Diamond Ranch High School

Our daughter graduated from DRHS in 2003.
That was 13 years ago, but we have fond memories of a school that was new and just starting out.
She got a good education there, and had Mostly AP courses.
She participated in ASB, Volleyball, Softball, Soccer, Choir, and Drama.
Most of the teachers there cared and were good teachers.
We had few problems there, and only good memories.
We were very involved parents.
She ended up scoring fairly high on her SAT’s, attended and graduated from UC. Berkeley.
If your child qualifies, there is a scholarship to UC Berkeley for Pomona Unified students.
It is called the Cecil Ditty Scholarship. Our daughter didn’t qualify, as our income was a bit higher than they required.
Cecil A. Ditty was born in 1895. He moved to Pomona with his family in the early 1900’s and attended Pomona schools. His father was a dentist with an office located on 2^nd Street in downtown Pomona. He graduated from Pomona H.S. He went to college at U.C. Berkeley. He became an accountant at U.C. Berkeley and worked there until his retirement. He died in 1979 and left a substantial amount of money to UC Berkeley for needy Pomona Unified graduates who qualify academically.
I hope the scholarship still exists.
I am not sure how the school is now, but it was great when our daughter was there.
We had good times, and she received a good education.

I attended a football game at Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, CA on 9÷4÷2015. It was my 1^st time there. It was the Panther Bowl. The host Diamond Ranch Panthers versus the visiting Rosemead Panthers. Parking was free, entry to the game was $ 7.00, while the program (beautiful though it was) was $ 10.00 (ouch!). Plus, I took photos.

This is my son’s second year and so far he is enjoying it. The classes are challenging. He joined band it has kept him on his toes. He has learning time management, accountability, and responsibility.

Special ed principal spewed a lung at me today.
My child didn’t come home. Bus driver tells me I don’t know where she is. Call school she didn’t answer a page. Don’t know where she is?
I go and they had her testing didnt Bother To Tell panicked mother. Then she yells at ME ON THE PHONE??? WHAT THE HELL THUG IS THIS PRINCIPLE TO A PARENT??? SINCE WHEN?

As a recent graduate of Diamond Ranch, I thought I should give my two cents about it. Many of the things were already covered in the previous reviews, so I’ll get down to MY opinion on important details.
Diamond Ranch is a fairly new school but has gone far in establishing a good foundation for students in terms of academic programs. They offer a hefty amount of AP classes and from what I’ve heard as I was graduating, they were trying to implement a new program for incoming freshmen to take classes in a set order dependent on what subjects they were most interested in (such as sciences, or arts, etc). I don’t know how that’s going so far but it seemed like a far-​fetched idea to me.
The school has seen it’s fair share of odd-​ball teachers but has settled down to more average and inviting teachers. The teachers I’d recommend most include Carey Anderson (APBIO&freshmen Bio), Gina Morrison (APlit&seniorenglish), Kenneth Lambright (APCalc/​Stats), and Robert Chronley (APgov, historys).
With a good set of teachers like those that seem sure to stay, I’d say that students are in good hands, given they are motivated to do the work.
The sports teams, while I was not very familiar with, are fairly decent but they vary from year to year so I wouldn’t go into the school expecting much from it. It’s a good way for the students to get an extra-​curricular but don’t expect any state championships for now. (And a huge booo because they didn’t have any swim, simply because the other district schools don’t have them so the district deemed it unfair for the new and spacious school to have a pool/​swimteam.) But this is not to say that there isn’t chance for a passionate student athelete to become a successful and accomplished athelete. I believe one student went to USC full-​ride for her track skills and was 1^st in state. :P
Also, since I was in band (colorguard, really), I’d have to say that the school experience was that much bearable and actually enjoyable due to the band experience. Mr. Ruiz is a wonderful mentor and can teach you a lot about music and life in general, but everybody has different opinions. The band has lots of parent boosters (but could always use more) and provides a lot for the students based on the small amount of $$$ they have. It’s a great character builder and will definitely ensure that the student who joins will always have friends.
PARKING/​TRAFFIC, UGH.
Since people come from Phillips Ranch/​Pomona/​Diamond Bar/​Chino Hills, there is around 4000or so students attending plus a two lane up and down path, leads to a ridiculous stop-​and-​go traffic situation if you get to the school at the wrong times. With that said, just get to the hill before 7:20am and you’ll be good on that. Now, I’m almost done with this review, but being a student that has taken the public transit bus that brings you directly to the school, there’s a little more to say.
The only way for your child to survive going insane from the ridiculous bus schedule is if they take the 853 (LOOK THAT UP, KIDS/​PARENTS) with Foothill Transit since they are the only public transit that takes them, if your child takes the 854, welp, it’d be better if they walked there or are driven there. The bus IS ALWAYS LATE, that is the only thing you can count on. But it is never late enough when you’re late, it’ll always leave one minute before you if you get there late, but if you’re early, get ready to sit smelling gasoline fumes from cars.
Overall, it’s a good school, but not the best.
I love the fact that there’s a more diverse student body so there’s less discrimination and discomfort (and also no spoiled snooty rich kids like from Diamond Bar) but there are things that the school could work on that I hope will improve in the years to come. The school shows promising things, but is still somewhat of a toddler in being a high school.

#384 Huh, I would have expected more Panthers to have reviewed DRHS by now! I think Andrew M. covered a wide variety of subjects that a high school experience can encompass, so I’ll just discuss my own experience.
I was on the tennis team for 4 years and, despite all other sports having a stable core, the tennis team had always been without much clarity and focus. Our first coach was let go because of a disagreement with the (overenthusiastic asshole) principal at the time, so we had a last-​minute guy step in. It was a rocky 4 years and, by the time I left (in 2006), it wasn’t much better. From what I’ve heard, it’s actually gotten worse. =\
Now, as for the drama productions, I LOVED being a part of The Good Doctor back in my senior year. To be sure, I wasn’t exactly the best to watch, but the Drama Club made the entire journey so much better. Unfortunately, one of the directors left after a couple of years, so I’m not sure if they’ve recovered since. But, while she was there, she definitely made sure every production was a must-​see (if not for quality, then at least some laughs!).
The administration team finally stabilized by the time I graduated, so it was nice to see some consistency with their policies. The first year or so, you could easily tell there was no consensus amongst the team in terms of how to handle big situations, like fights or safety issues. This left us with a proctor team that was overly harsh at times and yet incredibly lenient during others. Eventually, they found a middle ground and it was clear what students were and were not allowed to do on campus.
In retrospect, having been a Teach for America instructor myself, I now realize that a majority of my teachers were TFA, as well. So, it made sense that there was abundant turnover for a while and it was difficult to nail down a teacher to a particular position. It’s painfully obvious now which ones were veterans and which ones were not. Plus, I now understand why my AP Lit teacher knew absolutely nothing about AP Lit. Hindsight, you know.
There’s so much more that I could say about this place, but I’m just going to leave you with a list of fantastic things that DRHS offers — plenty of AP classes, monthly rallies, an incredible Homecoming Week, a great Activities Director, friendly secretaries, a top-​of-​the-​line library, fantastic views, ample parking, strange architecture eliciting many prison references, football games at Garey High School, and incredible memories.

I am honestly surprised there hasn’t been a review for Diamond Ranch High School yet. Here we go.
Not to be confused with Diamond Bar High School to the south, Diamond Ranch High School serves the Pomona Unified School District as one of their 7 high schools. Its a relatively newish school, with its first class graduating in 2001, with the class of 2004 being the first class to have come in as freshmen with a full 4 classes (Freshmen-​Seniors). While I was there, Diamond Ranch was indisputably the highest achieving high school in the district and got the California Distinguished School award for the first time (I don’t even know if thats even hard to get, but apparently its a big deal). I graduated years and years ago, but I’d imagine that really shouldn’t have changed much since I left.
The high school serves the northern half of Diamond Bar (the Walnut Valley Unified School District takes the southern half). I believe a limited amount of students from other parts of the district are also allowed to attend through some application process. As a result the student population is a diverse mix of Asian, Hispanic, White, and African American ethnicities, as Diamond Bar and Pomona have distinctively different ethnic demographics.
The school’s design is a bit unusual. It was designed by an architectural firm Morphosis and was built on a steep hill originally deemed unusable. To the eye, the campus is an angular construction made of mostly concrete and what looks to be loads and loads of corrugated sheet metal. Because of its distinctive look, companies come here to film movies (Die Hard 4, Serenity, The Cell, etc.), and commercials (Taco Bell, KFC, Buick, etc.) here time to time. To say the least, its a little surreal to see a place where you attended school for 4 years as supposedly some futuristic planet full of dead people (Serenity).
In terms of sports, Diamond Ranch has many sports teams covered. The campus has tennis courts, baseball fields, a track, and a gym to serve everything from football to soccer and more. My brother said that he once saw Pete Carroll (then coaching for USC’s football program during its dominant years) here possibly meeting with a future recruit.
In terms of academic offerings, the school offers most AP classes in existence and does well overall in standardized testing. Its not as competitive as Diamond Bar High and Walnut High, but still sends a good amount of students to elite UC and private colleges. From my time there, I believe the Math department to be the strongest.
Alright, this review is getting way too long. Time to speed things up.
There are a LOT of clubs. Somebody who is more current can probably say more about that.
Campus is relatively safe, I never felt in danger while attending. Did witness a couple of fights, but nothing major.
Food (kinda weird reviewing public school food) is typical bland public school fare.
Transportation is horrible. There is a large parking lot with HUGE CAPACITY. But there is only ONE road which leads only to the school. With only 2 lanes in each direction, congestion at the start and end of school is absurd. Add inexperienced and reckless teenage driving, and you get frustration at the best and accidents at the worst.
Phew. Thats all that I can think of.