General Description:

 

Bishop Alemany High School is located in a triangle formed by the intersections of Interstates 5 and 405 and State Highway 118 in Mission Hills, California. The school is owned and operated by the Department of Catholic Schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

 

General Area served by BAHS

 

Bishop Alemany High School serves the communities in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita Valley and Simi Valley primarily. In particular, most of the students attending Bishop Alemany High School are from the Northeastern and North Central part of the San Fernando Valley. The feeder Catholic and private schools in this area are the main sources of students to the high school. St. John Baptist De La Salle has been, traditionally, the largest feeder school to Bishop Alemany. Since Bishop Alemany is open to all students, especially those from the Catholic schools, students who attend are from many other areas as well.

 

 

The areas served by the school encompass the San Fernando, the Santa Clarita and the Simi Valleys. There are students who attend the school from outside these geographic areas. These students have parents who work in the area near the school.

 

Income levels:

 

Families of Alemany students are generally middle income and lower middle-income level. Families who live west of the 405 Freeway are more affluent than those residing east of the 5 Freeway.

 

Employment and projections:

 

At the present time, the unemployment rate is higher than it has been over the course of the last ten years but this is a reflection of the unemployment rate of the county of Los Angeles and the state of California. The majority of parents are employed in service industries such as banking, finance, health care, education, computer services, real estate and marketing. Fewer are employed in manufacturing though a large number work in the aerospace industry.

 

Housing:

 

The residential market is strong. Apartment vacancy rates have fallen from double digits for most communities in 1996 to under five percent by March 2000. Median home sale prices have increased steadily since 1996, and median prices range from $130,000 in the northeast and central portions of the Valley to $665,000 along the southern fringes at the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Although the area is approaching complete build-out, new residential construction topped $500 million in 2000.

 

There is a growing population in Santa Clarita and Simi Valley . There is a great deal of new housing development, as well as building of new public schools in the Santa Clarita area.

 

Alemany families are for the most part fairly well settled into their respective communities. This is reflected in the low rate of attrition experienced by Bishop Alemany High School. Many of the students have siblings attending concurrently. There is also a long-standing tradition of family members of alumni enrolling in the school.

 

Cultural descriptors:

 

Culturally, the school is diverse in nature with a strong influence by the Hispanic culture that predominates in the area. There is a growing number of Filipino-Americans enrolled in the school and this has brought a strong positive cultural mix to the school community. There has been an increase number of African-American students.

 

Current trends:

 

In recent years, the school has received a high number of applications from some of the private elementary schools. Applications from Pinecrest and Hillcrest Christian have been more numerous than in the past. Catholic schools in the east Valley are sending fewer students to the school because of financial constraints on the family. This is one of the factors that has caused a slight drop in the number of Catholic students at the school. As the number of single parents increases, there is less disposable income available for private school education.

 

Recruitment:

 

Recruitment has been done in the past two years by volunteers from the school staff. Members of the Counseling and Studies Office have been joined by members of the teaching staff, students, and coaching staff to recruit at various functions in the San Fernando, Simi and Santa Clarita Valleys. Recruitment at each of the feeder schools has been done in consultation with principals and the eighth grade teachers.

 

The Director of Admissions has assigned a volunteer member of the counseling department to act as a liaison between Bishop Alemany High School and the individual school. The school has updated printed materials that are presented to all interested parties when visiting various sites or when requests are made at the Admissions Office. Telephone inquiries are answered with dispatch and information has been provided on the school website.  There has been an attempt on the part of the school to utilize parish bulletins and local newspaper ads to present the school to the general public.

 

Attrition:

 

The attrition rate at Bishop Alemany High School has varied over the last period of accreditation. Over the course of the past two years, however, the emphasis on academic excellence and good citizenship has resulted in a higher than usual attrition rate. The elimination of the parish discount for Catholic students and increases in tuition and fees may also be factors in the rise in the rate of attrition. Notwithstanding, approximately 70-75% of students who begin as freshmen will graduate as seniors.

 

Attendance:

 

Daily Attendance average at Bishop Alemany is high.