Lloyd V. Berkner High School

Lloyd V. Berkner High School
Address
1600 E Spring Valley Rd
Richardson, Texas, (Dallas County), 75081
United States
Coordinates 32°56′10″N 96°41′35″W / 32.936244°N 96.693075°WCoordinates: 32°56′10″N 96°41′35″W / 32.936244°N 96.693075°W
Information
School type Public, high school
Motto "It’s a Great Time to be a Ram." [1]
Established 1969
School district Richardson ISD
NCES District ID 4837020[2].
CEEB Code 445841
NCES School ID 483702004124[3].
Principal Ron Griffen[4]
Teaching staff 180.39 (on an FTE basis)[3]
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,727[5] (2010)
 • Grade 9 727[3]
 • Grade 10 674[3]
 • Grade 11 655[3]
 • Grade 12 671[3]
Student to teacher ratio 15.12[3]
Language English
Colour(s)          
Green and White
Mascot Rams
Rival Lake Highlands High School
National ranking
  1. 1017[6]
Feeder schools Apollo Junior High School, Liberty Junior High School
Website www.risd.org/schools/bhs/index.htm

Lloyd V. Berkner High School is a high school in Richardson, in the U.S. state of Texas, with a 2008 enrollment of 2,755 and a student/teacher ratio of 16.7.[7] It is one of four high schools in the Richardson Independent School District.[8]

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Richardson, Texas highlighted in red

History

The school was founded in 1969 and is named for U.S. physicist and founding president of the University of Texas at Dallas (actually in Richardson), Lloyd Berkner.

For the first year, students were housed on the campus of the now-closed Richardson Junior High School. The current facility on Spring Valley Road opened for the 1970–1971 school year; it served grades 9–11 in its opening year. Grades 10–12 were then served until the end of the 2004–2005 school year.

During the 1974–1975 school year, Berkner served Freshmen in order to relieve over-crowding at Richardson Jr. High while the new Liberty Jr. High was completed for the following Fall. From 1976–1979, Berkner again served Freshman in order to relieve over-crowding at Liberty Jr. High. A massive expansion and renovation gave way to the addition of ninth grade in the 2005–2006 school year.

Statistics (per 2011)

The attendance rate for students at the school is 95%, compared with a state average of 96%. 44% of the students at Berkner are economically disadvantaged, 17% enroll in special education, 4% enroll in gifted and talent programs, 24% are enrolled in career and technology programs, and 21% are considered "limited English proficient."[5]

The ethnic makeup of the school is 23.58% Hispanic, 27.76% African American, 27.62% White, non-Hispanic, 16.01% Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% Native American.[5]

The average class sizes at Berkner are 25 students for English, 21 for foreign language, 27 for math, 23 for science, and 24 for social studies.[5]

Teachers at the school carry, on average, 10 years of teaching experience and 7% of the teachers on staff are first-year teachers.[5]

Awards

In 2007 the school won the Excellence in Education Award for the state of Texas. It was honored by the Texas Successful School Awards System in 2000 and 2001. Berkner was also named a National Blue Ribbon School in 1988–1989.[9]

Berkner is ranked #1017 the Top 1300 high schools in the U.S. by Newsweek magazine.[6]

Academics

Berkner ranks its students based on a weighted GPA, in which Advanced Placement classes and Pre-AP classes add 8 and 5 points, respectively, to each students's final average in that class. In contrast to a decision by a selection committee, the valedictorian and salutatorian are the first and second highest averages of each graduating class, with the Top 10 receiving special gratitude at a reception dinner.[10]

Extracurricular activities

Berkner's mascot is the Ram and the team shares Ram-Wildcat Stadium(capacity 11,000) with Lake Highlands High School. The athletics program has improved in recent years, as in 2005 BHS had the best football season in school history, finishing 12–1 after a loss to A&M Consolidated High School in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A division. In the spring of 2006 the boys' basketball team made the state semifinals for the first time in school history.[7]

Berkner prides itself on its fine arts programs. The marching band has received 43 consecutive first Division ratings in University Interscholastic League marching contests. The Orchestra Program has won the TMEA Honor String Orchestra award in 1987 under Ruth Kurtis – and most recently winning the same award in 2007 under Craig Needham. The theatre program provides one of the area's only technical theatre programs. The school's student newspaper is the Berkner Rampage. The inter-school radio and television station is KRAM-FM and KRAM-TV Channel 6.[11]

The "Mighty Ram Band" has approximately 360 students in its program. In the 2005–2006 season, the competition marching band (250 members by audition) won 2nd place at both the Plano Marching Invitational and the Sam Houston State University Marching Festival. Their performance that year featured the music of Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In the spring semester, the band splits into five bands; Symphonic Band I, Symphonic Band II, Symphonic Band III, Concert Band I, and Concert Band II. Other classes offered during the school day include a Music Theory Course, a Jazz Ensemble, a Percussion Ensemble, a Varsity and a Junior-Varsity Drum Line, and two sections of Color Guard / Winter Guard. The band was honored by the John Philip Sousa Foundation with the Sudler Flag of Honor in 1984 and 2004 to recognize its high standards of excellence in its concert activities over several years. The Berkner Band has been invited to perform at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, been named the Honor Band for the state of Texas, and has consistently advanced to the State Marching Band Competition for many years.[12]

The school is also notable for hosting an annual battle of the bands held in the auditorium. It is one of the larger BOBs held in the area and features mostly rock and punk bands. There is the occasional appearance by rap and hip hop groups. Despite the requirement of having a band member be a Berkner High student to compete, bands from across the metroplex have performed. One notable guest band includes Bowling for Soup. The event is held typically in April or May. The event is sponsored by Peer Helpers and the Berkner Exchange Club. Since 2005, the 'house' band has been 'Old Skool', Berkner's own all-faculty cover band. Old Skool performs at the conclusion of the competition while the judges are tabulating the scores.

The Berkner High School Academic Decathlon team has advanced to the Texas State Academic Decathlon competition every year since 2003–2004.

The Berkner High School drill team, known as the Bandoleras, have performed with excellence over the past several decades. They have won major competitions at a national level, including the Starmakers series of drill team events. Their Spring Shows consistently sell out the BHS auditorium and are a regular draw on the Richardson arts scene. In 2012, the Bandoleras were given the opportunity to travel to Ireland to be in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin. In addition to the Bandoleras, the hand picked Comedy Troop draws many to the Show because of its humorous skits.[13]

Berkner tennis team members won third place in district competition in 2007–2008. The team itself has consistently produced tennis players with Super-Champion rankings in the TTCA.[14]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Richardson Isd". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "Search for Public Schools - School Detail for Berkner H S". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  4. ↑ "School Info". September 24, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Berkner High School, Richardson TX School Profile, Ranking, and Reviews". SchoolDigger.com. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "School Times Now!". Risd.org. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "RISD Schools : Berkner High School". Web.archive.org. 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  8. ↑ "High Schools". Web.archive.org. 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  9. ↑ "Archived Information – BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS PROGRAM" (PDF). Retrieved 25 January 2008.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ "Berkner Band". Berkner Band. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  13. ↑ "Berkner Bandolera Drill Team". Berknerbandos.org. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ "Laurie Corbelli". Texas A&M Volleyball. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Toddrick McIntosh". databaseFootball.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Kevin Murphy". databaseFootball.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Aqib Talib". databaseFootball.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Aundra Thompson". databaseFootball.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Everson Walls". databaseFootball.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013.

External links