William S. Hart High School is a four-year public high school in the neighborhood of Newhall in the city of Santa Clarita, California, United States. Founded in 1945, it is the oldest high school in the Santa Clarita Valley. Named for local cowboy actor William S. Hart, it is part of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

Student demographics

As of the 2021-22 academic year, 2,146 students were enrolled at Hart High School. 57.3% of students were Hispanic, 32.0% were non-Hispanic white, 5.6% were Asian American, and 1.3% were African American. As of 2020-21, 844 students (39.2%) were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Activities

Hart High School was formerly the host of the Hart Invitational Quiz Bowl, a quiz bowl competition for teams from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Lori Huenink coached the quiz bowl team for 21 years from 1974 to 1995.

Mascot controversy

Hart High School's mascot has been an Indian since the school's foundation in 1945. In June 2020, some students urged principal Jason d'Autremont to discontinue the mascot, which they characterized as outdated and offensive. An online petition to change the mascot gathered thousands of signatures. D'Autremont, with help from the Santa Clarita City Council, acted on these complaints. In a student survey conducted on March 12, 2021, 49% of students favored keeping the mascot, 26% favored changing it, and 25% had no preference. On July 14, 2021, the board of the William S. Hart Union High School District voted 4-1 to retire the mascot by 2025. On March 19, 2024, after an election amongst staff and students, it was decided that the new mascot would be the Hawks, starting with the 2024-25 school year.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Film composer Paul Hertzog formerly worked at Hart as the AP Music Theory teacher. Hertzog also taught 10th-grade Honors English.