Ithaca High School (Ithaca, New York)

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Ithaca High School
Location
Ithaca, New York, United States
Information
School district Ithaca City School District
Staff 160
Enrollment

1600
Students grades 9-12
Faculty 130
Type Public
Mascot Little Red Bear
Color(s) Red and Gold
Established 1875
Homepage http://www.icsd.k12.ny.us/highschool
For other schools by this name, see Ithaca High School

Ithaca High School (IHS) is a public high school in Ithaca, New York. It is part of the Ithaca City School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 1,675. Joseph M. Wilson has been principal since 2004.

Contents

[edit] About

Ithaca High School has historically had a reputation for strong academics. While today the school faces various problems, many common to most high schools, by most objective measures Ithaca High School students still score well above state and national averages. The mean SAT score in 2003 was 1169, compared to 1026 nationally. Typically, about 70% of students matriculate at four-year colleges and 20% at two-year colleges following graduation. The school traditionally sends a very large number of graduates to nearby Cornell University; from 2000 to 2004, an average of 37.6 students per class (slightly less than ten percent) matriculated at Cornell immediately following graduation.[1]

Twenty advanced placement courses in Biology, Calculus (AB & BC), Chemistry, Computer Science AB, English Language, English Literature, Environmental Science, French Language, German Language, Human Geography, Latin (Vergil), Latin Literature, Physics B, Physics C, Spanish Language, Statistics, Studio Art, and U.S. History are offered. There are 140 professional staff members, including about 120 classroom teachers, and over 85% of the faculty has a Master's degree or higher. The school is part of the Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC).

Since 1960, Ithaca High School has been located at 1401 North Cayuga Street in the north end of Ithaca, near Stewart Park and Cayuga Lake. Designed by the architecture firm Perkins and Will[2], it is a California-style campus, with 11 mostly-interconnected buildings spread across a fairly wide area. Some have praised the campus as being architecturally innovative, while others have criticized it as inefficient and inappropriate to Ithaca's climate (notably as students routinely travel outdoors between classes, out of necessity or for a more direct route). The campus includes the Frank R. Bliss Gymnasium, the 840-seat Claude L. Kulp Auditorium, and York Lecture Hall. Most of the Ithaca City School District's administrative offices and the Board of Education building are located on the same campus. The offices of the ICSD employee unions are also nearby.

Currently, additions are planned that will double the size of Kulp Auditorium, adding separate rehearsal, practice, and office spaces for the orchestra, choir, and band, as well as create a large fitness center and competition gymnasium [1].

The building is one of the few schools that use deep lake water cooling from Lake Cayuga for air conditioning.

[edit] History

Ithaca High School as seen from the west entrance, with main office on right and Frank R. Bliss Gymnasium on left, June 2004
Ithaca High School as seen from the west entrance, with main office on right and Frank R. Bliss Gymnasium on left, June 2004

Ithaca High School was founded in 1875 as the successor to the Ithaca Academy, a private school that had operated since the 1820s. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the school had a significant side business as a tuition-charging college preparatory school; then-Cornell University President Jacob Gould Schurman called it "one of the finest in the Northeast."[3] A new building for the high school on the site of the former academy was built in 1885; that building burned on February 14, 1912. Renowned architect William Henry Miller, who designed many buildings at Cornell, designed the new building, which the high school occupied from 1915 to 1960. That building was later used as DeWitt Junior High school for a number of years and then saved from demolition by local architect William Downing. Downing converted the building into an eclectic collection of shops, offices, studios, apartments, and restaurants known as the Dewitt Mall. The nationally renowned Moosewood Restaurant is also in the mall.

[edit] Notable alumni

The following is an incomplete list of notable Ithaca High School alumni:

[edit] Principals

IHS has in recent years had very high administrator turnover; since 1990, ten principals have passed through IHS. Between 1988 and 2007, no principal stayed on the job for longer than three years since.[5]. In February 2008, principal Joseph M. Wilson was granted tenure in return for agreeing to resign at the end of the 2008-2009 school year[6]. Wilson had been the subject of considerable controversy in his time at IHS. In 2005 he was sued in federal court for the alleged censorship of the school newspaper, The Tattler, a case which remains in court. In December 2007, over 200 Ithaca residents signed a petition calling for him to be fired [7] after what they believed was Wilson's mishandling of a series of racially-charged incidents in the school[8].

  • D.O Barto, 1890-1892
  • Frank David Boynton, 1893-1912
  • Frank R. Bliss, c. 1930-1962
  • John Caren, 1979-1988
  • Les Graves, 1989
  • Randy Ehrenberg, 1990
  • George Kiley, 1991-1993
  • Kathryn Hellweg, 1994-1996
  • Kevin Mack (interim), 1996-1997
  • Susan B. Strauss, 1997-2000
  • Ismael Villafañe, 2000-2003
  • Charles LaBarbera (interim), 2003-2004
  • Joseph M. Wilson, J.D., 2004-present

[edit] Notable

  • Founded in 1892, the Ithaca High School school newspaper, the Tattler, is one of the oldest high school student newspapers in the country. At times in its history (in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as more recently beginning in 2005) it has been involved in controversy over claims of unconstitutional school censorship. Paul Wolfowitz and Stephen Carter both wrote for the paper during their time at Ithaca High School.
  • From 1955 until 1967, the Ithaca High School Band under the direction of Frank Battisti received national recognition for its musicianship and innovation. During this time, the band commissioned 24 new compositions (many by Pulitzer Prize winners and some now important wind ensemble pieces), performed at locations such as the Eastman School of Music, the New York World’s Fair, and Rockefeller Center, and played with many guest soloists and conductors including Benny Goodman and Doc Severinsen. A book, One Band that Took a Chance by Brian Norcross, was later published about the IHS band of this era.
  • Ithaca High School has won five New York State Class A Boys’ Ice Hockey championships (1984, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2007), as well as three Upstate New York Girls' Hockey League championships (2001, 2002, 2003).
  • Two Ithaca High School math teachers received the prestigious Edyth May Sliffe Award, given annually to about 25 math teachers nationally: David Bock (twice, in 1990[9] and 1993[10]), and Roselyn Teukolsky (in 1991[11]).
  • The Ithaca High School Orchestra, currently directed by George Myers, is one of the oldest in the country. Established in 1904, it recently celebrated its 100th anniversary with a celebration and concert that included a newly commissioned work by composer Robert Paterson, which was in turn titled by the orchestra students themselves.
  • The Ithaca High School FIRST Robotics Team, Code Red Robotics (Team 639), notably sponsored by Borg Warner Morse TEC and Cornell University, has won first place in several regional competitions including the 2004 Canadian Regional and the 2005 Finger Lakes Regional as well as the GM Industrial Design Award (2002, 2004, 2005 Canadian Regional).
  • The Ithaca High School Boys' Lacrosse Program has established itself as a Section IV, Class A powerhouse, winning five straight sectional championships from 2000-2005 and often finding itself in the State and National Rankings.
  • The Ithaca High School Boys' Track and Field Program went undefeated in dual meets for 8 years until 2005, when defeated by 70-71 by Vestal High School. The program turns out state competitors regularly in both Cross Country and Track and Field. In 2005, it produced two state and Federation Champions, Drew Hilker in the Pentathalon and Peter Thompson in the Pole Vault.
  • IHS athletic teams compete as the "Little Red," in counterpoint to the "Big Red" of nearby Cornell University.

[edit] See also

[edit] References and further reading

  1. ^ IHS Admission Decisions by Decile, 2000-2004, Ithaca High School Guidance Office. A total of 188 students from the classes of 2000 through 2004 were offered immediate acceptance at Cornell.
  2. ^ The Tattler, 7 October 1960
  3. ^ Alexander, Andrew. "Ithaca's Boynton Was a Model Educator", Ithaca Journal, 2006-09-09, pp. 3B. 
  4. ^ Krebs, Albin. "Arthur H. Dean, Envoy to Korea Talks, Dies at 89", New York Times, 1987-12-01. 
  5. ^ Claiborne, Margaret. "Ithaca High loses another principal", Ithaca Journal, 2000-02-10, pp. 1A. 
  6. ^ Sanders, Topher. "Outgoing IHS principal still focused on goals; Wilson to be given tenure this year in exchange for resignation in June '09", Ithaca Journal, 2008-02-28. 
  7. ^ Sanders, Topher. "Petition calls for Principal Joe Wilson's ouster", Ithaca Journal, 2007-12-12. 
  8. ^ Staba, David. "Tension Tied to Race Percolates in Ithaca", New York Times, 2007-10-23. 
  9. ^ 1990 Edyth May Sliffe Awards for High School
  10. ^ 1993 Edyth May Sliffe Awards for High School
  11. ^ 1990 Edyth May Sliffe Awards for High School
  • Terzian, Sevan G. "The Emergence of a Comprehensive High School: Ithaca High School in Ithaca, New York, 1875-1941." Doctoral thesis, Indiana University, 2003
  • Terzian, Sevan G. "The Elusive Goal of School Spirit in the Comprehensive High School: A Case History, 1916-1941." The High School Journal, October/November 2004:42-51
  • Terzian, Sevan G. "The Founding of IHS." Serialized in The Tattler, 2004-2005
  • Terzian, Sevan G., & Beadie, N. "'Let the People Remember It': Academies and the Rise of Public High Schools, 1865-1890." In N. Beadie & K. Tolley (Eds.), Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925, pp. 251-283. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002.

[edit] External links