Crenshaw High School

Crenshaw High School
Location
5010 11th Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90043
Information
Type Public
Established 1968
School district Los Angeles Unified School District
Principal Eddie Christopher
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,466
Number of students 6789
Color(s) Blue and Gold          
Mascot Cougars
Website Official website

Crenshaw High School is a secondary school located in South Los Angeles, California.

The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls an average of 1,400 students.

History

Crenshaw High School opened in 1968. The school drew students from several African-American neighborhoods, including Baldwin Hills and View Park-Windsor Hills, as well as a few white neighborhoods. The school's student body began with students from wealthier African-American communities. Most of the students who attended Crenshaw lived near this area of Los Angeles.

Background

Crenshaw's biggest rival is Susan Miller Dorsey High School. Several areas, including the unincorporated Los Angeles County community of View Park-Windsor Hills, are zoned to Crenshaw; some sections of View Park-Windsor Hills are jointly zoned to Crenshaw and Westchester High School. On August 15, 2005, Crenshaw High School lost its accreditation due to administrative fraud. The accreditation was restored on February 1, 2006.

The school is renowned for its outstanding boys basketball program, coached for over thirty years by Willie E. West Jr., who retired in 2007 and was succeeded by Ed Waters. The Crenshaw Cougars have won numerous L.A. City and California State basketball titles. Crenshaw also won the International High School Basketball Tournament in Arhus, Sweden in 1985. Crenshaw was featured in the 1991 movie Boyz n the Hood, the 2000 movie Love & Basketball, from 1996 to 2001 on the UPN series Moesha, and in the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee. It is also featured in the 2006 film Bring It On: All or Nothing. In 2001, the book "And Still We Rise," written by Miles Corwin, chronicled the lives of twelve seniors in the Crenshaw High Gifted & Talented Magnet program in their quest to obtain an education—amidst formidable obstacles.[1] The book received the PEN USA West for Creative Nonfiction Award[1] and much critical praise. In 2004 Kirk Douglas and the Amateur Athletic Foundation (AAF) donated stadium lights to Crenshaw High School. The Crenshaw High School Varsity Football team won its first "Championship Division" Los Angeles City championship in 2005 defeating Woodland Hills Taft High School, However, a "AAA" Championship was won in 1992, defeating Chatsworth High School. Both Championship titles were under the leadership of Coach Robert Garrett.

The first principal of Crenshaw High School was Mr. Robert Case who opened the school January 1968. Former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Sidney V. Thompson was the school's second principal. Ms. Jewell Boutte was principal in 1988 when she was awarded the prestigious Milken Educator Award for innovations she brought to the school.

Ms. Carrie Allen, formerly an administrator for the Pasadena Unified School District in Pasadena, California became principal in 2009. Ms. Allen was replaced in the summer of 2011 by Dr. Sylvia Rousseau. Dr. Rousseau was formerly the principal at Santa Monica High School and the Superintendent of a Local District in LAUSD. She has also served on the faculty at USC's Rossier School of Education.

Sports

The Crenshaw football team, City Section champion, played in the state championship bowl game on Saturday night, December 19, 2009 at the Home Depot Center. They ended the season 14-1. The Crenshaw Football team went on to and win back to back championships, under the leadership of Coach Robert Garrett<Los Angeles Times> . Under the leadership of Coach Willie West, Crenshaw won a world basketball championship in 1985. Some world basketball highlights include high scoring games with Crenshaw basketball scoring 191 points vs. Ireland and Crenshaw scoring 197 points vs. Cyprus. Throughout its history, Crenshaw's men's basketball team has participated in The Les Schwab Invitational, a national tournament played in Oregon along with tournaments all over the USA including Alaska. Concord's De La Salle High School defeated Crenshaw football 28-14 to win the state title.[2] Crenshaw has 5 titles in football 1992 AAA champs 2005 Div 1 champs 2009 Div 1 champs 2009 State Runner ups 2010 Div 1 champs 2013 Div 1 champs

Demographics

The Los Angeles Unified School District website,[3] the current (2011-2012) demography of the school is 68.7% African American, 29.2% Hispanic, 1.2% White, 0.9% Asian with a total of 1,466 students, a drop since 2008 with 2085 students.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Still-We-Rise-Miles-Corwin/?isbn=9780380798292
  2. ↑ Ron Guild, Crenshaw, De La Salle make their own history, Los Angeles Wave, December 16, 2009
  3. ↑ http://notebook.lausd.net/portal/page?_pageid=33,54194&_dad=ptl&_schema=PTL_EP&school_code=8596
  4. ↑ Julio Moran (July 11, 1991). "Officer From Inglewood Is Named Chief : Police: The former deputy chief will be the youngest and first black to head the city's 175-member force". LA Times. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Freedom of Speech". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 127–140. ISBN 978-0-345-52328-0.
  6. ↑ Craig, Mark (May 12, 2012). "New Vikings linebacker Elimimian hits hard, no matter his size". startribune.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ Goldstein, Patrick. "The Hard Cold Rap of Ice-T." Los Angeles Times. April 24, 1988. Calendar Desk 89.
  8. ↑ Ice-T Biography. allmusic. Macrovision Corporation. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  9. ↑ Bonsignore, Vincent (December 23, 1998). "SON SHINING; JOHNSON FOLLOWS HUGE FOOTSTEPS OF DAD, BROTHER". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved May 8, 2012.(subscription required)
  10. ↑ Johnson Bio
  11. ↑ "Kevin Ollie #12 Guard." National Basketball Association. Accessed October 11, 2008.
  12. ↑ Pac-10 Football Awards and All-Conference Announced, Pac-10.org, December 7, 2009
  13. ↑ "De'Anthony Thomas". ESPN. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  14. ↑ Jeff Pearlman (March 26, 2001). "Launchpad". Sports Illustrated.
  15. ↑ "This Valentine is a Heart of Gold... and a Pillar of Character". Baseball Against Drugs.

External links

Coordinates: 33°59′49″N 118°19′44″W / 33.99694°N 118.32889°W