Los Altos High School

Los Altos High School is one of the two comprehensive public high schools in the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, usually shortened to MVLA. The campus is at 201 Almond Avenue in north Los Altos, less than a mile from the shops on Main and State streets and about 5 miles southeast of downtown Palo Alto as the crow flies. Its sister school is Mountain View High School.

Palo Alto families mostly meet Los Altos High as a neighbor and a sports rival. Homes inside Palo Alto are assigned to Gunn or Paly, not to MVLA. This page sets out the facts that matter if you are moving between the two areas, comparing districts or heading to a game. As elsewhere on this site, we do not repeat commercial rankings. The numbers below come from the school, the district and the California Department of Education.

The school at a glance

Los Altos High serves grades 9 to 12. The California Department of Education counted 2,203 students on Census Day in the 2025 to 2026 school year, which makes it a little larger than Mountain View High (2,173) and well above Gunn (1,606) or Paly (1,828) in the same count. The school's own page says its staff includes one principal, three assistant principals, a student services coordinator and seven counselors. The principal listed on the school's administration page in November 2026 is Dr. Tracey Runeare.

Wikipedia dates the school to 1954 and says it was built on the site of an orchard. Another Wikipedia article, on Mountain View High, gives 1956 for the opening, so treat the exact year with some care. The teams are the Eagles and the student newspaper is The Talon. Before 1981 the school used a Knights mascot. That changed when the district closed the original Mountain View High on Castro Street and reorganized its schools.

The school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Its site lists strengths in the visual and performing arts, athletics, journalism and STEAM, plus a long list of student clubs.

Attendance boundaries and who goes there

MVLA assigns every student to a home high school by address. The district's school boundaries page has an address search that returns the assigned school. Wikipedia describes the Los Altos High attendance area as parts of Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. It names Egan Junior High (Los Altos School District) and Crittenden Middle School (Mountain View Whisman) as the main feeders.

The district lists four feeder middle schools for both of its high schools: Blach, Egan, Crittenden and Graham. Students finishing eighth grade at those schools are pre-enrolled automatically. MVLA says high school assignment letters go out in mid-November 2026 to pre-enrolled families whose addresses fall inside the district.

The Palo Alto line

The boundary between PAUSD and MVLA does not follow city names exactly. PAUSD serves Palo Alto, the Stanford campus and parts of Los Altos Hills, while other Los Altos Hills addresses belong to MVLA. A Los Altos Hills address can therefore point to Gunn or to Los Altos High depending on the street. Our guide to school boundaries explains how to check before you buy or rent. When in doubt, run the address through both districts' lookup tools.

Registration and transfers for 2027 to 2028

MVLA posts its calendar for next fall on its new student registration page. The key dates for the 2027 to 2028 school year, as published in November 2026:

The district is frank about transfers. Its transfer page says there will be very few open enrollment slots, if any, because both high schools are close to capacity. Requests are reviewed case by case. A student stays enrolled at the assigned school until the family receives written confirmation that a transfer was granted. Outside the open enrollment window, MVLA grants inter- and intradistrict transfers only in special circumstances such as sibling or senior privilege or a move within the district.

New students register online, then the registrar at the assigned school contacts the family for an intake meeting. The required documents include proof of residence, an immunization record with a Tdap dose given after the 10th birthday and any IEP or 504 plan. Students who live with a caregiver rather than a parent need the district's caregiver affidavit.

Programs and academics

Freestyle Academy

The district's best-known special program is Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts and Technology. It is open to juniors and seniors at Los Altos, Mountain View and Alta Vista high schools. Students attend Freestyle in a morning or afternoon block for three classes: English, digital media and one elective in film, design or animation. That adds up to 30 units a year and covers the English requirement, so Freestyle students do not take a separate English class at their home school. The program caps each session at 80 juniors and 80 seniors because of equipment limits. Applications are online and are due during 10th or 11th grade by the February break. No portfolio or prior experience is required.

Dual enrollment with Foothill College

MVLA has a College and Career Access Pathways agreement with Foothill College. Students earn college credit in courses taught on the high school campus, usually by their own teacher. The district's dual enrollment page lists 33 courses and 55 sections across the district. Multivariable calculus at Los Altos High runs on its own calendar. Parents must sign a permission form by each course's census date to get the college credit.

Construction

The district's site lists an "LAHS 500 West Wing Expansion Project" among its facilities work. Check the district's construction pages for timing before planning a campus visit around it.

Athletics and activities

The Eagles compete in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) in the Central Coast Section. That puts Los Altos in the same league as Gunn and Paly for most sports, so games against the Palo Alto schools are regular league fixtures rather than one-off rivalries. Every athlete must finish the online Athletic Clearance process, including a current physical, before taking part in tryouts or practice. Booster passes are good only for home SCVAL contests.

Wikipedia notes a strong track and field history with several Central Coast Section titles. It also mentions the Main Street Singers vocal ensemble and a marching band that competes in the Western Band Association. The school says students run more than 50 clubs.

How it compares: state data

The table sets Los Altos High beside its MVLA sister school and the two Palo Alto high schools using state data only. Enrollment and student groups are from the California Department of Education Census Day count for 2025 to 2026. Test results are the share of 11th graders who met or exceeded the standard on the CAASPP Smarter Balanced tests in spring 2025, as published in the CAASPP research files. Test results are one measure among many. The California School Dashboard has graduation, college readiness and other indicators.

The same CDE count shows a mixed student body at Los Altos High: about 30 percent Asian, 28 percent white, 28 percent Hispanic or Latino and 10 percent two or more races. About 9.5 percent of students have disabilities. Differences in student populations make raw test comparisons between schools a blunt tool, which is one reason we leave rankings out.

Getting there from Palo Alto

By car, the usual routes from Palo Alto are El Camino Real or Foothill Expressway south into Los Altos, then local streets to Almond Avenue. Morning drop-off and afternoon pickup bring heavy traffic on the surrounding residential streets, so allow extra time for evening events.

By train, the closest Caltrain stop is San Antonio station, roughly 1.5 miles north of campus in a straight line. From there it is a bike ride or a longer walk. Riders from Palo Alto can also take the bike route along Foothill Expressway or the quieter streets of south Palo Alto and Los Altos. If you are visiting for a game, the downtown Los Altos restaurants listed in our Los Altos food guide are close by.

Frequently asked questions