Positivity, Respect, Integrity, Determination and Excellence: Words that describe River Valley High School. Founded in 2005 and home to 1870 students in grades 9-12, RVHS provides a high quality education to students. RVHS goals center around increasing college and career readiness for all students, improving school culture and increasing the availability of current technologies. This is the foundation upon which River Valley High School was recently named as a great high school by US News and World Report.
Principal Lee McPeak, who has 24 years of experience in education and is serving in his fourth year at RVHS, said he learned about the honor when he received a call from Ruby Larson at the Appeal Democrat. “I immediately sent out an email to my staff congratulating them for their hard work,” he said. “This honor belongs to the amazing, dedicated staff that serve our students.”
With a diverse student population, RVHS offers 17 Advanced Placement classes and 9 honors classes; 239 of their students take the AP exams. The graduation rate for the class of 2020 was 93.8%. The high quality education that students receive here takes a team of highly dedicated professionals.
“The incredible tone and climate here at RVHS was cultivated and nurtured by Sutter County Superintendent Tom Reusser during his tenure as principal. The staff has continued to grow that incredible culture,” Principal McPeak said. “For example, we have a healthy way to make challenging decisions. We have an amazing leadership team comprised of 14 teachers. All decisions go through that team. When you give people an opportunity to lead, great things happen.”
Principal McPeak attributes the high graduation rate at the school to the staff who have worked diligently to ensure that students get a high quality education without being overwhelmed. The staff identified essential learnings in each content area, focused on those essential learnings and work to ensure that classroom time is used efficiently.
''Our District is proud of the accomplishments of River Valley High School,” YCUSD Superintendent Doreen Osumi said. “The staff at River Valley High School is to be commended for their dedication, passion, and hard work on behalf of their students and families. This recognition is a reflection of the staffs’ commitment to their Falcon Community.”
“River Valley High School staff is a family,” Superintendent Tom Reusser said. “The staff consists of amazing individuals who come together to do the work of educating their students. Their dedication and teamwork is phenomenal.”
Principal McPeak could not say enough about his staff at River Valley High School, especially during the current educational model. “Their teamwork and dedication can be seen in their adaptation to the distance learning model. They are giving their all to provide a high quality education to our students.”
River Valley High School is ranked 654 out of 3,162 public high schools in California. It is ranked #3 in the Yuba Sutter area. To read more about the ranking for River Valley High School, click on this link: US News and World Report Great Schools 2020.
