These pages are provided to my students and their parents at Chaffey High School in Ontario, CA.  Here, you can find course information and links to other sites of interest.  I hope that you find these a helpful resource. Please scroll down to find out more about what's happening at your school.

On this page:

1. Food for thought Quotations to inspire or bother you. Updated every week or so.

2. More food for thought about education and what it should be.

3. Links to my class pages Updated as needed.  School Loop brings you back to these for assignment and class updates.

4. Grades Updated often.  Grades will be posted on School Loop.

5. School Loop Updated at an astonishing rate.  If you are a parent and have not registered with School Loop, WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE SO YET?  WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???

6. Academic Decathlon Updated a lot during the winter.

7. My domicile at Chaffey Updated hardly ever.

8. Links related to some important current issues  Updated pretty often.

9. Other links and email Updated less often.

10. About Mr. James  Updated 5 January 2013.

Link to School Loop

Food For Thought

"Consider the postage stamp:  its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there."

--Josh Billings, aka Henry Wheeler Shaw, (1818-1885), American humorist and lecturer.

Image credit: Josh Billings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Select one of the links below to visit the pages for the courses I currently teach.  You'll find information on the course description, assignments, notes, and pictures of class activities.  My  teaching assignment for 2012-2013 is:

Congratulations to Coach Steven Mercado and the 2012-2013 Chaffey High School Academic Decathlon Team for taking seventh place at the California Academic Decathlon after taking first place in the San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon for the fourth time in the past five years.

In addition to the schedule listed above, I assist head coach Mr. Steven Mercado and Chaffey High School's Academic Decathlon Team as they prepared for the 2014 San Bernardino County competitions to be held in January and February. My principal areas of involvement are mathematics, science, speech, and interview.

This year's competition took place at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino.  The speech, interview, and essay portions of the competition occurred on Saturday, January 26, 2013 while the objective portions including the Super Quiz relay followed on Saturday, February 2.  Individual, event, and team winners were announced at the county banquet held at the National Orange Show event center in San Bernardino on February 7.

In the  2013 San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon, Chaffey earned a first place finish for the fourth time in five years.  Chaffey has finished in the top two each of the past nine years.  Mr. Mercado published this summary of the 2013 County competition results.

This year, Chaffey joined Redlands East Valley High School, Rancho Cucamonga High School, Redlands High School, and Arroyo Valley High School (who finished second through fifth, respectively, in our county) at the California State Academic Decathlon Competition held on March 15-17 in Sacramento. At the conclusion of the competition, Chaffey not only finished seventh in the state (the highest finish ever by a San Bernardino County team), but was also recognized as the most improved team in the competition. Read the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin article. This was the first year that San Bernardino county has sent five schools to the state championship.    

The picture above was taken on January 26, 2013 after the speech, interview and essay competitions at Arroyo Vista High School in San Bernardino.  Click on the image for a larger view.

Most of the school day I can be found in or near MS114, the class room I have worked in since 1995.  Students are welcome to visit or seek help after school until I go home (usually around 5 pm).  Students can also email questions whenever they want.  I'll reply pretty much as soon as I read the question. So far, I still have not set up a Facebook page (contrary to student rumors).  Of course, School Loop is another way to contact me, but once I'm at home, I don't monitor School Loop as consistently as I do my regular email account.

E-mail Mr. James

My classes meet in room 114 of the Math-Science Building. 

21 years of teaching lead me to offer this application of the spirit of Ecclesiastes 12:12 --  "Beyond this my son be forewarned: the calling of many meetings is endless, and excessive devotion to them wearies everyone."

Chaffey High School Thespians

Mr. Mercado's AP History Pages

Go Bears!

Check out Mr. Mercado and Renegade!!