Tucker High School

Tucker High School is the only public high school in Tucker, an unincorporated section of DeKalb County, Georgia, and is operated by the DeKalb County School System. Its student body consists of over 1,800 students from many different cultures.

Academics

Tucker High School offers a challenging curriculum that addresses the needs of its students through self-contained classes, visually impaired classes, regular education, advanced placement (AP Classes), and the IB program (International Baccalaureate). Currently Tucker offers eighteen different AP courses. In 2004, Tucker became an International Baccalaureate Diploma offering school (which is a two year academic program for 11th and 12th grade students)

On December 17, 2012, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced that it had downgraded the DeKalb County Schools System's status from "on advisement" to "on probation" and warned the school system that the loss of their accreditation was "imminent." ^[1]

Athletics

Tucker High School offers a variety in sports for girls and boys. They play in the AAAAA region this year. Some of the most predominant sports teams in the school are football, boys basketball, boys soccer, as well as boys and girls track and field. These programs show greatness and overall improvement. The football team has made it to the playoffs each year(2007, 2008, and 2009) since becoming coached by head coach Franklin Stephens . In 2008 the tigers had nearly a perfect season losing only to Marist School 38-0. They then came back to beat Marist 15-3 for the AAAA State Championship. Throughout Tucker's history Marist has always been one of their biggest rivals. Often winning one year, and losing the following year. In the 2010 football season Tucker beat Marist 31-24 in double over time. It was Tucker's first regular season win over Marist since 2007 when they lost the semi finals to Northside-Warner Robins High School. The football team went 15-0, a perfect season, in 2011 and won the AAAA State Championship.

Basketball, coached by James Hartry, has also succeeded far among most sports winning a State Championship in 2007 and a Semi-final in 2008. According to local headlines, these Tigers play hard and often have an almost perfect season. In basketball Miller Grove High School is usually the biggest rival to worry about. Boys soccer has come a long way since its beginnings and is now a strong team in the region making it to first round of play offs a few times. Girls soccer, once notable, is in a building period . In 2009 the girls track team took home the state champion win. Other sports at the school include baseball, fast-pitch softball, cross country, golf, girls basketball, tennis, football cheerleading, basketball cheerleading, swimming, gymnastics, girls volleyball, and wrestling.

Old Building

The first community school in Tucker, a one room schoolhouse, was founded in the late 1880s. Within a short time, a larger school was needed, and a new three room schoolhouse was constructed around 1900, providing education through the eighth grade. Tucker’s population was growing rapidly, and this building also was quickly outgrown, the school spilling over into the nearby Methodist and Congregationalist churches. A new two-story antebellum style school building was soon built to house the burgeoning student body. By 1928, more space was again required, and a new building having twelve classrooms, an auditorium, offices, storage, and indoor restrooms was built. This was followed by a granite annex building in 1935, and an infill project joining the main building to the annex in 1937.

The 1950s saw a rapid growth in student enrollment, from 271 students in 1952 to 1,100 students by 1962. In 1963 a new building was dedicated, providing instructional space for 1,300 students.

New Building

Tucker High School - New Building 2013

A new building was constructed in 2008 to replace the 1963 facility. The 228,500-square-foot (21,230 m²) new structure features 81 classrooms and supporting spaces including a media center, speech, and computer science labs as well as rooms for vocational, art, and music instruction, a gymnasium, kitchen and cafeteria, commons, auditorium, guidance and administrative offices. Site work included replacement of all sports fields, new entrances and exits from surrounding roads, and a new bus loop. The project cost over $66 million.

Demolition of the 1963 building began in July 2008. By September 2008, the Venable Gymnasium and the athletic locker rooms, band room, and chorus room located underneath it had been razed. A house at 5054 LaVista Road was also demolished. That property was incorporated into the campus. In January 2009, site work and placement of deep piles for the foundation system of the first phase of the new complex took place on the site of the former gym and the parking lot to the south of the existing building. By August 2009, the precast structure for the two-level parking garage, commons and administrative areas, and the Year 9 Academy building had been completed, and work on interiors began.

In January 2010, the new Year 9 Academy Building, Classroom Building, and Administrative Offices were occupied. The remaining portions of the older building were demolished to make way for phase two construction. To compensate for instructional space lost to construction activities, an Educational Village was established on the baseball field at the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year.

Notable alumn(i/ae)

• R&B singer Keri Hilson
• Minnesota Vikings player Asher Allen
• San Diego Chargers player Brandon Lang
• Dallas Cowboys player Dwayne Harris
• Olympic Gold Medalist Dwight Phillips
• Former Kansas City Chiefs and current Toronto Argonauts defensive back Neiko Thorpe
• Former New England Patriot Player Patrick Pass
• Former Insurance Commissioner and 2010 candidate for Governor John Oxendine
• Performing Songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones
• Singer songwriter and Zac Brown Band guitarist Clay Cook
• NASCAR driver Buckshot Jones
• NFL Cleveland Browns player Thomas Brown
• Assistant Director of Pro Personnel for Chicago Bears Kevin Turks
• NBA player for the Brooklyn Nets Marshon Brooks
• Current NCAA Division 1 Basketball player for Georgia State University Manny Atkins
• Music producer and musician Brendan O'Brien
• Current Cleveland Browns and former Notre Dame football player Jamoris Slaughter
• Pastor, author, and founder of North Point Ministries Andy Stanley
• New York radio broadcaster Caroline (Mure) Corley

Awards and recognitions

• Dekalb County and Region IV Star Student ^{[citation needed]}
• Dekalb Counselor of the Year ^{[citation needed]}
• Georgia Gymnastics Coach of the Year ^{[citation needed]}
• 2005 Dekalb County Gymnastics Champions ^{[citation needed]}
• International Media Festival Winner ^{[citation needed]}
• AAA State Basketball Champions (1996)
• AAA Track Champions^{[citation needed]}
• AAAA State Basketball Champions (2007)^{[citation needed]}
• AAAA State football Champions (2008)(2011) ^{[citation needed]}
• AAAA State Wrestling Champion Pawlloes Belete (2007)
• AAAA State Wresting Champion Carey Cloud (2010)
• AAAA State Wrestling Champion Kyle Stroud (2010)
• AAAA State Wrestling Champion Gabriel Miller (2011)

Feeder schools

The following elementary schools feed into Tucker High School

Elementary schools

• Brockett
• Idlewood
• Livsey
• Midvale
• Smoke Rise

Middle school

Tucker Middle School is Tucker High School's feeder middle school.

Sources

1. Tucker High School

References