Dundee-Crown High School

Dundee Crown High School
Established	Fall of 1983
Type	Public secondary
Principal	Lynn McCarthy
Dean	Jorge Almodovar
Students	2,529
Grades	9-12
Location	1 Charger Country, Carpentersville, Illinois, United States
Oversight	Community Unit School District 300
Colors	Red and Royal Blue
Newspaper	'D-C Times'
Website	http://dchs.d300.org/

Dundee-Crown High School is a high school located in Carpentersville, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago.

Dundee-Crown High School was made from consolidating Dundee Community High School and Irving Crown High school in 1983. It is a AAA school for IHSA sports. Dundee-Crown boasts a 2,529 population and is one of three High Schools in Community School District 300.

The school serves people from Carpentersville, the east half of Algonquin, East Dundee, West Dundee, Sleepy Hollow, southwest Cary, southwest Fox River Grove and western Barrington Hills.

History

Dundee Community High School was opened in the late 1874 to serve members of the Dundee community settlement in Northwest Illinois. The school was located at the corner of 6th Street and Kane Street on a hill overlooking the Fox River. The building is now called the Union School Apartments. In the 1920s a separate high school building was built on Western Ave. (Illinois Route 31) and Hillside Street, on the northern edge of West Dundee. This school would hold the only State Champion team in the combined school history in 1938 with its boys basketball team under Coach Eugene de Lacey. In 1953, the school district obtained federal funds to build a new building at 300 Cleveland Avenue in Carpentersville, and the old building became Dundee Junior High School/Dundee Middle School. However, Spain Field located immediately to the north of the old school was retained for varsity sports. The school would remain at that location from 1953 until 1983. The school served all of District 300 except for Hampshire.

Irving Crown High school was built in 1965 when the communities being served grew too large for one school to hold. Crown opened with just sophomores and juniors, with seniors being allowed to graduate from Dundee. The Irving Crown Vikings were housed at the building that is now Dundee-Crown. At this time, both schools served grades 10-12. Later, District 300 shifted to a middle school system, where both schools served grades 9-12.

Subsequently, District 300 experienced dramatic population growth west of the Fox River, and Jacobs High School was opened. The remaining population did not justify two high schools on the east side of the Fox River, and in 1983, the once rival Cardinals and Vikings became the Chargers beginning in 1984. The combined program is housed in the former Crown High School building, and the Dundee Community High School building became a middle school. The old Dundee Middle School and Spain Field were sold for development and are now the Spring Hill Marketplace Shopping Center.

Dundee-Crown Today

Dundee-Crown is currently located at 1500 Kings Road, Carpentersville, Illinois. The pseudo address of 1 Charger Country is more commonly used, however. The school accommodates the majority of Carpentersville, East Dundee, West Dundee, Sleepy Hollow, the east half of Algonquin and also small parts of Cary, Fox River Grove, and Barrington Hills. Demographically there is a large diversity of students.

Block Scheduling

Dundee Crown was known for its block scheduling system as opposed to a traditional class scheduling system. Students surpass most traditional high school credit totals because students can earn up to 32 high school credits upon graduation. Students attending Dundee-Crown have three to four classes per day, each of a ninety minute duration, with a forty minute 'Flex Block' designed for students to eat lunch in addition to acting as an interim resource class. 'Flex-Block' allows students to participate in a plethora of clubs and activities during the school day and participate in sports and extracurricular activities after school. Financial problems with the school district nearly caused a termination of this program, but a 2006 referendum averted this. However in January 2008 Flex Block was canceled and replaced with a much different scheduling system. :)

Controversy Over Removal of Flex Block

Dundee-Crown did not meet the average yearly progress quota. As a result, the administration has decided to experiment with a new schedule. The new schedule consists of block one, followed by "Charge It Up", or C.U.P. (displays characteristics of a study hall), and immediately followed by second block, an ABC lunch system, and fourth block. The passing periods will be reduced to seven minutes, rather than the ten minutes that students had grown accustomed to.

High school students wishing to further progress their studies on a higher level attend classes at Elgin Community College during school hours. Some feel that they will have a much more perilous journey rushing to arrive from Dundee-Crown to Elgin Community College. The schedule will allow for a shorter driving time to arrive safely at their designated college class due to the fact that they will not be able to leave as early. A great deal of students in the program have expressed concern about the issues that this will bring about.

Current Scheduling

The new schedule consists of first block, second block, "Charge It Up!", or C.U.P., which is similar to a study hall, Third block (intermingling with an ABC lunch system), and fourth block. The passing periods are seven minutes, rather than the previous ten minutes with block scheduling.

Charge it Up!

Charge It Up! also known as C.U.P. is a system implemented by the Dundee-Crown administration to serve as a remedy for the removal of Flex Block. Similar to a study hall, students are required to complete "Academic Activities". Students can leave their Charge it Up! rooms in order to attend club meetings, take missed tests, use the media center for projects or papers, or ask teachers for help with schoolwork. However to leave their Charge it Up! rooms, students must get their passes signed by their destination teacher, coach, or supervisors and then have it signed by their Charge it Up! teachers. Mondays are "No Movement" days, in which no students are allowed to use their passes. Every other Monday, the students get a small "Charger Lesson" that usually talks about DCHS events. However, as compared to the former flex block, C.U.P. is only 30 minutes long, and there are five minutes taken out of this for announcements.

New Schedule

Today Dundee Crown has nine blocks but only two terms and the class time is only 45min

Athletics

Dundee-Crown competes in the Fox Valley Conference (FVC), and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). Teams are stylized as the Chargers.

The following teams have placed in their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournaments:^[1]

• Basketball (boys): 4th place (2008–09)
• Wrestling: 4th place (1984–85, 2003–04)
• Cross Country (boys) 10th place (2007-2008)

Programs at Dundee Crown

Dundee Crown has gained attention for many programs it supports. The environmental department has won various awards from the EPA and National Water Works for their recycling programs. They also network with Friends of the Fox River and work to restore places like Raceway Woods.

Dundee-After Hours has also become popular. It has made school technology available to older students who may not have access at home while also providing entertainment and a place to do group projects.

On December 7, 2009 Dundee Crown Students and Faculty wore costumes in an attempt to break the current Guinness world record of 1000 superheroes. The unofficial count was over 1400. The event, however, was not just to get the school in the record books, but to raise awareness of two local charitable organizations: Friend I Shall Help (FISH) Food Pantry and Elgin Community Crisis Center. When registering to enter the fieldhouse, everyone needed to either donate $1 or a nonperishable food item for the pantry. Organizers said they collected 932 food items and $1,851 in cash donations.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Dundee-Crown include:^[2] Algonquin Lakes, Eastview, Golfview, Meadowdale, Parkview, Perry, artial, Dundee Highlands, and Sleepy Hollow.

Intermediate schools and Middle schools that feed into Dundee-Crown include:^[3] Lakewood School (5-6) and Carpentersville (7-8), Dundee (partial), and Algonquin (partial)

Notable alumni

• Juan Acevedo- Major League Baseball pitcher, at one time owned franchise record for saves in a season for the Detroit Tigers
• Chaz Ortiz- Professional skateboarder

References

External links

• Dundee-Crown High School

Coordinates: 42°08′09″N 88°16′07″W / 42.135914°N 88.268553°W / 42.135914; -88.268553