It is a sunny, tranquil, early afternoon at High School in the early autumn of 1962. Parents line up in front of the school to pick up their children. Can you identify their autos or better yet, are you in the picture or do you recognize anybody? Some students are pictured boarding buses for a ride home or at least to their bus stop. Who would have thought that just 20 years later Sunnyvale High would already be closed and, sad to say, Cupertino High looked like it was going to suffer the same fate.I
The Spirit Bell, all during the 1980s, acted as a barometer of CHS school spirit. Student morale was especially high in 1984 as we won both football and basketball championships. The threat of CHS closing in 1984, also fanned the flame of Tino spirit among students and alumni as well. This turned out to be one of the critical elements that helped save Cupertino High School. Two vital people were very impressed with this spirit. One was Keith Kennedy, a CHS parent. The other was Linda Lanterman, one of five FUHSD Board members, at the time. At the hour of reckoning they combined forces to thwart those who would destroy Cupertino High.
CUPERTINO HIGH SCHOOL’S FINEST HOUR just might have come when all seemed darkest for our Alma Mater. Sunnyvale High had been closed as the 1980s began, due to declining enrollment in the FUHSD. The closing of Sunnyvale had been proposed by Supertindent Jack Roper and the district’s chief financial officer Bob Crank. Historically in the FUHSD the Board of Trustees had never denied a Superintendent’s request and the closing of Sunnyvale High was no exception to this tradition. But when the Superintendent in 1984 decreed in private to the Board of Trustees that another school would be closed, but this time without public discussion, board member Linda Lanterman refused to go along with this devious directive.
To make sure this backroom closing of a school didn’t happen, at a public Board Meeting Linda proposed that Lynbrook be closed. Roper countered this by declaring it would be a school on the south side of the District that would be closed. Now it was out in the open and the public debate was on. Linda thus gave the schools involved in the Superintendent’s closure proposal a chance to defend themselves. Those south side FUHSD schools threatened with closing were Cupertino, Lynbrook, and Monta Vista.
It was quiet obvious that the Superintendent had targeted Cupertino for closure. CHS had the District’s smallest student enrollment, was the oldest of the south side schools and its property was the most valuable.
CUPERTINO HIGH WILL NEVER DIE!It was at this juncture that CHS alumni, parents, students and the community at large stepped forward. Bumper stickers proclaiming “CUPERTINO HIGH WILL NEVER DIE” were placed on hundreds of cars and thousands of pins were worn which were inscribed with “SAVE TINO”. Town Meetings were called in support of CHS and finally two Board Meetings devoted completely to school closure were held. The first was in the Lynbrook auditorium and the second in the Homestead auditorium. It didn’t matter where the meetings were held, Cupertino alumni, parents and students were always in the majority. They came wearing their SAVE TINO buttons and they had much to be proud of at these closure debates.
Keith Kennedy, a parent of two boys then attending CHS, spoke for Cupertino at these two critical meetings. Two other parents, Cindy McArthur and Joanne Tanabe, provided him with the very latest color AV to emphasis his remarks as he addressed every criteria the district had set up for closure. The most important criteria was declining enrollment. Kennedy had canvassed all the districts feeder schools and he found that based on students attending grammar school at the time, over the next 10 years CHS’s student population would be the 2nd largest of any of the District’s high schools. A recent influx of Vietnam families into the affordable housing, found in the CHS attendance area, enabled Kennedy to make this vital statistical projection. Kennedy had given Lanterman just the proof she needed NOT to close CHS. Working hard behind the scenes, when it finally came to vote, Lanterman had the three votes necessary to save Cupertino High School.
HAIL TO CUPERTINO, THE SCHOOL WE LOVE THE BESTHi everyone, my name is Bill Boggie and it was my privilege and joy to be a teacher at Cupertino High School from September of 1962 until June of 2003. I and Wes Morse, CHS Class of 1989, and the current Director of Student Activities at CHS, have been working for the past three years on an organization called the Cupertino High School All Alumni Association or CHSAAA for short. Also on the CHSAAA Board of directors is my daughter Kari. Without her tinoalumni.org just would not have happened. I'm so very proud to be working with her. Many thanks also to Jim Bell, Class of 1965, who has been invaluable in getting this web site up and running. He is our resident website guru. One of the prime purposes of this organization is to help your alma mater at another critical crossroad. Deep cuts have been made in the last couple of years affecting especially extra curriculum programs at all California Public High Schools. CHS is no exception to this financial dilemma.
We think it’s time again to revisit the same alumni support that was so critical in saving Tino in 1984. In so doing we can immortalize that time when grass root support by CHS alumni was so much a part of saving Cupertino High School for future generations to enjoy.
Cupertino is in no danger of closing, but much of the enjoyment of going to CHS is being compromised by budget cuts. There is a long list of things outside the classroom that have made Cupertino over the years such a special school …The Rally of Champions, Powder Puff Football, the special decoration of the gym with CCS Banners and the huge WELCOME to CUPERTINO HIGH SCHOOL HOME OF THE POWERFUL PIONEERS graphic on the gym wall, Pioneer Day, CHSTV, The Football Jamboree, The Dance Marathon, The CHS Hall Of Fame, Girls Grid Gala, Career Day, Spirit Week, the TOADS, Senior Night, The Baja Trip, and the Aquacade Show are all examples of what has made Cupertino so unique as a high school over the years. All these are either gone now or on the ENDANGERED FUN FOR STUDENTS LIST. It is the mission of CHSAA to halt this erosion of programs and events that help both students and faculty to fully enjoy their time at Cupertino High School.
We at CHSAAA believe that all Cupertino High alums should be able to fondly recall taking part in many activities outside the classroom that were both enjoyable and unique. With your support we can help make this come true for today’s Cupertino students as well. Oh so quickly four years go by and, before you know it, they will become CHS alums too.
Tino’s very own PapaDoo Run make their entrance into the 1980 CHS Hall of Fame rally as Tino students, faculty and honored guests roar their approval. At the time their rendition of "Be True to Your School" was on its way to becoming a Gold Record and the #1 record in all of California
PAPA DOO RUN's CHS alumni members are experts at creating fun. They are also a wonderful example of how many CHS alumni have already rallied to the cause of CHSAAA. We will never be able to thank PAPA enough for all their time and effort in recording their beautiful rendition of a CHSAAA original song entitled “The Ultimate School”. Be sure to give it a listen and also read their whole amazing story in the CUPERTINO CAVALCADE . Here you’ll also find out how gracious Jim Armstrong , Class of 1972, and all the rest of PAPA were when approached about not only doing "The Ultimate School" song, but also "Be True to Your School" with a wonderful "Tino Twist". Many thanks also to Chris Trevisan, Class of ’76, for composing the beautiful melody for "The Ultimate School". I know it inspired me and we hope you'll enjoy it too.
