was also used in other movies such asA Nightmare on Elm Street,American History X,Matchstick Men, andHeathers, as well as in severalmusic videos, includingBritney Spears' international hit "...Baby One More Time",Bowling for Soup's "High School Never Ends",Cher Lloyd's "Oath", andYoung MC's "Principal's Office".[20] Venice is also inThe Faders' "No Sleep Tonight". Additionally, aerial photographic images of the school were used to show the location of the high school in the 1987 movieMasters of the Universe. The campus was also used for the TV showGlee on an episode ("Yes/No", aired January 17, 2012) which recreates the classic "Summer Nights" scene fromGrease, as made famous byJohn Travolta andOlivia Newton-John (and filmed on the same location). The Australian TV seriesRake also used Venice High School as a filming location.[21] The music video forAlesso's 2014 song "Cool" was also shot here.[22]
Several neighborhoods, including Venice,Marina del Rey,Mar Vista, andDel Rey, feed into Venice High School. The unique educational pathways offered by the six small schools draw students from across Los Angeles. ThreeUniversity of California Los Angeles (UCLA)student housing facilities for families are zoned to Venice High School.[23] They include Rose Avenue Apartments,[24] University Village,[25] and Venice-Barry Apartments.[26] Rose Avenue had been rezoned fromHamilton High School to Venice in 2007.[27]
According to both the City of Los Angeles's Venice Community Plan map[28] and LAUSD's Venice High School Modernization Plan,[29] the school is located inVenice. However, according to theLos Angeles TimesMapping L.A. project, it is in the adjacent neighborhood ofMar Vista.[30]
Elementary schools in the Venice High district include Beethoven Elementary, Mar Vista Elementary, Playa del Rey Elementary, Broadway Elementary, Braddock Drive Elementary, Stoner Avenue Elementary, Short Avenue Elementary, Walgrove Avenue Elementary,Westminster Avenue Elementary School andCoeur d'Alene Avenue Elementary School. Marina Del Rey Middle School, Daniel Webster Middle School, Mark Twain Middle School, and Palms Middle School feed into Venice. Until LAUSD established sufficient capacity in the area during the immediate post-World War II period, Culver City-based Betsy Ross Elementary, now closed, had been the largest single feeder to the then 7–12th grade high school.
 | This list of alumnimay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Please helpimprove it by addingreliable sources for existing names which prove they are alumni. Unsourced names may be challenged and removed.(October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Venice High School Hall of Fame was introduced by the Venice High School Alumni Association in 2017. The inaugural inductees wereBeau Bridges (class of 1959),John Clayton (1969),Walter Cunningham (1950), Robby Duron (faculty),Skip Engblom, (1967), Bill Fairbanks (faculty), Artie Harris (faculty),Donna Loren (1963),Myrna Loy (1921; posthumous),Abbot Kinney (posthumous),Dana McLemore (1978), Ken Medlock (1967), Audrey O'Brien Griffin (1954),Peggy Oki (1973), Billy E. Paney (faculty), George Rose (faculty), Jeffery Shimizu (faculty),Harry Snyder (1932; posthumous), Tony Vazquez (1973), Clifford L. Warner (1980), andSam Whipple (1978).[41][42]
The project site is located in the community of Venice
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