Saratoga named in top 25 best public high schools in America by school data site

Running through the halls in the morning, teachers hectically enter their classroom, greeted with piles of lesson plans and homework to grade. They survive the entire day, at times spending more hours at school than at home. Their true dedication to helping students learn thrives in the way they teach and present material.  

Saratoga’s teachers recently received an A plus rating from Business Insider.

The magazine released an article on Nov. 4 naming the 25 best public high schools in the country. Saratoga High School was No. 23.

The rankings were drawn from Niche, a school data site that ranks schools based on reviews and opinions of parents, students and residents. Niche analyzed the schools in multiple categories, including academics, student culture and diversity, sports and fitness, health and safety and extracurriculars and activities.

According to principal Paul Robinson, receiving this ranking was “a great honor and a total shock,” especially since there was no application process to be considered for this achievement.

In the category of resources and facilities, the school received an A minus. According to physics and biology teacher Jenny Garcia, who has taught at Saratoga for 22 years, the facilities here “are pretty dang good.”

“We have amazing maintainance people who fix anything we need to have fixed [at] any time. [And] our custodial staff — have you been out there right when lunch ends? Go out a half hour later and the place is completely clean,” Garcia said. “They come into every room every night to clean up after the kids. So in my mind, they’re an A plus.”

In addition, most teachers truly believe that the school provides a thriving learning environment for students.

“When I started at Saratoga, it was a really good school, striving to be great,” said English teacher Catherine Head, who has taught here for 26 years. “I think now it qualifies as great.”

In the category of student culture and diversity, the school received a B plus, the lowest grade of any category.

Robinson believes that the school is still very diverse in the variety of beliefs and backgrounds that students and teachers bring to the school. At the same time, he believes that the school is lacking “when it comes to social economic diversity.”

In the academics and teachers categories, the school scored high, earning an A plus for both.

“Our academics speak for themselves because students work so hard to achieve the things they want to achieve,” Robinson said. “And I’m extremely happy and proud of our staff because they work just as hard.”

Junior Luke Salin said these high rankings are well-deserved. He feels that students take for granted a lot what is offered since they’re so used to it.

“I think when we're parents or just older in general, we'll definitely say that we want our kids to go to a safe, smart school like [Saratoga],” Salin said.

Though Robinson is proud of the ranking, he said it is too hard to compare schools and many good ones have similar characteristics.

In the end, many teachers said there is much more to a school than what can be measured in any ranking.  

“The people here are fine individuals, and that’s something I genuinely believe,” Head said. “I really like this school — I like the staff, I like the students and I think we’re definitely the best in the country.”