Ronald Reagan High School (San Antonio)

Ronald Reagan High School is a Texas UIL Division 6A public high school located in the North East Independent School District and named after U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The school serves roughly 3,500 students and is currently under the leadership of Brenda Shelton. The school was previously led by Bill Boyd (2005-2013) and Joe Hannon (1999-2004).

Reagan High School was ranked fifth on Children at Risk's ranking of the top 10 high schools in Greater San Antonio.^[1]

It serves a portion of Timberwood Park.^[2][3]

History

In the early to mid-1990s, San Antonio, like many Sun Belt cities, experienced explosive growth in its suburbs. This growth was particularly evident in affluent areas formed by migrants to the city. In the area north of Route 1604 between the Blanco Road and US-281 corridors, known as Stone Oak and Sonterra, the growth caused severe overcrowding at nearby Winston Churchill High School – at the time the farthest-north school in the North East Independent School District – ultimately resulting in a student population of 3,400 at a school designed for not more than 2,500. The NEISD recognized this problem, and as a part of its 1997 bond issue, the district included an allocation to build a new high school in this area.

After voters approved the bond issue, construction commenced on the 84-acre (340,000 m²) campus. The property had been purchased prior to this bond issue from descendants of rancher William Classen. Spaw Glass was the general contractor of the project. The name "Ronald Reagan" was chosen by future students of the school (those currently in attendance at other North East schools) from a list selected by the NEISD Board of Trustees. A spirit committee selected the mascot "Rattlers" from three finalists and chose green, silver, and black as the school colors.

As construction was nearing its end, problems with the tiling in some classrooms led to the discovery of a previously unknown spring under the foundation of the building. This caused cracks and potentially long-lasting damage to the brand new school. Despite this discovery, which prevented the use of some classroom facilities well into the first year of the school's operation, Reagan opened to much fanfare in August 1999. Joe Hannon served as its first principal.

The opening of Lady Bird Johnson High School relieved Reagan.^[4][5]

Organization

Reagan, like most NEISD high schools, is organized into departments, each with an instructional dean or department head who oversees and organizes the activities and efforts of that department and reports to the administrative staff. Each department in turn consists either of a teacher who oversees a class schedule, or a sub-department (in the case of athletics, fine arts and foreign language), which can be made up of one or more teachers. Each class has an elected group of class officers with the student council senate presiding over the entire student body.

Academics

Classes are graded on a 100-point grading scale, and the grades students earn over their four-year high school career contribute to their ultimate class ranking. The 100-point grade is then converted to a four-point scale grade which appears on their high school transcripts. Special weights are attributed to classes based on their rigor. Advanced placement (AP) courses are weighted with a 29% increase in GPA, while pre-AP (honors) courses are weighted with a 15% increase in GPA. Less rigorous courses might actually count against the student.

NEISD does not award competitive honors to students – any student earning a GPA of 100 or higher is a summa cum laude graduate. In some schools, this can lead to a very large number of summa graduates (as many as 170) as a result of large graduating class sizes and the extra weight given to advanced placement classes. Cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude awards are given based on the student's 100-point scale GPA upon graduation.

Fine arts

Band

The Ronald Reagan High School Marching Band has been in existence since the school was opened. The band has been placed in the finals at every regional entered since the opening of the school until 2009 under the direction of Levi Chavis. In 2009, the Reagan band missed BOA Arlington regional finals for the first time since they began competing on the BOA circuit. Not only does the Ronald Reagan Marching Band compete in the Texas University Interscholastic League marching competition held every other year, it also enters annually in various Bands of America events including the regionals in Arlington, Texas, and Houston, Texas, the Super Regional in San Antonio, as well as the Grand National BOA competition held in Indianapolis, Indiana. The band placed second in 2003 and 2005, eleventh in 2002 and 2012, and seventh in 2016. The band also participated in nationals in 2007, making semi-finals but missing finals. In 2006, Reagan tied for third in the state of Texas at the UIL State Marching Contest Finals. In 2012, Reagan placed third at the UIL State Marching Contest Prelims, and in 2014 the band placed 5th in the state. It is currently under the direction of Dan Morrison. The band has been selected to march in the 2018 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

• Perpetual Motion 2000
• Out of the Box 2001
• The Journey Within 2002*
• Beyond Perimeters 2003*
• Synergy 2004
• You Never Know 2005*
• Transitions 2006
• It Chooses Me 2007*
• En Garde 2008
• Have You Got It In You? 2009
• RE- 2010
• Spaces 2011
• Let It Shine 2012*
• Epinicion 2013
• Through The Hourglass 2014
• Every(ONE) 2015
• One Love 2016*

(Grand Nationals performance denoted with *)

Athletics

The Reagan Rattlers compete in these sports - ^[6]

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Football
• Golf
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming and Diving
• Tennis
• Track and Field
• Volleyball
• Wrestling
• Lacrosse

Notable alumni

• Caroline Carothers, (Diamond Dancer), Miss Texas 2016-2017, Top 7 Finalist for Miss America Organization (Sept. 2016)
• Trevor Knight, Texas A&M Quarterback, currently with the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL ^[7]
• Sean Jared Danzy, founder and CEO of The South Texas Homosexual Alliance
• Jessica Kuster, San Antonio Silver Stars WNBA player
• Jeff Manship, MLB pitcher^[8]
• Brit Morin, CEO and Founder of Brit + Co.
• Anthony Vasquez, MLB pitcher

References