Orchard Park High School

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Orchard Park High School is located at 4040 Baker Road, Orchard Park, New York. The school has approximately 1700 students in grades 9-12. The students are divided among three houses, with a principal for each house and a principal which oversees the entire school.

1 Building design and specifications
2 Extracurricular and cocurricular activities
3 School spirit and traditions
4 Parking
5 Fiscal woes
6 Famous Alumni
7 External links

[edit] Building design and specifications

The main portion of the current high school building was completed in the late 1940s, and served from then until 1977 as the junior high school. In 1977, a large addition and renovation process doubled the size of the building and it became the high school. (The former high school became a Middle School, which currently houses grades 6-8.) The building has undergone only minimal refurbishment and changes since the late 1970s. A common complaint regarding building design is that the narrowest staircase (capable of fitting only two people abreast) is in a central location; heavy between-period traffic often becomes congested in a bottleneck. This staircase is known as the center staircase, for obvious reason.

[edit] Extracurricular and cocurricular activities

The school has a variety of athletics teams including baseball, basketball, football, tennis, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, swimming and diving (which was ranked #1 in New York State for the 1999-2000 season), and gymnastics, among others. The club hockey team has won the last eight "Super Sunday's" for the Southtowns Club Hockey League. It also has a championship winning marching band (known as the Quaker Marching Band[1]), student government, math club, science club, philosophy club, gay-straight alliance, model congress, book club, student-run literary magazine (Still Life), ecology club, Model UN, Destination Imagination, Future Business Leaders of America, and Future Teachers of America, as well as a newly created Rock Climbing Club. The school also boasts an interactive student, teacher, parent and administrator program called STAP-Comm.

[edit] School spirit and traditions

The school mascot is the Quaker and the school colors are maroon and white.

Like any other high school, Orchard Park has its share of unique traditions. Freshmen asking for directions are often pointed towards the nonexistent "fourth floor" of the three-story building, even being tricked into climbing a restricted ladder that leads to the roof. There are many stories about traditions, frequently apocryphal. Harmful examples, such as bleach in water guns, are treated seriously by the administration. Many rumors surround the school pool, which is arguably over treated and causes many students ocular discomfort. The pool has a textured floor and sides which often cut students, sometimes seriously. At one time there used to be the tradition of a homecoming bonfire. However, due to fights breaking out in the 1990's, the practice was discontinued.

[edit] Parking

The Freeman Rd. lot is reserved for teacher and faculty parking, while the Baker Rd. lot provides spaces for all vehicle-equipped seniors and visitors to the high school. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church across the street from the school graciously allows seniors the use of their parking lots during the week, as they have only weekend services, while a distant lot at the athletic field provides space for juniors, who must have a valid reason for driving to school, such as a job, and also seniors who have been banished from the closer lots for breaking parking rules, such as not clearing the Baker lot by 4:00PM on marching band practice days.

[edit] Fiscal woes

Recently, Orchard Park High School has been the focal point of budget proposals to increase the size of the school in order to accommodate the students. Proponents argue the current school is not well suited for such a large number of students, and opponents stress the high costs of opening a new school. After a 2002 budget defeat during which local radio personality "Sandy Beach" dubbed the proposed new High School the "Taj Mahal," a conservative school board was elected which scrapped all plans to build any new facilities or even perform necessary repairs upon the existing buildings. The conservative school board removed some personnel whom they considered nonessential, and other things they considered "frills," such as field trips; after a few difficult years, a different school board was elected.