Lowell High School (San Francisco)

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Lowell High School is a public magnet school in San Francisco. It was ranked by Newsweek's Jay Mathews Challenge Index as the #26 high school of the United States in 2006.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Location 3 Facilities 4 Academics and Admissions 4.1 Overview 4.2 Controversy 4.2.1 San Francisco NAACP v. San Francisco Unified School District ('80s) 4.2.2 Ho v. San Francisco Unified School District ('90s) 4.2.3 Expiration of the Consent Decree 4.2.4 Arena scheduling system 5 Modular ("Mod") System 5.1 Overview 5.2 Class configurations 5.3 Special schedules 6 Student/Teacher population 7 Extracurriculars 7.1 Overview 7.2 Lowell Forensic Society 7.3 Academic Decathlon 7.4 The Lowell 7.5 JROTC 7.6 Sports 8 Historical milestones 9 Notable alumni 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

Lowell High School is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi and traces its beginnings to 1856 as the Union Grammar School. In 1894, the school was renamed to honor the distinguished poet, James Russell Lowell, chiefly by Pelham W. Ames, a member of the school board and ardent admirer of James Russell Lowell. The school relocated in January 1913 to an entire city block on Hayes Street between Ashbury and Masonic. Lowell was to remain there a half century, during which time Lowell's position as the city's college preparatory high school was firmly established. In 1952, the drive accelerated for a new Lowell on property near Lake Merced. Lowell opened at this new location in 1962 to complete the final move in its history.

[edit] Location

1101 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132-1401

The school is located north of Lake Merced, between San Francisco's Parkside and Sunset Districts. The school spans several blocks between Sylvan Ave. in the west and 25th Ave. in the east, and Eucalyptus Drive in the north to Winston Drive in the south. The school is accessible via the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) K, M, 17, 18, 23, 28, 28L, and 29 lines. Hundreds of students walk up the sidewalk on Eucalyptus Drive towards 19th Ave. for the K, M, 28, and 28L lines during common start and end times.

The campus is located next to Lakeshore Elementary School, a public school, and St. Stephen School, a private K-8 school. Because Lowell is an open-campus high school, many students choose to shop and eat lunch at the nearby Lakeshore Plaza or Stonestown Galleria malls during their free lunch periods ("mods," see below), despite rules against the latter (widely ignored even by staff).

[edit] Facilities

Lowell's facilities include:

• 3-story academic building with two extensions
• 2-story science building
• 10 "temporary" Bungalows (in actuality, they are among the oldest buildings on campus, though many of the worst of them were recently demolished)
• 2-story visual and performing arts building with 1000-seat auditorium
• Library
• Extensive art and science labs
• 6 computer labs
• Gymnasium
• Dance studio
• American football field
• Soccer/multipurpose field with soccer kicking wall and baseball batting cage
• 10 tennis courts
• 8 basketball courts
• 1/4 mile dirt track

[edit] Academics and Admissions

[edit] Overview

Lowell is one of the two public schools in the San Francisco Unified School District (the other being School of the Arts) that is permitted to admit only students who meet special admission requirements. The Lowell admission process is based on a combination of standardized test scores, GPA, a writing sample, and extracurricular activities. Lowell's academic success is due largely to this process, and at present, Lowell High School is ranked 3rd in terms of test scores among the Top 10 Public Schools in California, behind Gretchen Whitney High School and Oxford Academy.^{[citation needed]}

The school's modular scheduling system and self-scheduling "arena" program allow students freedom in course choice. Students also have the chance to take a large number of Advanced Placement courses. The school's graduation rate is nearly 100%, and is the largest feeder school to the University of California system, in particular to the Berkeley and Davis campuses. Many students also matriculate at other prestigious universities nationwide.

Lowell's academic instruction is considered far more rigorous than that offered at other San Francisco high schools, and it has been awarded the Blue Ribbon Academic Excellence Award three times^[2].

[edit] Controversy

Many of San Francisco Unified School District's initiatives towards racial desegregation over the years have ignited controversy, particularly at Lowell due to its highly selective admissions process. This has resulted in outcry by parents whose children who may have been rejected by Lowell due to racial factors.

[edit] San Francisco NAACP v. San Francisco Unified School District ('80s)

Beginning in 1983, the San Francisco Unified School District attempted to ensure racial desegregation at Lowell and other schools by instituting a race-based admissions policy as a result of San Francisco NAACP v. San Francisco Unified School District and the 1983 Consent Decree settlement.

As a result of the Consent Decree, SFUSD attempted to create a more equal distribution of race at Lowell, which was predominantly Chinese-American, particularly attempting to introduce more African-American and Hispanic minorities into Lowell's population. As a result of this policy, for the freshman class entering in 1985 (the Class of 1989), Chinese-American applicants needed to score a total of 65 points out of a possible total of 69, whereas Caucasian and other East Asian candidates only needed to score a 61 out of 69, while candidates from statistically "underrepresented" groups, including African-Americans and Hispanics, were admitted with an even lower aggregate score.

Opponents of this admissions policy were dismayed because the policy was strictly based on race—-the policy did not take into account any candidate's socioeconomic background which had the arguably inequitable result of requiring some children from poor families to score higher than children from wealthy families. Many of these opponents felt that the strongest traditional argument in favor of differential admissions requirements based on race--i.e. to remedy past discrimination against members of the "under-represented" group(s)--was not applicable. Indeed, given the long history of discrimination against Chinese-Americans in education and other contexts, the suggestion that the academic success of Chinese-American candidates was somehow the result of historical legal inequities created by Chinese-Americans that needed to be remedied with a preference for non-Chinese candidates appeared ironic at best, and arguably, grotesquely perverse.

Proponents of the new admissions policy, however, believed that preserving the school's traditional racial diversity -- a tradition almost a hundred years old -- was of utmost importance, not just for traditionally disadvantaged minority groups, but for Chinese-American students as well because the increased diversity enabled students of Chinese ethnicity to better assimilate and achieve success in life beyond the narrow racially ghettoized confines of Lowell High School. Proponents also point out that the majority of volunteer work and fundraising is done by the parents of Caucasian students, and the school would suffer were these parents' children to leave Lowell. Moreover, proponents of desegregation at Lowell pointed to the absurdity of having only a 2.5 percent population of black students and 5 percent population of Latino students in a modern urban American high school, especially as students of these ethnicities would benefit greatly from Lowell's excellent academic programs, and that the only way to maintain diversity at Lowell is to use race as a factor.

[edit] Ho v. San Francisco Unified School District ('90s)

In 1994, a group of Chinese American community activists organized a lawsuit to challenge the 1983 Consent Decree race-based admissions policies used by SFUSD for its public schools.

In 1999, both parties agreed to a settlement which modified the 1983 Consent Decree to create a new "diversity index" system which substituted race as a factor for admissions for a variety of factors such as socioeconomic background, mother's educational level, academic achievement, language spoken at home, and English Learner Status.

[edit] Expiration of the Consent Decree

Critics of the diversity index created by Ho v. San Francisco Unified School District point out that many schools, including Lowell, have become even less racially diverse since it was enacted.

In November 15, 2005, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied a request to extend the Consent Decree, which was set to expire on December 31, 2005 after it had been extended once before to December 31, 2002. The ruling claimed "since the settlement of the Ho litigation [resulting in the institution of the "diversity index"], the consent decree has proven to be ineffective, if not counterproductive, in achieving diversity in San Francisco public schools" by making schools more racially segregated.

The expiration of the Consent Decree means that SFUSD's admissions policies, including the "diversity index" and the special admissions policies granted to Lowell, and many of its "Dream School" initiatives are no longer codified and mandated by the Consent Decree. As a result, these policies may be challenged at the community and local levels as well instead of just at the judicial level by filing a lawsuit.

[edit] Arena scheduling system

Lowell uses a class scheduling system once historically popular in most high schools and colleges, an "arena" in which students move from table to table signing up for classes, allowing students a degree of programming freedom almost unheard of in other high schools today.

While scheduling Spring semester classes in 2006, members of Lowell's Shield and Scroll Honor and Service Society were caught abusing the scheduling system. They used early scheduling privileges, granted to the society by the administration, to let friends schedule before others.^[3][4]

This documented abuse proved to be a catalyst for anti-arena faculty in the school. Five of six department chairs and dozens of teachers at Lowell filed a union grievance demanding an end to class imbalances. Citing these imbalances, they called to eliminate arena scheduling and to replace it with computerized scheduling used in all other SFUSD schools. Critics characterized Arena scheduling as an antiquated and inefficient system, one which promotes inequities and abuses, and creates weeks of unnecessary work for teachers and counselors (the system tends to produce 'incomplete' schedules which must be dealt with after the scheduling period).^[5][6]

Proponents of Arena argued that it distinguishes Lowell and gives students additional responsibility and flexibility with shaping their high school careers. As good and bad teachers distinguish themselves pretty clearly at the school, and knowledge of teacher quality spreads through word-of-mouth and online, it was argued that rotating priority of picking teachers and times would assure the most fair results for the greatest number of people.

After a student forum, countless committee meetings, several student petitions, and final deliberation by Principal Paul Cheng and the administration, it was decided that the Arena would remain in place, with modifications to address concerns about inequities and class imbalance.

[edit] Modular ("Mod") System

[edit] Overview

Lowell has a unique scheduling system consisting of twenty 'modules,' more commonly known as 'mods.' Originally instituted to alleviate crowding of facilities by having a percentage of students out of class at any particular time, the system also allows a freedom of academic choice rare for a high school. Students can schedule classes around after-school activities, pick teachers conducive to their learning style (or desired workload), or simply arrange to sleep late, taking their 'lunch' at 7:35 AM. Students schedule beginning at the end of the 9th grade.

Some classes meet for 40 minutes daily, and some meet for 40 half the time, and 65 the other half. Students will typically have between 3 and 7 free (non-class) mods a day, reflecting, on average, 5-7 daily classes (Though some wily students have managed to schedule four or eight). Several resource centers are available for student use during free mods. Using that free time wisely is often touted as an important part of the college preparatory training students receive at Lowell.

Note: At Lowell, homeroom is called registry or "reg" except on attendance strips and on report cards, where it is called simply "homeroom."

Mods	Time
1	7:35am - 7:55am
2	8:00am - 8:15am
3	8:20am - 8:40am
4	8:45am - 9:00am
5	9:05am - 9:25am
Registry	9:30am - 9:40am
6	9:50am - 10:10am
7	10:15am - 10:30am
8	10:35am - 10:55am
9	11:00am - 11:15am
10	11:20am - 11:40am
11	11:45am - 12:05pm
12	12:10pm - 12:25pm
13	12:30pm - 12:50pm
14	12:55pm - 1:10pm
15	1:15pm - 1:35pm
16	1:40pm - 2:00pm
17	2:05pm - 2:20pm
18	2:25pm - 2:45pm
19	2:50pm - 3:05pm
20	3:10pm - 3:30pm

[edit] Class configurations

• A-code Class: 40 Min Long/day (MTWTHF) - 2 mods/day
• B-code Class: 65 Min and 40 Min Alternating Days (MW - 65 Min - 3 mods / TTH - 40 Min - 2 mods)
• C-code Class: 65 Min and 40 Min Alternating Days (TTH - 65 Min - 3 mods / MW - 40 Min - 2 mods)

Fridays can be designated Mondays or Tuesdays (determining which classes are long), neutral (all B/C classes are 52 minutes) or special (all classes are shorter, and 3 and 18 are cancelled).

Many classes, including all science classes, upper-level mathematics classes, Advanced Placement social studies classes, upper-level foreign language classes (with the exception of Hebrew), and advanced visual and performing arts (VPA) classes are B and C codes.

The D-code designation, which allotted 65 minutes (three mods) every day of the week for a class, has been gradually phased out due to the difficulties they caused in scheduling.

[edit] Special schedules

Every so often, usually every alternating Friday, a "special schedule" appears. On these days Mod 3 and Mod 18 are canceled. Students who normally have breaks during these times no longer have them. Students who have class during these times end up with a shorter class period. Each Mod is cut back to 15-20 minutes long. The day is shorter, Mod 1 begins at 9:20 and the last mod still ends at 3:30. The reason for these "special schedules" is due to faculty meetings or school rallies. Students are notified of such schedules on the weekly bulletin distributed to every "registry" or homeroom (a class which meets for 10 min. each day to receive news or take the standardized test on the appropriate days) Students in said registries are with each other throughout their high school career.

Piloted in the final months of spring semester 2004 and implemented the following year, "neutral Friday" addressed the distribution of B and C type classes on Fridays. Before, there was a running tally of B and C alternations which would eventually be of an equal number at the end of the school year. However, some teachers felt that the distribution was not as equal as was proported. Therefore, the school reached a compromise where instead of switching between B and C type classes each week, they split the "swing mods" (mods 3, 8, 13, and 18), where the B and C difference would generally lie, in half. For example, Mod 3 is normally from 8:20-8:40 is split in half so Mod 3B is from 8:20-8:27 and Mod 3C is from 8:33-8:40.

From time to time, extremely short class schedules are announced, usually because of a need for an extended staff meeting. These have occurred during periods such as Lowell's 2006 Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accrediation process and currently on "Professional Development Meetings." On these days, Mod 1 starts at 9:20 am.

[edit] Student/Teacher population

• 2005-2006:
  • 2623 students; 39.8% male, 60.2% female
  • Student demographics:

Latino	White	African-American	Chinese	Japanese	Korean	American Indian	Filipino	Other Non-White	Declined to State
5.9%	15.4%	2.9%	52.6%	1.5%	1.5%	0.2%	5.6%	11.3%	3.1%

• • 146 certified teachers; 50.0% male, 50.0% female
  • Certificated teacher demographics

Latino	White	African-American	Chinese	Japanese	Korean	American Indian	Filipino	Other Non-White	Declined to State
10.9%	58.9%	4.1%	10.9%	2.0%	0.6%	0.0%	2.0%	2.0%	8.2%

[edit] Extracurriculars

[edit] Overview

The Cardinals are one of the most active student bodies in San Francisco, with over 84 academic organizations, teams and student interest clubs.

Lowell also has academic teams which are exempt from volunteer hours in exchange for not being publicized as well as the clubs. The Otter Bowl team consistently makes it to the Top 3 in its competitions. The Mock Trial team is very accomplished, representing San Francisco County at the State Competitions in 2003 and 2004; however, they lost to School of the Arts in 2005 during finals, and Mission High School in 2006 during semi-finals.

[edit] Lowell Forensic Society

Main article: Lowell Forensic Society

The Lowell Forensic Society, founded in 1892, is the oldest high school speech and debate team in the nation and also the largest on campus, with over 200 members. The team travels regularly to prestigious national invitationals, including Harvard, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Long Beach, and Utah. Lowell Forensics has also competed in the National Speech and Debate Tournament under the National Forensic League for 40 years, making it one of the longest running national championship teams in the nation. Forensics alumni include Yale University President Richard Levin, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, California Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, actress Carol Channing, actor Benjamin Bratt, writer Naomi Wolf, actor Bill Bixby, PG&E CEO Frederick Mielke, author Daniel Handler of Series of Unfortunate Events fame and numerous academics, writers, and judges.

[edit] Academic Decathlon

Among other academic organizations at Lowell, the Academic Decathlon remains at the top as 17-year State Championship county qualifier and has been undefeated as City Champions of San Francisco since the inception of the competition.

[edit] The Lowell

The school's monthly student newspaper, The Lowell, has won numerous national-level awards, including the CSPA Gold and Silver Crown awards, and the NSPA Pacemaker and Best in Show.

[edit] JROTC

Lowell also has a distinguished Lowell JROTC Battalion. Lowell has been the leader in overall excellence in the San Francisco JROTC Brigade. The battalion has 8 special units: Raiders (Led by JROTC members, non JROTC members can join), Drill Platoon, Girls Drill Team, Color Guard, Drum Corps, Brigade Best Squad, Guidon, and Lowell Boys Drill Team. In Fall 2005, Lowell, led by Commander Derrick Chao ('06), won first place for Drum Corps at the annual Fall Competition. Lowell Drum Corps again took first place at the annual Fall Competition in 2006 under Commander Matthew Baek ('07). In spring 2006, Lowell won first place for Drill Platoon and Boys Drill Team at the annual 91st Spring Competition, and first for Raiders in the Raider Challenge. Notable alumni from JROTC include William Hewlett, who was battalion commander during his years in Lowell in the 1930s.

[edit] Sports

Many students participate in a variety of athletic leagues and competitions. Lowell has competitive football, cross-country, soccer, tennis, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, badminton, gymnastics, softball, swimming, track and field, fencing, golf, and baseball teams.

Lowell's Varsity Baseball team, led by coach John Donohue, won eight of ten championships from 1994 to 2004^[7] while posting a regular season record of 185 wins and only 11 losses^[8] during that span. Coach Donohue won his 300th AAA league game on March 7th, 2003 and tallied his 450th win overall just two weeks later on March 21, 2003.^[9]

Lowell's equestrian polo team captured the Eastern regional championship in 2006, unseating Choate, who held the national title since 1987.

Lowell's track and field and cross country teams have also fared well in the past. The track Team recently won the city championship in all four divisions for the seventh year in a row.^[10] The cross country Team recently swept all three divisions at the city finals in Golden Gate Park, marking Lowell's 26th overall championship win in a row.^[11] In recent years, the track and field team has attracted about 150 athletes each season, and the cross country Team has attracted nearly 100 runners each season.

The girls' varsity volleyball team has dominated the sport since its creation with the most city championships amongst other San Francisco public schools, and as of November 2006, is on an unprecedented streak of eleven consecutive volleyball city championships.^[12] The girls' junior varsity volleyball team also owns all but one of the city titles.^[12]

In April 2006, Lowell's varsity swim team won their 10th consecutive AAA Championship title, with an undefeated season and an undefeated girls' title, ever since girls have been admitted on the team. The close rivalry between the Cardinals' and the Washington Eagles ended with Lowell coming out on top of all the other SFUSD high schools participating, which included Balboa High, Lincoln High, and Wallenberg High School.

[edit] Historical milestones

• 1856 Union Grammar School Founded
• 1858 Name changed to San Francisco High School
• 1864 Genders separated, name changed to Boy's High School
• 1875 Moved within San Francisco to Gough and Octavia
• 1886 Girls (slowly) reintegrated into college prep program (thus, female graduates of Boy's High)
• 1894 Name changed to Lowell High School in honor of poet James Russell Lowell
• 1898 First issue of the school newspaper "The Lowell" published (spring)
• 1908 Funds secured by bonds for new building
• 1913 School moved to new, larger campus on Hayes and Ashbury
• 1962 School moved to current campus to make room for future expansion and add a library, gymnasium and larger auditorium
• 1966 Enrollment limited, school switched from neighborhood to GPA/test based admission
• 1968 20-period modular schedule instated
• 1981 125th anniversary celebrated at the San Francisco Hilton
• 1996 Lowell ranked 6th nationally in AP exam scores
• 2003 New academic/science wing opened on campus
• 2004 Unit 6 building section renovation completed; roof replaced; "temporary" bungalows 14,15, and 16 relocated
• 2006 150th anniversary of the school. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (class of 1955) visited.

[edit] Notable alumni

• Albert Abraham Michelson, Class of 1868, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907. First American Nobel laureate.
• Joseph Erlanger, Class of 1892. Physician; Professor, Washington University in St. Louis. Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1945
• Rube Goldberg, Class of 1900. Pulitzer Prize winner, creator of "Rube Goldberg" machines.
• Walter Haas, Class of 1905.Board Chairman, Levi Strauss & Co
• Alexander Calder, Class of 1915, renowned artist and inventor of the mobile.
• Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Sr., Class of 1923. District Attorney of San Francisco; State Attorney-General; Governor of California, 1959-1967
• William Hewlett, Class of 1930. Inventor, businessman, philanthropist. Co-founder, Hewlett-Packard Company; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Dr. Makio Murayama, Class of 1933. Biochemist, researched sickle cell anemia. Dr. Martin Luther King Award.
• Carol Channing, Class of 1938. International star of stage and screen.
• Major General William Joslyn, Class of 1940. Three Star Marine Corps General
• Pierre Salinger, Class of 1941. US President John F. Kennedy's press secretary
• General Kenneth McLennan, Class of 1943. Four Star Marine Corps General
• Donald Fisher, Class of 1946. Founder and Board Chairman of The GAP
• Dian Fossey, Class of 1949. Scientist, sacrificed her life protecting the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. Book and film, Gorillas in the Mist describe her life with the great apes.
• Bill Bixby, Class of 1952. Movie and TV star: "The Incredible Hulk", "My Favorite Martian". Director.
• Stephen Breyer, Class of 1955. Associate Justice in the United States Supreme Court
• Tom Meschery, Class of 1957. Played in the NBA for the Warriors, 1961-1971.
• Richard Levin, Class of 1964. Current President of Yale University
• Michael Bortin, class of 1966. Member of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
• Gil Byrd, Class of 1979(?). Played in the NFL for the San Diego Chargers, 1983-1992.
• Eric Allin Cornell, Class of 1980. Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001.
• Naomi Wolf, Class of 1980. Rhodes Scholar, Writer.
• Benjamin Bratt, Class of 1982. Movie and TV personality. Starred in the popular television series, "Law & Order"
• Kevin Jordan, Class of 1987. Played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, 1995-2001.
• Daniel Handler, Class of 1988. AKA Lemony Snicket. Bestselling author of a series of children's novels, A Series of Unfortunate Events. An early book, The Basic Eight, is a thinly veiled satire based on Mr. Handler's Lowell experience.
• Adrian Lamo, Class of 1999. Well-known computer hacker, journalist.
• Margaret Cho, comedienne. While not a graduate of the high school, she is one of the most infamous drop-outs.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lowell High School Online, official website
• SFUSD School Description, official profile and statistics of Lowell
• The Lowell On the Web, student newspaper
• The Lowell's Archive, over 100 years of back issues
• Lowell Alumni Association
• Lowell High School's Student Body Council, student government