Woodrow Wilson High School (Washington, DC)
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, motto_translation = In days to come, it will please us to remember this , address = 3950 Chesapeake Street Northwest , region = Ward 3 , city = Washington, D.C. , zipcode = 20016 , country = United States , coordinates = , other_name = , former_name = Woodrow Wilson High School , schooltype = Public , established = , founder = , status = Open , school_board = District of Columbia State Board of Education , district = District of Columbia Public Schools , us_nces_district_id = , school_number = DC-001-463 , ceeb = 090230 , us_nces_school_id = , principal = Sah Brown , faculty = 121.50 , grades = 912 , enrollment = 1,951 , enrollment_as_of = 2020–2021 , ratio = 16.06 , campus_size = , campus_type = Urban , colors = Green and white
, athletics_conference = DCIAA, DCSAA , mascot = Tigers , USNWR_ranking = 3,627 , newspaper = Jackson-Reed Beacon , website = , module = Jackson-Reed High School (founded as Woodrow Wilson High School) is a public high school in Washington, D.C. It serves grades 9 through 12 as part of the District of Columbia Public Schools. The school sits in the
Tenleytown Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C. History In 1790, locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally. Over time, the spelling has evolved and by the 19th century th ...
neighborhood, at the intersection of Chesapeake Street and Nebraska Avenue NW. It primarily serves students in Washington's Ward 3, but nearly 30% of the student body lives outside the school's boundaries. Opened in 1935, the school was originally named for Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States. It was renamed in 2022 for
Edna Burke Jackson Edna Burke Jackson (January 25, 1911 – February 21, 2004) was an American educator and writer. She was the first African American woman to teach at what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the school was renamed ...
, the school's first African American teacher, and Vincent Reed, a former principal. The school building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 and extensively renovated in 2010–2011. The school's motto, "Haec olim meminisse juvabit," is a Latin phrase from Virgil's '' Aeneid''; after a storm, Aeneas tells his men that "In days to come, it will please us to remember this."


History


Early years

What is now Jackson-Reed High School was built on a patch of land acquired in 1930, known by the neighboring
Tenleytown Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C. History In 1790, locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally. Over time, the spelling has evolved and by the 19th century th ...
ers as "French's Woods". In March 1934, the D.C. commissioners awarded the contract to build the school to the lowest bidder: McCloskey and Co. of Philadelphia. It was built for a total cost of $1.25 million. The school opened its doors to students on September 23, 1935, as an all-white school named for Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, the sixth DC Interhigh school. The school started with 640
sophomores In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
and
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, many of whom had transferred from
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and Western. Western had been running double shifts (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to accommodate the students from the Wilson neighborhoods. The first principal was Norman J. Nelson, formerly assistant principal at Western. Wilson High School graduated its first students in February 1937. Chester Moye was class president of the February graduation class. The school held its first spring
commencement exercises Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is al ...
, on June 23, 1937, for 290 students. The class president was Robert Davidson.


Subsequent years

In the spring of 1970, about 400 students, almost all black, gathered in the school auditorium to protest inequalities in the school. Jay Childers, the author of ''The Evolving Citizen: American Youth and the Changing Norms of Democratic Engagement'' (2012), wrote that this indicated racial tension in the school.Jay Childers, ''The Evolving Citizen: American Youth and the Changing Norms of Democratic Engagement'' (2012) p
48
Stephen P. Tarason became the school's 11th principal in January 1999, when he succeeded Wilma Bonner. Bonner spent a brief time working at the main DCPS office before accepting a job at Howard University School of Education. In mid-2006, Woodrow Wilson High School was proposed to be a charter school. However, the superintendent asked the school to hold off in exchange for being granted control over certain areas of autonomy, especially facilities. Jacqueline Williams became interim principal in 2007, after Tarason left to become a middle school principal in
Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstown metropolitan area (exten ...
. The following year, DCPS chancellor Michelle Rhee appointed as principal Peter Cahall,Chandler, Michael Alison.
Wilson High principal Cahall, who came out as gay, says he's losing job over test scores


. '' Washington Post''. December 12, 2014. Retrieved on September 23, 2015.
a former teacher and administrator with the
Montgomery County Public Schools Montgomery County Public Schools may refer to: *Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland) *Montgomery County Public Schools (Virginia) Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is the school district serving Montgomery County, Virginia. Schools P ...
. The school building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. For the 2006-07 school year, Woodrow Wilson was one of 11 U.S. schools selected by the
College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...
for the EXCELerator ''School Improvement Model'' program, which was funded by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...
.


2010s

Along with several other D.C. public schools, the campus was renovated in 2011, bringing it to the LEED Gold standard. For the 2010–11 school year, Wilson held classes in a temporary space at the University of the District of Columbia. The renovated school reopened in October, and festivities included a 75th anniversary celebration. Childers wrote that the school had been "increasingly troubled" before 2012. In June 2014, Cahall came out as gay to his students during the school's gay pride day. He said that his students inspired him to come out. The Westboro Baptist Church had stated that it was going to protest against that pride day. Cahall left his post in December 2014, in the middle of the school year, after DCPS announced that his contract would not be renewed. Cahall said that his contract was not renewed due to low test scores. In 2015, Cahall became the principal of Thomas Edison High School of Technology. In spring 2015, a panel headed by teachers and other employees, parents, and members of the surrounding community examined candidates for the position of principal. DCPS ultimately hired Kimberly Martin, who had served as the principal of Lorain Admiral King High School in
Lorain, Ohio Lorain () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 65 ...
, from 2003 to 2005, after teaching there for five years; as principal of
Thomas W. Harvey High School Thomas W. Harvey High School is a public high school in Painesville, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Painesville City Local School District. Former building Harvey High School's previous building was located at 167 West Was ...
in Painesville, Ohio, from 2005 to 2012; and as principal of Aspen High School in Aspen, Colorado, from 2012 to 2015. She began her term as principal of Wilson on June 29, 2015. In 2015, DCPS proposed a $15.6 million budget for Wilson, down $300,000 from the previous year, despite a projected enrollment of more students.Chandler, Michael Alison.
Wilson HS community resists budget cuts as enrollment keeps climbing


. '' Washington Post''. March 31, 2015. Retrieved on September 23, 2015.


2020s: new name

The 21st century brought sporadic discussions about whether Woodrow Wilson was an appropriate namesake for a high school. Wilson supported segregation, and his works as a historian are pillars of the Dunning School approach to the Civil War and Reconstruction. His presidency was part of what is known as the nadir of American race relations. As U.S. president, he began or allowed segregation and purges among federal workers, including in the U.S. military. Such discussions gained traction in 2015, when Princeton University students argued for removing Wilson's name from campus buildings. Some suggested that the high school be renamed to honor Reno, a black community demolished in the 1930s to create Fort Reno Park, because Wilson's policies, particularly his segregation of the federal workforce, laid the groundwork for dismantling it. Proponents of changing the name argued, as the ''Washington Post'' put it in 2019, that "the community in Northwest Washington has to acknowledge that the federal government — after Wilson left office — uprooted established black communities to create the upper-income, largely white enclave it is today." On September 15, 2020, D.C. Public Schools officials announced the school would change its name by the end of 2020, at an estimated cost of $1.2 million. After a citywide call for nominations drew more than 2,000 submissions, the Mayor settled on nine finalists and put the list to a community vote. By far the largest chunk of the vote, more than 30 percent, went to August Wilson, the African American playwright. The DCPS leaders and the Mayor's office expressed support, so the school planned to rename itself August Wilson High School in fall 2021. But the Mayor and DC Council failed to act on the name change formally. The class of 2021 graduated with the simplified name "Wilson High School" on their diplomas. On December 20, 2021, the D.C. Council voiced opposition to the proposed new name, and voted instead to name the school Jackson-Reed High School, after
Edna Burke Jackson Edna Burke Jackson (January 25, 1911 – February 21, 2004) was an American educator and writer. She was the first African American woman to teach at what was then Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the school was renamed ...
, the first African American teacher at Wilson High School; and Vincent Reed, an African American principal who became D.C. Public Schools superintendent. Bowser did not formally respond to the D.C. Council's actions, which was passed with a veto-proof majority. The bill was transmitted for Congressional review under the
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without incident, and became law on March 15, 2022.


Admissions


Demographics

As of 2021, Jackson-Reed serves 1,951 students. Jackson-Reed is the largest comprehensive public high school in the District. ''The Beacon'', the school newspaper, described the school as "an integrated school, an unusual, precious, fragile organism, attacked from many sides" in December 1970. In 1955, 99% of the students at Wilson were white, and by the late 1960s, the school was still predominately white. A racial integration campaign occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The school was 17% white by 1980. By 2012, there had been a decline in students from wealthier families; by then, many alternative options for schooling had appeared in the DCPS system. The demographic breakdown by race/ethnicity of the 1,796 students enrolled for the 2018–2019 school year was:


Attendance boundary

Jackson-Reed primarily serves students in Ward 3. School boundaries encompass everything west of 16th Street, NW; all of southwest Washington north of the Anacostia River; and parts of
Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
southeast. Neighborhoods include
Adams Morgan Adams Morgan is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., centered at the intersection of 18th Street NW and Columbia Road, about 1.5 miles (2.54 km) north of the White House. Notable establishments in the neighborhood include the ...
, Georgetown, Glover Park, Chevy Chase, and
Tenleytown Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C. History In 1790, locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally. Over time, the spelling has evolved and by the 19th century th ...
. The following elementary schools feed into Jackson-Reed: * Bancroft Elementary School * Eaton Elementary School * Hearst Elementary School * Hyde-Addison Elementary School *
Janney Elementary School The Janney Elementary School is a public elementary school from Pre-K through 5th grade. A part of the District of Columbia Public Schools, it enrolls approximately 740 students. The building itself is noted as a historic school building, located ...
* Key Elementary School * Lafayette Elementary School * Mann Elementary School *
Murch Elementary School Murch is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Anna Valentina Murch (1949–2014), artist * Arthur Murch (1902–1989), Australian artist *Jamie Murch (born 1975), Australian cricketer *Jordan Murch (born 1989), Scottish football pl ...
* Oyster-Adams Bilingual School * Shepherd Elementary School * Stoddert Elementary School The following
middle schools A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
feed into Jackson-Reed: * Deal Middle School * Hardy Middle School * Oyster-Adams Bilingual School However, nearly 30% of the student body lives outside the school's boundaries. Those students come from all parts of the District. In all, students come to Jackson-Reed from 40 different schools in the city. Many of the students live in poor neighborhoods near the school. Tenleytown, the neighborhood surrounding Jackson-Reed has a median family income of over $80,000 as of 2012. The school's student body is ethnically mixed: 32% African American, 34% Caucasian, 22% Latin American, and 6% Asian American. Nearly 22% of the students receive free and reduced lunch benefits.


Curriculum

Students are required to complete 24 credits for
graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...
, including courses in Art, English, Health and Physical Education,
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through Calculus, Music, Science, Social Studies, and World Languages. Many Jackson-Reed students enroll in advanced courses; as of 2015 Jackson-Reed has one of the largest numbers of
Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...
courses and electives in DCPS. In the 2012–2013 school year, Jackson-Reed had a 50% rate of scoring 3–5 in Advanced Placement courses Many Jackson-Reed students, about 55% of the student body in the 2013–2014 school year, are members of "academies" that seek to tailor a student's curriculum to his or her academic or professional interests. These include the Finance Academy, HAM ( Humanities, Arts, and Media), WISP (Wilson International Studies Program), JROTC, Hospitality and Tourism, AAA (Academic Athletic Achievement), and SciMaTech (Science, Math, and Technology).


Extracurricular activities


Athletics

During its first school year in 1935–36, the then-Wilson HS was not eligible to play in the Inter-High School Athletic Association. The newly formed basketball and baseball teams played an exhibition-only schedule the first year, and there was no football team. The basketball and baseball teams began their official Inter-High Series competition in the 1936–'37 school year. The football team played an exhibition season in 1936–37 and then officially joined the Inter-High Series a year later, in the fall of 1937. Wilson was frequently called "the Presidents" by newspaper sportswriters in the early years.


Baseball

By 2008, the Tigers had won sixteen consecutive
DCIAA The District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) is the public high school athletic league in Washington, D.C. The league was founded in 1958. The original high school conference for D.C. schools was the Inter-High School Athl ...
baseball championships. Through their 2011 season, the Wilson baseball program won nineteen consecutive DCIAA championships.


Other sports

The Wilson boys' ultimate frisbee team is currently ranked eighth in the country and the girls' team 17th, according to Ultiworld magazine as of April 5, 2019. The Tigers athletic program maintains the only crew team among D.C. public high schools. The Wilson varsity softball won the DCIAA championship for the three consecutive years in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2009 the team, led by seniors Kathleen McLain and Rachel Bitting, played
Georgetown Visitation Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School is a private Roman Catholic college-preparatory school for girls located in the historic Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown. Founded in 1799 by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (also kno ...
in the Congressional Bank Softball Classic in which the softball champion of the DC public schools played the champion of the DC private schools. Wilson won the game, 3–2.


Publications

Jackson-Reed's school newspaper is called ''The Beacon''. It began publication in 1935. In 2012 Jay Childers wrote that the quality of the publication and the publishing frequency of the ''Beacon'' declined as the school had increased difficulties. Historically, the school administration did not, and still does not, review ''Beacon'' articles before publication,Wemple, Erik.
Prior review is dead at Wilson High School
(Opinion
Archive
. '' Washington Post''. September 4, 2015. Retrieved on September 23, 2015.
even though the U.S. Supreme Court in
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier ''Hazelwood School District et al. v. Kuhlmeier et al.'', 484 U.S. 260 (1988), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that public school curricular student newspapers that have not been established as forum ...
stated that principals have the right to have control over newspaper content. In August 2015, Principal Kimberly Martin announced that the newspaper would be required to allow her and her staff to review all articles before publication. This led to protests from students, including a
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petition.Shapiro, T. Rees.
High school journalists criticize new principal's prior-review policy


. '' Washington Post''. August 31, 2015. Retrieved on September 23, 2015.
The newspaper staff criticized and stated opposition to the proposal. By September, Martin and the co-editors agreed to end the prior review plan. Martin had canceled publishing a newspaper article at her previous school in Colorado. Students also publish an annual literary magazine called ''L.A.V.A.''.


Campus

The campus includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool, theater space, and a large atrium. There is a turf football field behind the school, surrounded by a running track closer to 350 meters than the standard 400.


Athletic facilities

Jackson-Reed Stadium opened for duty in 1939. An artificial turf field was installed over the summer of 2007. A sound system, press box, and lights were also added to the stadium. The stadium is now used for several sports, including soccer, football, and lacrosse. There has been an aquatic facility on the high school's campus since the late 1970s. It first opened in 1978 but was condemned and demolished in 2007. A new Aquatic Center for Ward 3 was completed in 2009, with an indoor 50-meter swimming pool, a children's pool, and other facilities.


Awards and recognition

In April 2013, Jackson-Reed was named as a Green Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education in recognition for "being good stewards of the environment."


Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Jackson-Reed High School include:


References


External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Buildings and structures completed in 1935 District of Columbia Public Schools Public high schools in Washington, D.C. Colonial Revival architecture in Washington, D.C. School buildings completed in 1935 Lacrosse venues in Washington, D.C. Swimming venues in Washington, D.C. Wrestling venues in Washington, D.C. Tenleytown