Poolesville High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in

Poolesville, Maryland Poolesville is a U.S. town in the western portion of Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 5,742 at the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by (but is technically not part of) the Montgomery County, M ...

, United States. It is part of the Montgomery County Public Schools system. It is the only all-magnet high school in

Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Montg ...

Rankings and Scores

In 2024, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Poolesville as the #3 high school in Maryland and #172 nationwide. Poolesville students average a score of 1328 on the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

, averaging 664 on the verbal section and 665 on the math section.

History

The core of the building was built in 1911 as an elementary school, and as of 1912 the school was the only consolidated (middle and high school) in

. Poolesville's first graduates were seven students in 1920. Poolesville High School circa 1912

The current school building dates back to 1953, but has had over 22 additions made since then, with the last major revision happening in 1978. The building housed Poolesville's middle school and high school up until 1997 when John Poole Middle School was built. By 2013, Poolesville residents were campaigning for a reconstruction of the school building, due to issues such as overcrowding, poor infrastructure and design, fumes from

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

in the walls, and overall delapidation. The major renovation was included in MCPS' 2013-2018 Capital Improvement Program, until it was shelved in 2017 following county budget cuts, to the frustration of Poolesville parents and students. Campaigns for a renovation continued until the Board of Education eventually planned and funded the project again in 2021. Construction started in 2022 and is expected to finish by the start of the 2024-25 academic year. Once complete, the new high school building will be about 234,000 square feet and will have an increased capacity of 1,508 students from the current 1,170.Division of Capital Planning, Montgomery County Public Schools. Superintendent's Recommended FY 2025 Capital Budget and the FY 2025–2030 Capital Improvements Program
Chapter 4: Poolesville Cluster
Accessed 4 June 2024

Mascot

Until 2002, the school's mascot was an Indian, and its logo was the profile of an Indian warrior in a full headdress. In 2001, amid some controversy, the school's students and Poolesville Community voted on whether to keep the mascot or to change it to a falcon. Although the students and community elected to keep the Indian as the mascot, at the beginning of the 2001–2002 school year, the Montgomery County Board of Education, under pressure from the Maryland Bureau of Indian Affairs, overruled the vote, paying the school $80,000 to change its mascot. Beginning in the 2002–2003 school year, the students voted to change the school's mascot to a falcon.

Admissions

Curriculum

Starting in the 2006–2007 school year, honor students in northern Montgomery County ("upcounty") have the opportunity to become a part of one of three magnet programs called "houses": Global Ecology; Humanities; or Science, Math, and Computer Science. Students test into high school during their last year of middle school, and if accepted and enrolled, they are "certificate" students and are required to take the standard courses for their specific program. As Poolesville is considered a whole magnet high school, resident students (if they do not apply and join one of the other programs) automatically become part of a fourth program called the Independent Studies program or ISP but are "non-certificate" and can choose to take specialized courses. The Independent Studies Program is specifically for Poolesville resident students only and cannot be applied for by out-of-district students. Poolesville was ranked ''Washington Post''s #1 Most Challenging High School in Maryland in 2016, U.S. News' #1 Best High School in Maryland, and ''Newsweek''s #1 Top High School in Maryland in 2015. The school's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program was ranked #121 in ''Newsweek''s 2019 nationwide survey of US high schools.

Areas Served

While most of Poolesville's students come from outside of Poolesville, there is a local student population which comes from one middle school, John Poole MS, and two elementary schools, Monocacy and Poolesville ES.

Athletics

Poolesville fields teams in the following sports: *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(boys' and girls') **Girls' basketball went 27 and 0 in 2017–2018. They won the 2A States championship game. *

Bocce (, or , ), sometimes anglicized as bocce ball, bocci, or boccie, is a ball sport belonging to the boules family. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is closely related to English bowls and French , with a common ancestry from anc ...

* Beltway league * Cross country (boys' and girls') *

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

Field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

FIRST Robotics FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

(boys' and girls') * History Bowl *Indoor

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(boys' and girls') *

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

(boys' and girls') * Poms *

Quizbowl Quiz bowl (quizbowl, scholars' bowl, scholastic bowl, academic bowl, academic team, academic challenge, etc.) is a family of quiz-based competitions that test players on Outline of academic disciplines, a wide variety of academic subjects. Stand ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(boys' and girls') *

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

(boys' and girls') **The Falcons won six state titles (four by the boys' team and two by the girls' team) from 2012 to 2015 under two-time Washington Post Coach of the Year Jon Leong. *

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(boys' and girls') *

Track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(boys' and girls') *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(boys', girls', and coed) *

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

Notable alumni

Matthew Heimbach Matthew Warren Heimbach (born April 8, 1991) is an American white supremacist and National Bolshevik. He has attempted to form alliances between several far-right extremist groups. In May 2013, Heimbach and Matthew Parrott founded the Traditi ...

, white nationalist and founder of the

Traditionalist Worker Party The Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) was a neo-Nazi political party active in the United States between 2013 and 2018, affiliated with the broader "alt-right" movement that became active within the U.S. during the 2010s. It was considered a hat ...

Irvin Smith Irvin Smith (born March 12, 1967) is a former gridiron football defensive back. Smith played college football at Maryland. Smith attended Poolesville High School in Poolesville, Maryland, where he led the team to the state championship game in ...

, football player * Filip Burnett, professional soccer player * Robert Huang, professional League of Legends eSports player (C9 Blaber)

References

External links

*
Global Ecology Studies ProgramMaryland High School Sports and Projected Enrollment
* {{authority control Magnet schools in Maryland Public high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland 1911 establishments in Maryland Educational institutions established in 1911