Pensacola High School
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| Name Motto |
Pensacola High School | |
| Address |
500 West Maxwell Street | |
| Town |
Pensacola, Florida 32501 | |
| Established |
1901 | |
| Type |
Public secondary | |
| Religion |
Secular | |
| Students |
Coeducational | |
| Grades |
9 to 12 | |
| Accreditation |
Florida State Department of Education | |
| District | ||
| Mascot |
Tigers | |
| Colors |
Maroon and White | |
| Yearbook |
Annona | |
| Newspaper |
The Prowler | |
| Website |
Link (http://www.escambia.k12.fl.us/schscnts/penh/phs.htm) | |
Pensacola High School is a secondary school located near downtown Pensacola, Florida.
The school celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2001, although the school has not been at its current location the whole time: it was moved to Maxwell Street in 1952. In 1969, a fire gutted the previous school building on Lee Square, prompting its demolition. Currently, it is the oldest school, primary or secondary, in Escambia County.
The school is part of the Escambia County School District. The former principal, Norm Ross, is now the Deputy Superintendent of Schools for the county. Currently, the principal is Sara Lewis.
Pensacola High School is the only school in the county to have an International Baccalaureate program as well as a Health Occupation Students of America honors program. The International Baccalaureate program was introduced in 1986 as a last-ditch effort to keep the school open; many students had performed poorly, and there were high dropout rates. The school district had given the administration an ultimatum: improve the numbers or be shut down. With the introduction of the IB program, the higher test scores helped bring up the average and kept Pensacola High open.
Many famous people have attended Pensacola High School, including Pensacola businessman Fred Levin (for whom the Law School at the University of Florida is named), WNBA basketball player Michelle Snow (currently playing for the Houston Comets), Libertarian talk-show host Neal Boortz, and Hunter Scott, a 2003 alumnus of the IB program, whose history activism continued into projects he participated in at the high school.
After Hurricane Ivan, which struck the Pensacola area on September 16, 2004, Pensacola High School was damaged, especially in the gym (one of the four towering walls was completely toppled). While large renovations are needed, the school remained open and in operation. The gymnasium, which had only recently been remodeled, was demolished in June 2005 and will be rebuilt in time for the 2006-2007 school year.
In May 2005, the newsmagazine Newsweek published a list of the Top 1000 high schools in the United States, as dictated by a ratio of number of International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement tests offered to each graduating senior. In the list, Pensacola High School ranked #8 in the country, and #4 in the state of Florida. [1] (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7723397/site/newsweek/)
The list also makes note that 63% of the students at the school qualified for free or reduced subsidized lunches. This is due to Pensacola High School's location in the poorer, predominantly African-American section of town, in what could be termed as Pensacola's "inner city" (or as much as a town of Pensacola's size could have). Indeed, over 70% of the student body is African-American, which the school district has actively tried to rectify via new high school busing and zoning (for example, all students who live on Naval Air Station Pensacola now go to Pensacola High School; they had previously, up until 2002, attended nearby Escambia High School).
On May 25, 2005, Pensacola High graduated its 100th class of seniors.
External links
- Pensacola High School website (http://www.pensacolahighschool.org)
- Escambia School District (http://www.escambia.k12.fl.us/)