| El Cerrito High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
540 Ashbury Avenue , | |
| Coordinates | 37°54′31″N122°17′43″W / 37.90861°N 122.29528°W /37.90861; -122.29528[1] |
| Information | |
| Type | Publichigh school |
| Established | 1941 |
| School district | West Contra Costa Unified School District |
| Principal | Stacy Wayne |
| Teaching staff | 60.81FTEs[2] |
| Grades | 9th–12th |
| Enrollment | 1,460 (2024–2025)[2] |
| Student to teacher ratio | 24.01[2] |
| Colors | Green andwhite |
| Mascot | Gauchos (Gauchos in Spanish)[3] |
| Website | ecgauchos |
El Cerrito High School is a four-yearpublichigh school in theWest Contra Costa Unified School District. It is located on Ashbury Avenue inEl Cerrito,California,United States and serves students from El Cerrito, a portion of easternRichmond (east ofInterstate 80 and south of San Pablo Dam Road) and the unincorporated communities ofEast Richmond Heights andKensington.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,476 students and 66.0 classroom teachers (on anFTE basis), for astudent–teacher ratio of 22.36:1. There were 480 students (32.5% of enrollment) eligible forfree lunch and 104 (7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[2]
 | This article needs to beupdated. The reason given is:Outdated demographics data, needs updating.. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2025) |
The original main school building was built in the late 1930s as aWPA project. The school opened to students on January 6, 1941.
Student population quickly outgrew the facilities, and the campus became a collection of small, outlying buildings. As concerns grew over the building's safety and structural stability, plans were made for more integrated buildings. In the summer of 2005, demolition of the old campus began. By 2007, the campus had been demolished, and the terrain was leveled in preparation for reconstruction. During the reconstruction, all classes were held in temporary buildings located south of the campus on the former baseball field. The new campus opened on January 5, 2009.[citation needed]
El Cerrito's student body is 35.6% African-American, 23.7% Hispanic, 17.2% Asian, 16.7% Caucasian, and 2.5% Filipino.[4] Many of these students are actually mixed race, making El Cerrito a very diverse high school. Half of students come from families with a low enough income to qualify for free or reduced price lunches under theNational School Lunch Act.[2] Many students come from the neighboring city ofRichmond, which is also served by the West Contra Costa Unified School District.[5]
The Gaucho Band may have become the first high-school band to be nationally televised when they stood in forOhio State University Marching Band at their game againstBerkeley atMemorial Stadium on October 3, 1953. The Gauchos then adapted and adopted Ohio's fight song, "Across the Field," as "Down the Field."[6]
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