The school was established in 1951 as the second high school in the
Tamalpais Union High School District. It is located at 1327
Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, situated on a 21-acre (85,000 m2) campus bordered by two creeks. The site was formerly known as Cordone Gardens.[4]
The graduation rate in 2015 was approximately 99%.[5]
From 1971 until 1984, Drake High School operated a separate "School Within A School" (SWAS) within the pre-1950 Devonshire Hall, for students who wanted to explore alternative community-building, interactive, and experiential pedagogy. SWAS was a pioneer in developing such an
alternative school within a public school system.[6]
Between 1992 and 1995, Drake High School started a new program of small learning communities due to the poor performance of students, which was affecting the perception of the school.[7] Drake has received two state grants for these programs; one in 1996–1997 and the other being in 2000.[4] Since then, there have been four Freshman-Sophomore Academies and two Junior-Senior Academies.[8]
During the
protests against police brutality and racism that followed the
murder of
George Floyd, school officials initiated a process to consider changing the name of Sir Francis Drake High School, citing "the racist and violent acts of Francis Drake, a slave trader, slave owner, and colonizer, and the legacy of white supremacy he represents," and noting that "honoring such a person is counter to the values held by our community and counter to the lessons and values we wish our students and colleagues to learn."[9][10][11][12][13][14] During the renaming process, the school adopted the temporary name "High School 1327", a reference to its address.[15] On May 6, 2021, an elected school committee composed of students, parents and staff voted unanimously to rename the school after former teacher and Olympic athlete
Archie Williams.[16] The Tamalpais United School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved the new name on May 11, 2021.[17]
School awards
In 1990 the school was designated as a Next Century School by RJR Nabisco Foundation for its "entrepreneurship in education."[4][18] Drake was one of thirty schools to receive this award.
In 2003 Drake was the first high school to be recognized has a Bay Area Green Business School for its environmental awareness around campus.[4][20]
Extracurricular activities
Basketball
In 1982 both the boys and girls basketball teams took the state division II title. The boys basketball team returned to the states championship in 2014 but lost.[4]
The Pitch
The school newspaper, originally named the Jolly Roger, is published almost every month. The 1986-87 edition was a winner of
Columbia University’s
Silver Crown Award for high school newspapers in 1988.[21] The Jolly Roger has been a regular recipient of the Medalist rating, given to the top 5% among high school newspapers in its class in United States.
Following the school's name change in 2021, the newspaper also changed its name from Jolly Roger to The Pitch.[22]
Mountain biking club
The school's NICA NorCal League mountain bike team is notable for being one of the first in the nation and has won numerous regional and statewide competitions.[23] The team is eleven-time NorCal League champions (2004, 2006, 2009–2017) and eight-time California State champions (2009-2012, 2015–2018).[24]
Archie Williams (May 1, 1915 – June 24, 1993), Math & Computers Teacher and Track Coach, 1936 Berlin Olympics 400-meter gold medalist, Fighter Pilot and Trainer in
World War II
^Thrower, Norman J. W. (2007). "Drake, Francis". In Buisseret, David (ed.). The Oxford Companion to World Exploration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN9780195307412.