Oviedo High School

Oviedo High School is a grade 9-12 public secondary school set on a 52-acre (210,000 m²) campus in Oviedo, Florida, a community situated in southeastern Seminole County operated by Seminole County Public Schools. The “Oviedo School” was established in 1932 as a comprehensive K-through-12 educational facility; members of the first graduating class received their diplomas in 1935. The secondary grades separated from the elementary in 1948, and the upper level, which moved to the current site in 1969, became Oviedo High School, now one of the oldest schools in Central Florida. The school recently underwent a $50 million renovation project. The school newspaper is the "Lion's Tale", an award-winning paper recognized by the National Scholastic Press Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and the Florida Scholastic Press Association.^[1]

Demographics

In the past ten years, the city of Oviedo and its surrounding area, which together constitute the Oviedo High School attendance zone, has changed from a primarily agrarian support community of 3,074 Oviedians during the 1980 census^[2] to a predominantly suburban city of 33,342 residents by the 2010 census.^[3] Oviedo H.S. students are drawn from the cities of Oviedo and Winter Springs as well as from suburban residential neighborhoods of unincorporated Seminole County.

Prior to the 2005 opening of Hagerty High School, Oviedo High School was the sole Seminole County public high school serving Oviedo and nearby unincorporated communities such as Chuluota and Geneva. Hagerty's freshman class of 2005-2006 became the first graduating class from the new school upon the conclusion of the 2008-09 school year. In an effort to boost attendance, Oviedo High School allowed open enrollment for students in other Seminole County schools starting with the 2009-2010 school year. ^[4]

Athletics

The school's athletic teams are known as the Lions. The school offers Bowling, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Swimming, and Volleyball, as Fall sports. It offers Basketball, Soccer, and Wrestling as Winter sports. It offers Lacrosse, Baseball, Softball, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball, and Water Polo as Spring sports.

Oviedo is classified by the Florida High School Athletic Association as a Class 5A high school. In February 2007 the school's wrestling team won its fourth consecutive state championship, becoming the only team ever in the history of Florida high school wrestling to win four straight titles in the big schools division (2004–2007). The team won eighty-four consecutive dual meet events from 2004 to 2008.

The Oviedo Lions have an in-town rivalry with Hagerty High School. The Lions also have a rivalry with Winter Springs High School and Lake Brantley High School.

In May 2011, Oviedo High School was fined $57,000 (the fine was originally $280,000, but was reduced because of their cooperation with the FHSAA) and the school's head volleyball coach and entire wrestling staff were fired after the volleyball and wrestling teams had players who lived outside the district, violating eligibility requirements.^[5] The violations involved at least one volleyball player and five wrestlers and include falsifying addresses, athletes transferring to Oviedo and living with assistant coaches in order to circumvent location mandates, and recruiting through a club program run by the volleyball coach. The FHSAA also banned the wrestling team from regional, district, and state competition for three years. The volleyball team was put on probation for two years. The athletic director and assistant athletic director lost their jobs. The fines come out of the athletic fund instead of taxpayer resources.^[6] The volleyball and wrestling teams were forced to forfeit all their wins from the 2010-11 season. The wrestling team was also placed on probation for four years.^[7] The fines and sanctions are the harshest in Florida history. In June 2012, the FHSAA removed the remaining two years of Oviedo's postseason ban in wrestling, allowing team members to compete for regional and state honors, while keeping the school on probation for two years. The coaches involved and illegally enrolled students were no longer at the school.

Notable alumni

• Jennifer Barringer - professional runner and Olympian^[8]
• Mark Bellhorn - professional baseball player^[9]
• Tom Rhodes - comedian^[10]
• Monty Sopp - professional wrestler under the ring names Billy Gunn and "The Outlaw"^[11]
• Blake Bortles - professional football player^[12]

JROTC

Oviedo carries an NJROTC program which has 200 students enrolled. The NJROTC unit has hosted the NJROTC Florida State Championships annually since 2006.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oviedo High School.

• Oviedo High School (official website)
• Seminole County Public Schools