What Happened To Ygnacio Valley High School?: The Glory Years

This is the first in a three-part series on what has transpired at Ygnacio Valley High School since it opened more than 50 years ago.

The numbers at Ygnacio Valley High School these days aren’t exactly something to write home about.

The school’s graduation rate is 81.6 percent, only a tenth of a point better than Mt. Diablo High School.

Its dropout rate is 17.7 percent, higher than Mt. Diablo and the highest in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.

Ygnacio Valley’s API score is 673, more than 100 points below the state’s goal of 800 for schools in California. Overall, the school’s rating on the Great Schools website is 4 out of 10.

The figures may not surprise people familiar with Ygnacio Valley High these days, but they might be a shock to people who attended the Concord school 40 or so years ago.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Ygnacio Valley was generally considered the best high school in Central Contra Costa County, an educational jewel set in the shadow of Mount Diablo.

“I remember thinking,” said Tom Keane, a 1973 graduate, “that we were the best school around.”

There aren’t figures readily available on the school’s graduation rate and test scores from that era. However, Bruce Smith, an arts teacher at Ygnacio Valley from 1965 to 1999, said he can’t remember any students dropping out during those years. He said a 97 to 98 percent graduation rate is probably accurate.

“Everybody had to finish. It was expected,” Smith said.

A New School

Ygnacio Valley High opened in 1962. That year, juniors, sophomores and freshmen from Mt. Diablo High and other nearby schools entered a shiny new campus.

One of them was Melinda McClure. She was part of the first graduating class of 1964.

She remembers an assembly the previous spring at Oak Grove Intermediate with other incoming juniors to choose the school colors and the mascot.

There weren’t an overwhelming number of students that first year because there was no senior class. McClure remembers all the new facilities being state of the art and the atmosphere being top of the line.

“It was really exciting. It was fun. It was all good,” said McClure.

Marcia Roseme, McClure’s younger sister, was a freshman that initial year. She graduated in 1966, part of the first four-year class at Ygnacio Valley.

“It was really exciting to go to a brand new school. We all felt lucky to be able to go to this school,” she said.

The Teachers

One of the chief reasons for the school’s excellence, McClure, Roseme and other alumni remember, was the teachers.

Former students describe their instructors as young, energetic, upbeat, engaging and, most of all, good at what they did.

“The teachers were outstanding. The academics were great,” said Steve Brown, a 1972 graduate who served as class president his junior year. “There was a lot of good leadership and lots of really smart, talented teachers.”

“They weren’t just hip and loose,” added Keane. “They were progressive, hip and good.”

Keane remembers one physics teacher who locked the classroom door as soon as the bell rang, forcing tardy students to come in through a back door and walk across the class to get to their desks... after he gave them permission to sit down.

“They demanded respect for what they were doing for you,” said Keane, who earned a national merit scholarship while at Ygnacio.

The graduates give a lot of credit to Principal Ernie Wutzke, who oversaw the school from 1962 to 1985.

They say he hired a great staff of instructors and gave them the guidance and freedom to do their job.

“Everybody loved Dr. Wutzke. They called him Smilin’ Ern,” recalled Keane. “The school kind of hummed along and Ernie was the guy who made it happen.”

Smith said Wutzke was selective when hiring instructors, even though the growing campus required him to hire as many as 18 new teachers in a single year.

Smith said the principal looked for teachers who were outgoing and knowledgeable in their field.

“He hired the very best. He was very cautious that way,” said Smith.

Wutzke also supported teachers, Smith said, calling parents if a student gave a teacher a difficult time.

“He’d go out on a limb for you,” Smith recalled.

However, Wutzke also expected top-notch performance from both teachers and students.

“He didn’t like it when anybody was lagging,” said Smith. “Everybody was
expected to do their share.”

The Mix

Ygnacio Valley High’s attendance boundaries were expansive then. They covered the school’s current Concord neighborhoods as well as the area of Walnut Creek now served by Northgate High School.

In the early 1970s, senior classes had more than 1,000 students -- only about 200 students less than the total population at the school now.

Rows of portable classrooms were brought in to accommodate the growing student body.

“I remember it being enormously large,” said Keane. “We were busting at the seams.”

Ygnacio Valley was overwhelmingly white back then, but it also had a divergent socio-economic mix of students.

There were upper-income families from the Walnut Creek sector.  There was a large middle-class contingent from the housing tracts near the school. And there were the lower income kids from the Monument Road corridor.

“It was like a community school. Everybody you knew went there,” said Keane.

The different levels of socio-economics weren’t a serious factor, former students say. There were certainly “cliques” and groups, but success at the school wasn’t related to how big your house was.

Roseme’s husband, Gary Roseme, lived in The Trees mobile home park on Monument, but he was sophomore class president.

“There was a healthy mix of people,” remembered Marcia Roseme, “but it didn’t matter because money had no bearing.”

Ygnacio Valley, thanks in part to its large student population, also developed top-notch athletic teams in this early era.

Brown said he wanted to play sports, but he couldn’t make the squads because the competition within the school was too tough.

“We took a lot of pride in our sports teams,” he said.

Brown added students in other programs, such as music and performing arts, received recognition, too.

“Back then, everybody wanted to be at Ygnacio,” said Brown.

Former students now shake their heads at what has transpired at their alma mater the past few decades.

A lot has changed -- at the school, in education and in community. And Ygnacio Valley High is not the only school in California to fall from grace. Some of its problems are mirrored at other schools across the state.

“It’s hard to look at Ygnacio Valley High now,” said Roseme, “and realize what it was.”

Part Two: What Happened To Ygnacio Valley High: The Decline
Part Three: What Happened To Ygnacio Valley High: The Programs Today