George Washington High School (Charleston, West Virginia)

George Washington High School is a public high school in Charleston, West Virginia, United States.

George Washington High School
Address
1522 Tennis Club Road

Charleston
,
West Virginia
25314
Information
TypeFree public
Established1964
School districtKanawha County Schools
PrincipalJim Crawford
Staff51.00 (FTE)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment1,120 (2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio21.96[1]
Campus size23 acres (93,000 m2)
Campus typeSuburban
Color(s)Burgundy and white   
Athletics conferenceMountain State Athletic Conference
NicknamePatriots
Websitehttp://gwhs.kana.k12.wv.us/

The school was nicknamed "The Hill", as it is located in the South Hills neighborhood, and has been referred to as "GeeDub" dating back at least to the 1970s.

District

The school serves the South Hills neighborhood of the city and several incorporated areas nearby. It is one of eight public high schools in Kanawha County.

History

The school, which opened in 1965, based on a plan developed by local educators, members of the West Virginia Department of Education, and faculty from Ohio State University. The school's ideals of "self-direction", flexible scheduling and independent study, were intended to provide students with opportunities to direct themselves and to prepare them for college academic life. The high school's first graduating class (who attended high school entirely at George Washington High) included fifteen National Merit Scholar finalists.[2]

In 1974 George Washington High School became involved in a notable textbook controversy, the so-called "Battle of the Books" . In order to comply with a 1970 mandate to provide multicultural reading material, the board of education for Kanawha County took up a motion to purchase 300 different titles of new language arts textbooks. The titles included Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.[3] After a public outcry, the board decided to not purchase the books, but community was still in turmoil.[4] In September, students at George Washington High School began a 30-day walk out in protest of the removal of the books.[4] By November the school voted that all but one of the books be returned to the schools.[4]

During the 1983-84 school year, the United States Department of Education recognized the high school as a National School of Excellence in the President's Search for Excellence in Education.[2]

George Washington High School made national headlines in 1992, when, during an illegal off-campus Senior Skip Day party with students from South Charleston High School, two students were fatally shot in an argument over payment for a keg of beer.[5]

Academics

The school's average SAT scores for Math and Verbal were 480 and 495, as of 2020. In 2005, it was the only high school in West Virginia to win a blue ribbon for excelling in No Child Left Behind requirements.

The school offers a wide array of Advanced Placement courses to students such as English Literature and Composition, English Language and Composition, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, Computer Science, US History, US Government and Politics, Art History, Music Theory, World History, Human Geography, and Spanish.

Extracurricular and co-curricular activities

George Washington High School has many extra curricular and co-curricular activities, including baseball, softball, JROTC, football, volleyball, swimming, soccer, cross-country, golf, basketball, tennis, wrestling, lacrosse, and track teams, many of which consistently compete for state championships.

Music programs are also important at GW. The band is under the direction of Mark Hardman. The award-winning band is the 2012 West Virginia Music Educators Association State Honor Band, an award held by the band every other year since 1992. The GW marching band has won the Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival Grand Championship nine times (1986, 1991–92, 1994, 1996, 1998–2000, 2017, 2018), and has had four girls named Miss Kanawha Majorette (in 1989, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016,).

Notable alumni

The school's noted alumni include:

References
  1. "GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  2. "School history". George Washington High School. Archived from the original on 2013-06-15. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  3. Skinner, David (September/October 2010). "A Battle over Books". Humanities. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
  4. Provenzo, Eugene F. Religious Fundamentalism and American Education (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press: 1990), pp. 20-24.
  5. "2 High School Students Slain In Shooting Over Buying Beer", The New York Times, 24 May 1992.
  6. Brocato, Joe (April 3, 2020). "GW grad Shawn Clark settles into first head coaching opportunity at Appalachian State". WV MetroNews. Retrieved August 18, 2020.

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