Booker T. Washington High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma)

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Booker T. Washington High School
Booker T. Washington Pep Rally
Location
1514 East Zion
Tulsa, OK 74106
Information
Principal Karen Rogers (interim)
Students 1,232[1]
Type Magnet
Established 1913
Information (918) 925-1000
Colors
Mascot		 Orange and Black
Hornets
Grades 9-12
Homepage http://www.tulsaschools.org/schools/washington

Booker T. Washington High School is a high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was named after the African-American education pioneer Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington High School is one of nine high schools in Tulsa Public Schools.

Contents

[edit] Overview

In 2008, Booker T. Washington placed 65th in Newsweek magazine's list of the top 100 public high schools in the United States of America. The magazine ranked high schools according to the ratio of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 to the number of graduating seniors.[2] Booker T. Washington is a public high school that accepts students based upon their academic merit, rather than their geographical location. The school uses applicants' middle school grades and attendance record, as well as their Iowa Tests of Educational Development scores to determine an admission decision. Two middle schools in the Tulsa area, George Washington Carver Middle School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School, are "feeders" into Booker T. Washington; students from these schools are offered preferential admission consideration. To ensure greater ethnic, economic, and intellectual diversity, students who live in historically minority and economically depressed neighborhoods are also offered preferential admission consideration.

[edit] History

Booker T. Washington High School was founded in 1913 with a class of fourteen students and a staff of two teachers. The school served African American high school students during segregation. It was named after the African-American education pioneer Booker T. Washington. The Tulsa Public Schools district was slow to react to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that de jure racial segregation was unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed all racial segregation in the United States. In 1973 Booker T. Washington was chosen to be the vehicle for Tulsa’s school desegregation program. At that time, Tulsa was racially divided along North-South lines, and Booker T. Washington was located in historically African-American north Tulsa, making Booker T. Washington the first integration program located at an historically African-American school. In order to accomplish desegregation, the Tulsa School Board established a system of desegregation busing. As part of this policy, Booker T. Washington became a magnet school; it no longer had a home neighborhood from which students were accepted. Students instead had to apply for admission to the school and were drawn from across the Tulsa School District. A racial quota system was established; until the 2004-2005 school year, 45% of the students accepted identified themselves as "white," 45% identified themselves as "black," and 10% came from "other" ethnic categories. However, in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger that quota systems constituted racial discrimination and violated the Constitution. Booker T. Washington accepted the ruling and eliminated their quota system for accepting students in favor a system based on geographic system. Due to Tulsa's regional demographics, this system is calibrated to maintain a similar racial distribution to the old quota system.[3]

Today, the Booker T. Washington Hornets boast a nationally known band[citation needed], known as the "High Steppin T-Connection" marching band. The also boast a championship basketball, football, swimming, cross country, and soccer teams, a nationally ranked academic bowl team, a nationally competitive science bowl team, a robotics team, a forensics team, and competitive cheerleading and pom teams, an award winning Air Force JROTC unit, and three nationally competitive choirs (Select Choir, Girls Honor Choir, BTW Jazz Singers). Booker T. Washington was the first Tulsa Public High School to offer Advanced Placement courses and began offering the International Baccalaureate program in 1983. The 2003-2004 school year marked the 90th anniversary of Booker T. Washington and the dedication of a new 25 million dollar, 250,000 square foot school building. This building was designed to encompass the rich heritage of the school and tried to incorporate many themes from the previous facility. [4]

[edit] Academics and Administration

Booker T. Washington is an International Baccalaureate world school accredited by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) to grant the IB Diploma to students who complete the two-year program. Participation in the IB Programme is not mandatory. In addition to the IB Programme, Booker T. offers every Advanced Placement course, with the exception of AP Italian Language and Culture and AP United States Government and Politics. Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses are taught in English, math, social studies, science, computer science, foreign language, and the arts.

Booker T. Washington was part of a study by the Education Trust and the ACT (examination). Published in 2005, On Course for Success focused on high performing, diversely populated schools that provide students with college-preparatory courses, qualified teachers, flexible teaching styles, and extra tutorial support. The study identified specific academic skills that should to be taught to high school students in order to prepare high school graduates for college. The study focused on English, math, and science courses, and claimed that Booker T. Washington was "Doing things right."

The school offers seven world languages: Spanish, French, German, Latin, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. All of these languages are offered through level V. In 2005, 81% of the student body was enrolled in a world language, and 10% was enrolled in a level IV language class, or higher. Booker T. Washington has an active exchange program with China, Japan, Russia, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay, Venezuela, India, and many European countries.

Five faculty members have Doctorates and 31 have Master's degrees. In Oklahoma, a Bachelor's degree is the minimum degree required to teach at a public high school. 40% of teachers at Booker T. Washington have more than eleven years of experience. The student to teacher ratio is 19 to 1.

The school claims that its annual school-wide talent show, "Hi-Jinks" is the longest continuously running variety show west of the Mississippi. Every four years faculty members also have a talent show, "Lo-Jinks". While the "Hi-Jinks" claim is unverifiable, the school holds the record for the longest run of appearances at the National Academic Championship with 22.

[edit] State Championships

  • Academic Bowl 14: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1994, 1992, 1991, 1990
  • Speech And Debate 6: 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1979

[edit] National Championships

  • Academic Bowl 2: 1992 and 2008 [5]

[edit] Athletics

Booker T. Washington has a storied history in Athletics and has captured 46 state championships.[6] Several former Booker T. athletes have gone on to the NFL and NBA. Booker T. plays home football games at S.E. Williams Stadium.

[edit] State Championships

  • Boys Basketball 13: 2002, 2001, 1999, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1981, 1977, 1973
  • Girls Basketball 1: 2008
  • Football 6: 1984, 1973, 1971, 1969, 1968, 1967
  • Boys Soccer 7: 2008, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1997, 1992, 1985
  • Boys Swimming: 2: 1985, 1981
  • Boys Track 4: 1984, 1982, 1979, 1970
  • Girls Track 8: 2005, 2004, 1997, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1990, 1974
  • Wrestling 4: 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976
  • Volleyball 1: 1976

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] Notable Faculty

  • Tom Adelson State Senator - teaches Political Philosophy while not in session
  • Shea Seals Head Basketball Coach, former NBA Player [7]
  • John Waldron 2003 TPS Teacher of the Year, 2007 National Council for International Visitors Educator of the Year.

[edit] References

  1. ^ OSSAA Avg. Daily Membership
  2. ^ Halley Bondy, Dan Brillman and Becca Kaufman. "The Top of the Class", Newsweek, 5/28/2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. 
  3. ^ Andrea Eger. "Tulsa School Board: Magnet schools quotas tossed", Tulsa World, 12/16/2003. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. 
  4. ^ Facility replacement. American School & University. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  5. ^ National Academic Championship
  6. ^ OSSAA
  7. ^ Seals is welcomed as coach. Barry Lewis:tulsaworld.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Paul M. Dorman High School		 National Academic Championship champion
1992		 Succeeded by
Torrey Pines High School
Preceded by
William Henry Harrison High School		 National Academic Championship champion
2008		 Succeeded by
incumbent