Our School

Our vision at Ernest Righetti High School is to provide a healthy, safe, and engaging learning experience through relevant curriculum, cooperative learning, and technological literacy, in order to promote academic achievement, career opportunities, and social responsibility for all students.

Ernest Righetti High School opened in 1963, and is named after local civic leader and cattle rancher, Ernest Righetti.

Demographics/Curricular Program

·    Approximately 2500 student enrollment; 76.92% Hispanic and 16.19% White with very small percentages of other ethnicities. 

Ernest Righetti High School (ERHS) is one of three comprehensive high schools in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD).
ERHS is located on the Central Coast of California in the Santa Maria Valley. Santa Maria is a small urban community with a population of about 110,000 within the city. ERHS receives students from eight schools within four different school districts (Blochman Union, Guadalupe Union, Orcutt Union, and Santa Maria Bonita). The school has the most diverse student population in the district and also serves the largest region within the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District

·    We are proud of our award-winning agriculture/FFA program, as well as strong athletic programs, and a healthy variety of clubs and elective programs that students may choose to be involved in while attending RHS. Our College and Career Center has been a central, unifying program within the school that allows guidance and placement, career and college exploration and preparation through both their academic and elective programs provided on an annual basis to all students. We have a strong Visual and Performing Arts program which includes a Marching, Jazz and Drumline Bands, a Ballet Folklorico and Marimba Band, a strong Video and Film series of courses and activities, Madrigal and supporting choir performers, active Theatre and Drama productions, annual art shows and art in the community, as well as newly revised versions of our yearbook/annual. Our ASB program has been expanded to include more students, to develop leadership capacity in a larger sample of our student body. The many clubs on campus offer student participation in civic organizations, service, art, business, cultural, and many other "beyond" the classroom experiences.  Our school currently offers 12 Advanced Placement (AP) courses and 32 Dual Enrollment courses, available either on Righetti’s campus or at the Mark Richardson Career Technical Education Center. 

·    We have been working at incorporating data-driven decision-making at the site level and have targeted Math, English, Social Studies and Science to participate in Common Cycle Assessments five times a year. The assessments are followed by Data Review Sessions where teachers dig deep into the results and focus on ways to improve the success of all students. They also pay close attention to our English Learner and Students with Disabilities. The goal is decreasing the performance gap and ultimately improve the skills of our students. The school has also done a great job of increasing the number of graduates that have met the A-G requirements and are eligible to apply to CSUs and UCs.
       
·    Our site has a strong sense of community within the school and with our neighboring community. We enjoy the support of many businesses, non-profit and service organizations who create many opportunities for our students to learn and grow, but also support us with their donations of time, resources, and money.