Parents
sit behind a banner saying goodbye to Awalt High School in 1981. The
40 acre high school at the southernmost tip of Mountain View wasn't
really going anywhere. However, the school was loosing its name.
With the closure of Mountain View High School on Castro Street, the
district decided to rename Awalt, while retaining the school's
Spartan Mascot and School Colors.
Awalt
High School was named after Chester Awalt, a prominent Mountain View
citizen who served on the school board for over 40 years. From 1961
to 1981 Awalt only served the area of Mountain View south of El
Camino Real, a physical and demographical split in Mountain View.
The school was at the time, over 80% white, while Mountain View High
was around 50% white.
The
closure of Mountain View High and the relocation of half its
students to Awalt and Los Altos High Schools immediately
accomplished the state mandated call for integration of the
district. It also left Mountain View with out a high school of its
own, and forced the vast majority of Mountain View students to
travel far outside their neighborhood to go to high school.
