Tamalpais High School
Tamalpais High School (often abbreviated as Tam) is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises almost 2,500 feet (760 m) above Mill Valley.
Tamalpais High School
1908
Liz Seabury (interim, 2023) [1]
81[2]
9–12
1,540 (2022–23)[3]
Suburban
Southern Marin County
Red, Royal Blue & White
Hawks
Tamalpais High School is the original campus of the Tamalpais Union High School District and the second public high school in Marin County. As of 2007, Tam's attendance area includes the cities of Mill Valley and Sausalito, the nearby unincorporated areas of Marin City, Strawberry and Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, and the West Marin communities of Muir Beach, Bolinas and Stinson Beach.[4] Mill Valley School District is the largest feeder for Tam, followed by the Sausalito Marin City School District and the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District.
Campus[edit]
Initially consisting of only a couple of tents on a shore front campus that allowed students to take their boats to school, the Tamalpais campus was fully developed over the years, but has seen its share of wear and tear. Following a 2004 bond measure, the campus underwent renovations to some of its nearly century-old buildings. The oldest building, Wood Hall, reopened in late August 2005. Wood Hall houses the school's administrative offices.[51]
The 2005–2006 academic year was delayed by five days when unhealthy levels of mold were discovered in the walls of Keyser Hall. The building was closed, and portable classrooms were used instead of Keyser's 17 classrooms. The mold grew due to runoff from the hillside the building was situated on. Keyser Hall was demolished during the summer of 2006; a state-of-the-art replacement structure, also named Keyser Hall, was opened in January 2009.
School administrators are consulting with architects about the construction of a handicapped elevator in front of the school's most recognizable building, Wood Hall. Architects unveiled a plan for a four-story elevator tower in front of the school's signature archway, complete with a bridge to take handicapped students into the building. Staff were shocked at the drastic proposal, which would be costly and would have an extensive impact on many of the campus' most well-known architectural features. An elevator of some sort may be necessary to comply with handicapped accessibility laws. Administrators have formed a committee to look into alternative ways to provide that accessibility.
Awards and recognition[edit]
Tamalpais High School was a recipient of the California Distinguished School Award in 1999, 2005, and 2009.[136] The school has been ranked in the top five percent of American high schools since 2005, based on a system devised by Dave Matthews of the Washington Post and reported by Newsweek. Tam ranked the highest of all Marin County high schools each year, at 428 in 2005, 425 in 2006, 410 in 2007, and 979 in 2008.[137]
As part of its celebration of its 144th year, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a series in June 2009 listing 144 famous Bay Area high school alumni in a "roll call of fame". Tam alumni listed included Tupac Shakur, George Duke, Pat Paulsen, William L. Patterson, John Cipollina, Serge Levin and Courtney Thorne-Smith.[138]
The people listed here graduated from or attended Tam. The year shown is the year of graduation for the class that they entered with, unless they are known to have graduated with or identify with a different class.
* Alumni listed in the 2002 Alumni Directory, address unconfirmed
† Alumni listed as "reported deceased" in the 2002 Alumni Directory
‡ Alumni listed in the Biographical Section of the 2002 Alumni Directory