Juanita High School

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Juanita High School
Location
Information
Principal Gary Moed
Enrollment

approx. 1010 [1]

Type Public
Information (425) 823-7600
Colors
Mascot
Red, White, and Blue
Rebels
Homepage

Juanita High School (JHS), the home of the Rebels, is a high school in King County, Washington, administered by Lake Washington School District. It was opened on September 4, 1971 as a result of a campaign driven by an education theory known as the "Juanita Concept", developed by John Strauss, who became the school's first principal.

Contents

[edit] History

The Juanita Concept called for a large warehouse-like open architecture. When JHS opened it had a large open area surrounded by a music area, art and industrial arts areas, and an auditorium, the KIVA, science room and main office, and photographic and business rooms. The Juanita Concept also included some at the time unorthodox principles of education, with individualized instruction intended mainly to nurture lifelong learning skills.

Juanita officially opened on September 4, 1971, but because the building was not ready for occupancy until November 13, the first nine weeks were spent double shifting at Redmond High School. The curriculum for math, science, social studies, and language arts was contracted with the Westinghouse Learning Corporation for the first two years of Juanita’s existence.

The schedule that was used the first two years was quite controversial. It consisted of seventeen 20-minute periods, called “mods” which allowed both large and small group instruction. The purpose was to encourage individualization and accommodate partial credit. Most classes were small—12 to 16 students—and student schedules were flexible, with about 60% of their time in class and about 40% unstructured. Students were expected to work on homework assignments and testing during that time. The free time and small class size allowed a strong camaraderie to blossom between staff and students. Classes in the open area met at seminar tables scattered throughout. In 1973 the mod schedule was replaced by a seven-period schedule, and that schedule was replaced in 1981 with the six period schedule, the one Juanita uses today along with occasional block scheduled days[citation needed].

Many factors affected Juanita’s inability to maintain the “Juanita Concept”. One of the biggest was the Basic Education Law passed by the Washington legislature in the mid-1970’s, which based school district funding on students being “in class” 55-minutes for six periods a day[citation needed]. The 12-16 student classes swelled to 30-33 students and the open area was transformed into a collection of ordinary classrooms partially separated by small wooden student lockers and cupboards. It was not long until talk of “remodel” was heard;1984 saw the beginning of a two year remodeling project which partitioned the “open area” into classrooms and hallways. Juanita took on the look that it has today. The library of Juanita is home to Nancy Kuta (Librarian).

[edit] Sports

Notable Athletes:

Joell Reyes - Class of 2008 - KingCo 4A Baseball Player of the Year; .567 AVG, 22 RBIs, HR, 10 2B, 2 3B,

Tyler Bjork - Class of 2008 - KingCo 4A Soccer Player of the Year, All State; 17 goals scored.

[edit] References

[edit] External links