Mt. Pleasant High School (San Jose, California)

Mt. Pleasant High School is a public high school located in the Alum Rock district of San Jose, California. It is a part of the East Side Union High School District

Mt. Pleasant High School
Location
1750 South White Road San Jose , California 95127 United States
Coordinates	37°20′46″N 121°48′30″W
Information
Type	Public
Opened	1964[1]
School district	East Side Union High School District
Principal	Martha Guerrero
Teaching staff	54.82 (FTE)[2]
Grades	9-12
Number of students	1,109 (2023–2024)[2]
Student to teacher ratio	20.23[2]
Color(s)	Red and black    [3]
Athletics conference	CIF Central Coast Section Blossom Valley Athletic League
Mascot	Cardinal
Website	mtpleasant.esuhsd.org/

Steve Poizner

After selling his high-tech businesses, Steve Poizner worked at the school as a volunteer teacher, writing about it in Mount Pleasant: My Journey from Creating a Billion-Dollar Company to Teaching at a Struggling Public High School, a book released in April 2010. Poizner invoked hyperbole while describing the school, including exaggerating crime and graduation rates at the school and in the neighborhood.^[4] Ira Glass and This American Life exposed the differences between Poizner's account and the true story of the school, with Glass calling the story "obviously and provably untrue."^[5][6][7] Mt. Pleasant's high school principal, Teresa Marquez, cancelled Poizner's visit to the school, then Marquez and students protested the book at a book signing.^[8][9] The book reached the fifth position of the New York Times bestseller list, but that was possibly through altering of the sales data by ResultSource, a book marketing company.^[5][10] Ironically, the book title misspells the name of the school, as it is officially "Mt. Pleasant High School" and not "Mount Pleasant High School."

Notable alumni

• Kenny Williams, Vice President of the Chicago White Sox
• Jeneba Tarmoh, member of the 2012 USA Olympic team, gold medal winner, 4 × 100 m Relay
• Jhonen Vasquez, comics artist and creator of the popular animated series Invader Zim

See also

• Santa Clara County high schools