High Point High School (HPHS) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in Beltsville, an unincorporated section of

Prince George's County ) , demonym = Prince Georgian , ZIP codes = 20607–20774 , area codes = 240, 301 , founded date = April 23 , founded year = 1696 , named for = Prince George of Denmark , leader_title = Executive , leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States. The school, serving children in grades 9 through 12, is part of the

Prince George's County Public Schools Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) is a large public school district administered by the government of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education. The school system is ...

district system. It is outside Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) and in proximity to

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

History

Opened in fall 1954,Knepper, Cathy D. ''Greenbelt, Maryland: A Living Legacy of the New Deal''.

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, 2001. , 9780801864902. p
109
High Point High School was originally going to be named Cherry Hill High School. However, school officials eventually settled on the name "High Point High School" because of the school's location on what residents believed to be the highest point in the county. Upon its opening High Point High began serving

Greenbelt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

, and the former Greenbelt High School became Greenbelt Junior High School. By the late 1950s High Point used a "split class" system as it was over capacity. Greenbelt is now served by Eleanor Roosevelt High School, which was scheduled to open in fall 1976.Knepper, Cathy D. ''Greenbelt, Maryland: A Living Legacy of the New Deal''.

, 2001. , 9780801864902. p
149
During the period of Michael Brooks as principal some parents and students stated that his responses to incidents of fighting and truant students were insufficient. In 2011 the district placed the assistant principal, as an interim principal after a video of a fight at the school appeared on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. In 2014 the district's board agreed to do a feasibility study on building a new school building. By 2017 the existing building had 2,700 students when it was designed for around 2,100 students.

Demographics

The demographic breakdown of the 2,426 students enrolled for the 2014–2015 school year was: *Male - 55.9% *Female - 44.1% *Native American/Alaskan - 0.1% *Asian/Pacific islanders - 3.8% *Black - 28.0% *Hispanic - 65.1% *White - 2.2% *Multiracial - 0.8% 75.6% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch. This is a

Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...

school. As of 2006 many residents of northern PG County are of Hispanic and Latino ancestry, contributing to a large enrollment of Hispanic and Latino students at High Point High. In 2016 Sandra Jimenez, the principal at the time, described the school as a "

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Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...

" in an interview with ''

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''. Communities within the school's attendance zone include: the unincorporated

census designated places A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) of Adelphi, Beltsville, and Langley Park,2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Langley Park CDP, MD
"

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. Retrieved on January 31, 2018. and portions of the CDPs of Chillum and Konterra,2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): Konterra CDP, MD
"

. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. Pages
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as well as the sections of Calverton and Hillandale CDPs in PG County. Also within the boundary is a portion of the City of College Park. Scott, et al. stated in a 2014 paper published by

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The Urban Institute The Urban Institute based in Edinburgh, Scotland is a collaboration of researchers at Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh on urban issues. It was founded in 2016 under the leadership of professor Dr. Mark Stephens. The institut ...

that, as of March 2013, 23% of High Point students came from Langley Park.

Academics

In 1987 the largest

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

(ESOL) program in the school district was in High Point High; this program began in 1969, and the school in 1987 had the largest population of students originating from outside the United States of any PG County high school. the ESOL program includes ESOL 1–3, Advanced Critical Reading, AIM, Language of American History, Language of Math, and Language of Science classes. In 1987 it had classes in six foreign languages, and the school district was considering making High Point a

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...

for foreign languages. That year it received 200% of the number of requests for transferring into the school that each other PG County high school got.

Student discipline

A paper in 2014 by Scott et al. stated that High Point students, compared to students of other high schools in the district, "have a less positive perception of school safety and discipline". In the 2011–12 school year 36% of 9th grade students from Langley Park, who attended High Point, did not go to school for at least 20 days per school year compared to 29% district average for 9th graders and 10% district average for 7th and 8th graders; the Langley Park 7th and 8th graders truancy rate was the same as the district average. Scott, et al. stated that a possible reason was that start time of High Point was the same as that of Buck Lodge Middle School even though the high school's distance from Langley Park was longer than that of the middle school.

Athletics

High Point High has an American football team. In 2013 Chelsea Janes of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' stated it had been "a long time since" the team had performed strongly, but that it was regaining its power.

Notable alumni

Frank Cho Frank Cho, born Duk Hyun Cho, (born 1971) is a Korean-American comic strip and comic book writer and illustrator, known for his series ''Liberty Meadows'', as well as for books such as ''Shanna the She-Devil'', ''The Mighty Avengers, Mighty Avenge ...

(1990), comic book writer and illustrator * A. Jamie Cuticchia, scientist * Raheem DeVaughn, musician *

Fred Funk Frederick Funk (born June 14, 1956) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions. Early life Fred Funk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He tried several sports, and even boxed for eight years for a junior ...

, former coach of University of Maryland golf team and PGA tour player * Kevin Jordan, NFL player * Jolene Ivey, Maryland state legislator *

Elijah Joy Elijah Joy (born Erik C. Nedd) is an American vegan celebrity chef, green living advocate, emcee, television host, singer, and writer. He is the founder of Organic Soul, Incorporated, a vegan lifestyle and multimedia company based in Takoma P ...

, TV personality * Brian Reid (1966),

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innovator *

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, actor *

Paula Vogel Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951) is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play ''How I Learned to Drive.'' A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Bro ...

(1969), playwright * Martin Berkofsky (1961) American classical pianist

Notes

External links

*
School district website

References

{{reflist Beltsville, Maryland Public high schools in Maryland Educational institutions established in 1954 Schools in Prince George's County, Maryland 1954 establishments in Maryland