Hoover High School (San Diego, California)
| Herbert Hoover High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
|
4474 El Cajon Blvd San Diego, California USA | |
| Coordinates | 32°45′22″N 117°05′53″W / 32.75605°N 117.09798°WCoordinates: 32°45′22″N 117°05′53″W / 32.75605°N 117.09798°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Opened | 1930 |
| School district | San Diego Unified School District |
| Superintendent | Cindy Marten |
| Principal | Joe Austin |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | Approximately 2200 |
| Color(s) | Red and white |
| Mascot | Cardinal |
| Rival | Crawford High School |
| Website | Hoover High School |
Herbert Hoover High School is a comprehensive, public secondary school located in the Talmadge neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. It is the high school from which baseball player Ted Williams graduated.
It is one of the oldest schools in San Diego.[1]
History
The school was established in 1930 and named in honor of then U.S. President Herbert Hoover. The first principal was Floyd Johnson.[2] It originally opened as a beige stucco building with a red-tile roof and unreinforced concrete, giving it a Spanish-style appearance. As part of a tradition related to signing their yearbooks, 12th grade (senior) students climbed a tower that became a signature defining aspect of the campus.[1]
The school underwent renovations in the early 1970s. The tower and other architectural features were erased by the renovation.[1]
As of 2004 Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Douglas Williams, the authors of "Five Years Later," stated that prior to 1998 Hoover was known as the "ghetto school" of San Diego USD, and that schools with higher academic performances poached the best students from Hoover.[3] Adam Berman,[4] who previously taught at Hoover,[5] wrote that in 1988 Hoovert had low teacher morale, acts of violence, and a large rate of student dropouts in addition to the poor academic performance.[4]
The school joined the City Heights Educational Initiative, along with two other high schools and San Diego State University, in 1998 as part of an effort to improve.[6] In 2000 the school met its California state accountability target. This is the first time it had done so in 15 years.[5] Circa 2000 Berman,[4] by then a California Department of Education employee, wrote an independent review of the changes done at Hoover.[5] The review, titled "A focus on literacy: Hoover High School in San Diego," was published in the California High School Newsletter.[4]
Circa 2015 the school was scheduled to receive a renovation of the administrative area and main entrance, and parents and community members lobbied for a restoration of the tower and other historic architectural features as part of this renovation. Burt Nestor, a member of the Hoover class of 1946, gave the school a 2-square-foot (0.19 m2) chunk of an ornamental archway from the original building. His son gave it to him as a gift circa 1973 as the renovation had destroyed portions of the original campus. The piece is to be either used in the 2015 renovation, or displayed separately.[1]
In 2015 Michael Shefcik, the supervisor of plant operations at Hoover, went into the school library and discovered a 1940 30-inch (760 mm) Works Progress Administration (WPA) statue, titled "Girl Reading" and created by Donal Hord, depicting a girl reading a book.[7]
Student body
As of 2004 the school had over 2,300 students.[3]
Academic performance
In 1999 the school had a 444/1000 Academic Performance Index (API),[5] the lowest score in San Diego County. It had a statewide rank of the lowest 10% (first decile),[3] and the lowest 20% of schools with similar demographics.[6] Also, the Gates-MacGinitie reading assessments at this school resulted in a 5.9 grade level equivalent for the average student. At that time the school was one of twenty high schools in California with the worst academic performance.[3]
In 2002 it had an API of 506, an increase by 62 points. By 2000 the reading achievement scores had risen by an average of 2.4 years.[5]
Notable alumni
- Tony Banks, former NFL quarterback
- Ben Chase, NFL player
- Michael Davis, played for Oakland A's and for LA Dodgers 1988 World Series team
- Bob deLauer, NFL player
- Bennie Edens, 2002 NFL High School Coach of the Year
- William Gay, football defensive end
- Ted Giannoulas, San Diego Chicken (The Famous Chicken)[1]
- Bill McColl (born 1930), collegiate All-American and NFL player
- Dave Morehead, former MLB pitcher, Boston Red Sox
- Volney Peters, football player
- Robert O. Peterson, founder of the Jack in the Box restaurant chain
- Joe Shell, California politician and oilman
- Gina Simmons, psychotherapist and writer
- Willie Steele Olympic gold medalist
- Ted Williams, Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, Boston Red Sox[1]
- Eddie Williams, former MLB first and third baseman
- Mickey Wright, pro golfer, member of World Golf Hall of Fame
See also
- Primary and secondary schools in San Diego, California
- List of high schools in San Diego County, California
- List of high schools in California
References
- Fisher, Douglas, Nancy Frey, and Douglas Williams. "Five Years Later" (Chapter 9). In: Strickland, Dorothy S. and Donna E. Alvermann. Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap, Grades 4-12 (Language and literacy series). Teachers College Press, January 1, 2004. ISBN 0807744875, 9780807744871. START: p. 147.
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bell, Diane. "Historic chunk of Hoover High reappears" (Archive). San Diego Union-Tribune. July 27, 2015. Retrieved on January 18, 2016.
- ↑ North Park Historical Society. San Diego's North Park (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, September 8, 2014. ISBN 1439647178, 9781439647172. p. 78.
- 1 2 3 4 Douglas, Frey, and Williams, p. 147.
- 1 2 3 4 Douglas, Frey, and Williams, p. 160.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Douglas, Frey, and Williams, p. 159.
- 1 2 Douglas, Frey, and Williams, p. 148.
- ↑ Bell, Diane. "WPA art is discovered 'hidden in plain sight'" (Archive). San Diego Union-Tribune. October 2, 2015. Retrieved on January 18, 2016.