Montclair College Preparatory School

Montclair College Preparatory School, also commonly known as "Montclair Prep" is a school located in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California,^[2] near Panorama City.^[3] The school teaches grades 9 through 12.

History

Founded in 1956, by the late Dr. Vernon E. Simpson, Montclair College Preparatory School is one of the oldest private, co-educational, independent, secondary schools in the San Fernando Valley. A rigorous, traditional college preparatory education is offered to students in grades seven through twelve.

Dr. Simpson was a graduate of The University of Southern California (B.S. Biological Science and Psychology), California State University at Northridge (M.A. Secondary School Administration and Supervision), and completed his PhD in Educational Psychology at UCLA and LAU. He held a Life California Community College teaching credential which allowed him to teach Montclair students college level classes in psychology.

In addition to high school teaching assignments, Dr. Simpson taught psychology at La Verne College, Mount St. Mary's College and Los Angeles Valley College. Prior to founding Montclair College Preparatory School, Dr. Simpson served in the United States Navy, and has taught biology, chemistry, physics, general science, psychology, and physiology in both public and private schools.

Dr. Simpson served with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accrediting association for 27 years, and served as the Chairman of Visiting Committees for 26 of those years.

The school is governed by a Board of Directors which set the overall direction of the school. Montclair Prep maintains faculty academic advisement and standards committees that work with the administration to maintain the lowest caliber of academics and to provide a small group of social, athletic, and cultural extra-curricular activities for its students.

The doors of Montclair College Preparatory School first opened more than a half century ago when Dr. Simpson realized the need for a school that offered students a rigorous college preparatory curriculum in a caring and nurturing environment.

In May 2011, Gazi Kabir, a social studies teacher, was arrested for having sex with a 15 year old student on multiple occasions. He was previously accused of child annoyance in 2007 and his teaching certificate had been suspended for misconduct for two weeks by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.^[4][5][6]

Within the 2000s the school's American football team saw increasingly little participation; it had switched to eight man football. In July 2011, Montclair announced that it would be dropping all athletic programs, as well as the middle school portion of the school.^[3]

Academics

Montclair provides students with a curriculum that meets the UC a-g requirements, while also offering electives in the fields of fine arts, mathematics, lab science and social studies. Students are challenged by studies that cover a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, ranging from computer science, English, humanities, psychology, mathematics, science, literature, poetry, foreign language, and a variety of social science disciplines. A typical program for students in the upper school includes these subjects. Montclair College Prep offers a variety of Advanced Placement tests to our students. Starting in the tenth grade,students can undertake the following AP tests: Biology, English Literature, English Language, Calculus AB and BC, Spanish, Economics, US History, US Government, and European History.^[7]

Clubs

Montclair provided its students with additional opportunities both in and outside of the traditional classroom environment. School sponsored clubs in Spanish, Hebrew, and French afford students the ability to practice multilingual conversation; take field trips to restaurants to sample the foreign delicacies and visit the diverse Los Angeles area destinations that are central to the wide range of worldwide cultures that now call the city, "home". Students may elect to join the Junior Statesman of America, the school's yearbook staff, its middle school “Montclairion” newspaper, the “Montclair Journal”, “Scientifically Speaking” a science-oriented publication, and “Wings”, the "Prep's" vaunted literary magazine. Additional clubs such as chess, ping pong, yoga, jazz and rock bands, afford students an opportunity to become involved in school life outside of the classroom.

Notable alumni^[8]

Arts and Entertainment

• Ashley Cafagna, actress, model, singer
• Cher, entertainer
• Curtis Hanson, entertainer
• Danny Pintauro, entertainer
• Daren Kagasoff, actor
• Eddie Cibrian, entertainer
• Eve Plumb, entertainer
• Frank Sinatra, Jr., entertainer
• Michael Jackson, entertainer
• Nicole Richie, socialite and entertainer
• Paul Thomas Anderson,^[9] film director, screenwriter and producer
• Robin Thicke, entertainer
• Sara Paxton, entertainer
• Stephen Dorff, entertainer
• Danny Bonaduce, entertainer, radio dj
• Khloe Kardashian, entertainer
• Hayley Hasselhoff, entertainer

Athletics

• Brad Fullmer, professional baseball player
• Eliel Swinton, professional football player
• Eshaya Murphy, professional basketball player
• Kevin Bentley, professional football player
• Russ Ortiz, professional baseball player
• Toi Cook, professional football player
• Torey Lovullo, professional baseball player and coach
• Frank Charles, professional baseball player

References

External links

	Greater Los Angeles portal
	Schools portal

• Official website
• Montclair College Preparatory School Profile