| Bel Air High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Bel Air, Maryland, USA | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Established | 1907 |
| School district | Harford County Public Schools |
| Principal | Gregory Komondor |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Number of students | 1,683 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Color(s) | Blue and White
|
| Mascot | Bobcat |
| Newspaper | The Bellarion |
| Website | [4] |
| Entrance to Bel Air High School | |
| Secondary entrance to Bel Air with tower | |
Bel Air High School is a high school in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland. The current building opened in 2009, though the school's antecedents date back to 1815.[1] Students exceed the national averages on ACT and SAT achievement tests and its art and journalism programs have been nationally recognized.
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Bel Air High School began as the Harford County Academy when it was formed by an act of the Maryland General Assembly in 1811. The first school building was a stuccoed stone building built at 24 E. Pennsylvania Avenue, and the name was soon changed to the Bel Air Academy in 1815. John Wilkes Booth attended the school in the 1850s.[2]
In 1867, while the Bel Air Academy was operating separately, a wooden one-room school house was built on Main Street, which functioned as the main public school of the county.
In 1882, a brick public school was built at 45 East Gordon Street. The school was renamed the Bel Air Academy and Graded School as the old academy merged with the public school system. This building housed classes for all students above the third grade. Additions to the building were made in 1897 and 1910. This building became solely a grade school in 1924 and headquartered the Harford County Board of Education after 1951.
Bel Air High School, named thus for the first time, was first formed in 1907, and classes were held at the Gordon Street building and the Pennsylvania Avenue building.[3]
The current facilities at 100 Heighe Street were opened in 1950, with additional renovations made in 1954, 1968 and 1983. The current school building has a design capacity of 1,423 students; as a result, 11 "portables" are in use to provide additional classroom space. A new building is scheduled for completion for the graduating class of 2010.
A new Bel Air High School has been built for the 2009-2010 school year. The 1949 building has now been demolished, making way for new sports fields.
As of January, 2007, Bel Air High School has 100 faculty members, resulting in a student-teacher ratio of 16.3 to 1. There are 94 classroom teachers, resulting in an average class size of 23.9 students. The faculty is for the most part relatively new to teaching, with almost 50% of the faculty having fewer than five years of experience. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the faculty have bachelors' degrees, 52% have masters' degrees, and 1% has a Ph.D.[4] Of the Bel Air High School classes attended by students in 2006, 11.7% were taught by teachers the state of Maryland categorized as "not highly qualified," compared to the Maryland statewide average of 12.5% in low-poverty areas.[5]
The student body is mainly Caucasian, with white students representing 90% of the 1,683 students, African Americans 4.5%, Asian and Pacific Islanders 3.0%, Hispanics 2.0%, and American Indians 0.5%.
As the suburban population of the Baltimore area has grown significantly during the past two decades, the total student enrollment of the school is steadily rising and has now outgrown its campus:
At graduation, 83% of students plan to attend college, 3% plan vocational education and 12% plan to enter the work force or military.
Bel Air High School offers Advanced Placement Classes in Art, English, Languages, Mathematics, Music, Science, and Social Studies for almost one-third of its students. Of those taking the AP tests, the success rate is 70%.
The school's main athletic rival is Fallston High School, but also has rivalries with crosstown C. Milton Wright High School and private school The John Carroll School. The winner of the annual football game between Bel Air and Fallston takes home the Hallmark Trophy to be kept at the winning school for the next year. The Bobcats are well-known to have outstanding Wrestling, Men's Lacrosse, and Cheerleading teams.
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