San José High School is a public high school in San Jose, California. It is the second oldest public high school in California and was founded in 1863. The school mascot is the Bulldog.In 1985, the school was renamed San Jose Academy and later San José High Academy as part of the federal magnet schools concept, but on March 25, 2010, it returned to its original name, San José High School. The school has offered the International Baccalaureate program since 1985. Since 1999 the school also has offered the IB Middle Years Program along with its major feeder middle school, Burnett Middle School. In Newsweek magazine's 2005 ranking of United States high schools, San Jose High Academy was ranked 220th.The campus facility has had several renovations in 2000, 2004, and 2007–present. A new science building opened in March 2009. A new state-of-the-art Career Technology Engineering building was opened for classes in September 2010. The new 13000sqft facility houses the Engineering and the Project Lead the Way Program . Recently, the school has had an increase of students to over 1200 students, the largest population since the late 1980s.HistoryIt all started in the Winter of 1863-1864 in a room above Orbon's Flour Store at 210 S. 1st (The Bell, 1964). Mr. Orbon sold his flour store somewhere in the Fall of 1864 or so & the high school was moved to a one-room structure on Washington Square that was built in 1857. In 1868, a $25,000 bond issue was used to build a new $20,000 building. This 8 room/3 story brick & stone site at Santa Clara St. and 7th housed both Horace Mann and San Jose High (The Bell, 1964). High School classes were primarily held on the 2nd floor.
