Poolesville High School

Poolesville High School
File:Poolesville.jpg
Location
Poolesville , Maryland United States
Information
Type	Public High School
Motto	Truth, Honor, Loyalty
Established	Early 1900s
Principal	Deena Levine
Number of students	1,012
Color(s)	Black and Gold
Website	Poolesville High School

Poolesville High School is a public high school located in Poolesville, Maryland. It is home to the Global Ecology Studies Program, the Math Science/Computer Science Magnet Program, and the Humanities Program.

Deena Levine, the principal of Poolesville High School, has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against a Bethesda boutique, The Blue House, alleging that her reputation suffered after being accused of shoplifting last year.

History

Poolesville High School was founded in the early 1900s. The core of the building was built in 1911 as an elementary school. The school housed Poolesville's middle school and high school up until 1997 when John Poole Middle School was built.[1]

From the school's inception until 2001, the mascot was The Indians, and the logo was the profile of an Indian warrior in full head-dress. Amidst some controversy from hypersensitive busybodies in the Montgomery County council, the school took a vote on whether to change its mascot to The Falcons in 2001. Even though the student body voted to keep The Indians as their mascot, at the beginning of the 2001–02 school year the administration overruled them and changed the mascot to The Falcons.

Academics

Starting in the 2006-2007 school year, each student at Poolesville High School has the opportunity to become a part of one of three "houses": Global Ecology; Humanities; or Science, Math, and Computer Science. Students who test to get in the Magnet Houses are "certificate" and are required to take the standard courses. Students who do not test in are able to become a part of a house, but are "non-certificate" and can choose to take specialized courses.

Humanities House

The Humanities program accepted its first "certificate" students for the 2006-2007 school year. First-year students take Humanities English and U.S. History courses with the other Humanities House students. They also have several specialised courses. "Criticism in the Humanities" attempts to encompass every aspect of the humanities, including ethics, theory of knowledge, and racism. "Creative scriptwriting" and "CAP photography" were semester-long courses in the humanities house, but as of the 2008-2009 school year, they have been incorporated into the Criticism in the Humanities course. Sophomore year, humanities students take AP NSL and Humanities English 10 as year-long courses. They also take Philosophy and Media Literacy as half year courses. Junior year, Humanities students take AP language and composition in literature, AP World History and AP Art History. The Humanities program faculty currently includes two teachers that were previously at the Richard Montgomery IB program; Mrs. Carol Solomon (Humanities english 10, and formerly the coordinator of the RMIB program), and Mr. Daniel McKenna (AP Language and Composition in Literature). The Humanities House is currently headed by Mrs. Emily Sigman. Other teachers include; Lisa Kellert, Michael Shannon (Former mayor of Chevy Chase), Nori Thorne (A fullbrite recipient), Andrew Ward, and Terry Turner. Former Humanities teachers include Jennifer Yang and Jessica Douglass.

Global Ecology Studies Program

The Global Ecology Studies Program (GESP), currently headed by Joyce Bailey, addresses environmental issues through coursework in science and social studies as well as field experience. In the senior year, each student completes a culminating project. As of 2006, the senior class has about 100 students, and other classes are larger. GESP was co-founded by Mr. Jeff Laws and Mr. Thomas Reichenbaugh in 1990, and began in the fall of 1991 with a class of about 25 students. Jon Rogers heads the science department.

Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science House

The Science, Math, and Computer Science (SMCS) program accepted its first students for the 2006–2007 school year. Modeled on the Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science magnet program at Montgomery Blair High School, it is currently coordinated by former Blair magnet teacher Mark Curran. Other teachers involved in this program are Mrs. Redman who teaches Physics/Chemistry, and Mr. Estep who teaches computer science.

As of May 2008, Mrs. Redman plans to leave the school in the following school year and is planned to be replaced by Dr. Mallow.

Demographics

Year	Enrollment	American Indian/ Alaskan Native	%	Asian/ Pacific Islander	%	African American	%	White	%	Hispanic	%
2007-08	1012	8	0.8	127	12.6	50	4.9	790	78.0	37	3.7
2006-07	939	5	0.1	69	7.34	54	5.8	777	82.7	34	3.6
2005-06	861	3	0.2	32	3.44	46	5.3	757	87.9	23	2.7
2004-05	825	4	-	35	3.34	35	4.2	728	88.2	23	2.8
2003-04	776	3	0.1	35	3.21	29	3.7	696	89.7	13	1.7
2002-03	753	3	0.2	28	2.98	23	3.1	682	90.6	17	2.3

Transportation

10 buses service Poolesville HS for base-area students.

Extra-curricular activities

• Poolesville Outdoorsman Club/Militia
• Independent Film Club
• SGA (2007 vice president Garrett Frost)
• Drama Club
• Debate Team
• Math team
• Annual Speedball Tournament
• It's Academic
• ELLE (Emerging Leaders Looking for Excellence) Sorority
• Mock Trial
• The Exploration Of Space and Time
• The Poolesville Inquisition (Improv Club)
• The Potomac Floaters
• Kayaking Club
• Computer Graphics club
• Green School
• Model UN
• Gnome Liberation Front
• Mangela Appreciation Society

Sports

A Maryland Class 1A - West school, Poolesville fields teams in 14 different sports including:

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

Rivalries

• Clarksburg High School
• Brunswick High School

Year	CHS	PHS	Winner	Series
2006	6	33	Poolesville	1-0 Poolesville
2007	40	20	Clarksburg	1-1 Tied
2008	54	0	Clarksburg	2-1 Clarksburg

Clarksburg High School

Ever since Clarksburg High School has been established (2006), there has been controversy between them and Poolesville. It all started with the losing of the Poolesville High School Head Coach of the Varsity Football Team. Then, shortly after, many other athletic coaches, and academic teachers left to go to Clarksburg. It has been widely speculated that this is due to better pay. However, this is false as Montgomery County Public Schools is unionized with a standard pay scale for all staff based on highest level of education reached and experience within the school system. The shifting of staff has put a strain on the athletic program mostly, and has led to high levels of tension between the two schools. To the right is the scores of the past football games since 2006, when the rivalry started:

Girls' volleyball

• County Champions in 2005
• Maryland State Finalists in 2002, 2003, and 2005
• State Semi Finalists in 2004
• 1A South Region Champions in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005
• Division Champions in 2006
• Class 1A State Champions in 2008

Coached by Fran DuVall, Managed by Cody Platt

Notable alumni

• Ricky Samuelson (1942) was awarded the purple heart in WWII for his bravery, and returned as a war hero.

External links

• Poolesville High School
• Global Ecology Studies Program
• Humanities House
• Science, Math, and Computer Science House
• Maryland High School Sports and Projected Enrollment
• Poolesville High School Booster Club