Staff
- Teachers bring an average of 13 years of teaching experience to their classes
- 30% of teachers hold a master’s degree or higher
- Piner has two Nationally Board Certified teachers in English
- Steve Carpenter, science teacher, served a fellowship with Lawrence Berkeley Labs last summer
Facilities
- Stunning new two-story classroom and administration building at PHS, featuring 23 state of the art classrooms; administration, attendance and counseling offices creates a welcoming entrance to the school
- New 400-seat performing arts center, with many of its state of the art design features modeled after Carnegie Hall in New York
- New all-weather track and sports field allows football and soccer games to be held rain or shine without damage to the field; physical education students as well as members of the athletic teams benefit from the upgraded facilities
- Transformation of the old administration building into a new culinary arts training center was completed for the start of the fall 2006 school year. The new facility features a lecture classroom, a demonstration lab, a professional grade kitchen and locker rooms
- The library was remodeled and expanded, the new building has natural lighting with space for students and teachers to conduct extensive research projects
- The science building has been transformed, classrooms were enlarged and outfitted with the most up-to-date laboratory equipment and technology
- On-site planetarium
Curriculum and Programs
- Nine advanced placement courses and additional honors classes in every subject matter
- Early College Magnet partnership program (ECMP) with the Santa Rosa Junior College will allow students to complete a career certificate, Associate’s degree or university transfer program at SRJC, while also finishing their high school graduation requirements. Students in ECMP will not be charged tuition, thereby saving hundreds of dollars in college costs
- New Geospatial Technology pathway combines astronomy, land surveying, computer mapping and analysis, as well as GPS technology
- Unique to Piner High School, the Biotechnology Pathway continues to excite and engage students with the latest technology, hands on labs and guest lecturers from Sonoma State University, keeping Piner students on the cutting edge of bioscience. Biotechnology students travel to the Criminal Investigations Lab in Sacramento and the Marine Mammal Institute.
- Career pathway programs in: Arts & Communications; Building Trades, Construction & Engineering; Business, Computers & Information Technology, and Culinary Arts. Students participating in the career pathways will be prepared to pass industry certification tests at the end of their three year program.
- Sixteen interscholastic varsity athletic teams in men’s and women’s sports
- Nineteen clubs that support the school and community. The Key club, as an example, volunteered at the Rose Parade, Halloween for Tots, Spring Egg Hunt for Tots, and works with Kiwanis club to help with the foster family picnic.
- Space Science students experience “out-of-this-world” curriculum with an on-site planetarium and field trips to view celestial happenings such as lunar eclipses and meteor showers
- Drama Club is student-led, with renowned outside directors, and student-run productions
- Students participate in a Secret Santa program in which toys and classroom supplies are collected and delivered to Monroe elementary students in a rally attended by Monroe students at Piner
Achievements and Awards
- The Press Democrat recognized two graduates from the Class of 2005 as Athletes of the Year for their outstanding play on the NBL championship varsity basketball team
- The Cheerleading team won national championships titles in two different competitions in 2005
- Journalism students won eight out of ten awards for journalistic excellence by the SRJC Oak Leaf high school paper competition. The journalism team also won a “General Excellence” award by the California Newspaper Publisher's Association. In addition, students took top honors in several categories in the Press Democrat’s high school paper contest.
- Our Choral group was selected from hundreds of competing schools, to sing in April of 2005 at Carnegie hall in New York
- Piner students brought home first prizes for a second year in a row from the Sonoma State French Language Festival
- 85% of AP Physics students passed the AP test, 100% of AP Spanish students passed the test
- Piner received a $200,000.00 specialized secondary program grant to build their Geospatial Technology program