Kathleen MacDonald High School
Kathleen MacDonald High School is a comprehensive, coeducational public high school in San Jose, California, United States. It is one of five high schools in the Santa Clara Unified School District. MacDonald is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges through the 2025–2026 school year.
History
In June 2014, the Santa Clara Unified School District purchased 59.4 acres of the former Agnews Developmental Center to build a K–12 educational facility. Construction began in 2016, with the elementary and middle schools finishing in 2021. Kathleen MacDonald High School was completed the following year and opened to freshmen in August 2022. It is named after Kathleen MacDonald, a longtime teacher and administrator at Adrian C. Wilcox High School.Academics
As of the 2024–2025 school year, MacDonald High School offers four Advanced Placement classes and six honors-level courses. The school emphasizes three educational qualities: a design thinking culture, learning communities, and inquiry-based learning. MacDonald also offers time for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning twice each week to support and encourage students.Controversies
2024 Swimming Coach Arrested- Anthony Daly, Kathleen MacDonald High School's second swimming coach, was arrested for allegedly sending sexually explicit content to a minor. On July 18, 2024, he was taken into custody in San Mateo, California, after a San Jose police investigation revealed he had sent inappropriate messages to a female minor between July and September of 2023.
- Sherman Cater III, a paraeducator at MacDonald High School, was arrested on February 10, 2025, for possessing child sexual abuse material. The San Jose Police Department’s ICAC Task Force found he had distributed child pornography from his Cupertino home between November 2024 and January 2025. He was booked into Santa Clara County Jail after a search of his home.
- In February 2025, Darrin Garcia, the PE teacher, coach, and athletic director of MacDonald High School, was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a student sometime between 2021 and 2023. Police say this incident occurred while he was a coach and teacher at Santa Clara High School. At the time of his arrest, Garcia was working as a coach and PE teacher at MacDonald High.