Northern High School (North Carolina)

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Northern High School
Location
117 Tom Wilkinson Rd. Durham, North Carolina , 27712 USA
Information
School district	Durham Public Schools
Principal	John Colclough
Enrollment	1671
Faculty	156
Type	Public
Mascot	Knights & Ladies
Nickname	Northern Knights
Color(s)	Blue and      Gold
Established	1955
Homepage	http://northern.dpsnc.net/

Northern High School is a four-year high school located in the northern Durham, North Carolina. Northern's current principal is John Colclough. Approximately 1671^[1] students are currently enrolled at Northern. Northern is one of Durham's seven government high schools. Students take 4 classes each day. Northern's mascot for their male teams is the Knights and for the female team the Ladies.

Northern High School offers Advanced Placement classes in English, American History, European History, Psychology, Statistics, Calculus AB and BC, Environmental Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Studio Art, Music Theory (Independent Study), and US Government & Politics.

Northern High School employs 156 people including four assistant principals and seven teacher's assistants.^[2] Students in the 2005-2006 school year received an average SAT score of 983.

In 2007, Northern High School was ranked as the 928th best high school in America by Newsweek. ^[3]

[edit] History

The citizens of Durham County approved a bond issue in 1952 to build a new high school in northern Durham County, to consolidate Mangum High School and Bragtown High School. The land for the school was an airfield and apple orchard.

Durham County until the early 1990s had two public school systems: the Durham City Schools System and the Durham County Schools System.

On September 1, 1955 Northern High School opened with an enrollment of 502 students in grades and contained grades 9–12. The students came from the feeder schools of Glenn, Hillandale, Mangum and Bragtown schools. The then new Northern High School had only 17 classrooms, a home economics department, a shop, a library, and gymnasium.

For the most part in Durham integration occurred smoothly and with only one recored incident of racial tension at Northern High School, which the Durham County School Board helped to mediate.

The principals of Durham County's high schools were all employed during legal segregation. A lot of discussion took place by whites and African Americans in the Durham community about how successful the process of integration would be in Durham County. Many knew there would be problems at Southern High School, because the Southern High School mascot was the Rebel (later changed to the Spartans), and the high school used the rebel flag. The principal at Southern High School during this time was Sidney Ray. There was less concern about integration at Jordan High School because this high school had been attended by affluent families, both black and white.

Northern High School was at the opposite end of the spectrum, from Jordan High School, having one of the most rigid principals in the Durham County School System.

In 1958 the follow additions opened to students: auditorium, bandroom, and additional classrooms called "North Hall", N1-N10. This was followed in 1963 with the addition to "North Hall" classrooms, N11-N22.

In 1966 a cafeteria addition was completed and the high school had an enrollment of 852.

The high school contained what was called "North Hall", "East Hall" and "West Hall".

The three Durham County high schools and junior high schools were integrated in the fall of 1969 as the court order directed. Those schools were Southern High School, and Jordan High School, and Northern High School. The Durham County elementary schools were to be fully integrated by the fall of 1970.

In the 1980s new classroom stand alone wing was added called "South Hall" (Harrison Hall)

By the mid-1980s Northern High School was one of North Carolina's largest high schools with 2,300- 2,500 students and was, at this time, the largest high school in Durham County and Durham City. The school at this time only had grades 10, 11 and 12. Grade 9 was at this time located in the junior high schools along with grades 7 and 8. Durham County School System had not yet converted to the middle school format, containing grades 6, 7 and 8, as the Durham City School System had converted to a few years before. Northern High School's feeder junior high schools were Carrington Junior High School and Chewning Junior High School.

Northern High School's rival schools in size and sports during the 1980s were: Broughton High School, Enloe High School, Millbrook High School, Sanderson High School, Cary High School (in Wake County, North Carolina), Chapel Hill High School and Orange High School (all in Orange County, North Carolina, Grimsley High School and Page High School (in Guilford County, NC, South Mecklenburg High School (in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina), Hillside High School (in Durham, North Carolina) and the then smaller Person High School (in Person County, North Carolina). All competed in the 4-A size sports ranking.

In 1984 a new Vocational Wing was completed and in 1988 the First Phase of New Science Wing and Tennis Courts were completed. In 1993 the old Vocational Wing was renovated and new additions completed. In 1994 a new Arts Department Wing was completed and "North Hall" and "West Hall" were renovated along wit a second phase of the New Science Wing was completed. There was also an addition to the Library and renovations on the existing space. In 1995 major additions were made to the cafeteria and the commons area and entire high school building complex was air-conditioned.

Northern High School still plays its football games at Durham County Stadium. The stadium was once also the home football field to what was then called Durham High School (now the Durham School of the Arts) and Hillside High School. The other public schools in Durham City and County had their own stadiums on campus. Northern High School today is the only high school who continues to use Durham County Stadium as its home field.

A new high school was built not far from Northern High School in 1991, called Riverside High School, which decreased Northern High Schools enrollment to its current 1,600 plus enrollment. The school was built due to northern Durham County's growing population and the lack of space at Northern High School.

The demograpics of Northern High School has changed over the years as has the demographics of Durham County.

Northern High School's biggest rival is Riverside High School.

[edit] Recent Events

On September 10, 2007, Northern High School received a bomb threat, and faculty and students were evacuated to the practice football field. After the school evacuated, several fights occurred. One started when a boyfriend came to his girlfriend's aid when another student inappropriately touched her, while the others were gang-related. ^[4] Officers from Durham Police, Sherrif's Department and Highway Patrol arrived to help. One student was injured and taken to the hospital. Eight others were charged with disorderly conduct. ^[5] The eight charged were Brandon Caroll, Dominica Chappell, Anthony Clayton, Verdale Green, Alvernon Lee, Timothy Liles, Terrell Motley, and Bradley Taborn. All eight here held on bonds of $2000 except Timothy Liles who also faced charges of simple assault and affray, his bond was set at $3000. ^[6] The next day, Eric Wiggins was arrested and put on $3000 bail. Two of the students were under 16 and given juvenile petitions. ^[7]

In February 2008, after winning the PAC-6 Tournament and gaining the number 2 seed in the playoffs, the Northern High School Varsity Men's Basketball team had to forfeit all games of their 15-11 season due to an "attendance issue" that made a player ineligible. Reasons for the decision were not made public by the school nor the district, and the players name was not released to the general public. ^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Northern High School (North Carolina) is at coordinates 36°05′42″N 78°54′43″W / 36.09502, -78.91180 (Northern High School (North Carolina))Coordinates: 36°05′42″N 78°54′43″W / 36.09502, -78.91180 (Northern High School (North Carolina))