Independence High School (IHS) 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

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States, and is the most recent high school in the

Glendale Union High School District Glendale Union High School District No. 205 is a school district headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, United States. The union high school district operates nine comprehensive high schools and serves most of Glendale and a portion of Phoenix. It ...

. The school's name was picked by the school board because of the bicentennial observance. The school was scheduled to open in the summer of 1976, but was postponed due to construction and lack of demand from the district's student population. It opened during the 1977–1978 school year under principal Fed McClure. The initial enrollment was 420 students consisting of freshman and sophomore students only. The first graduating class was in 1980. The school celebrated its thirtieth anniversary during the 2007–2008 school year. The school was designed by the local architecture firm Varney, Sexton, Sydnor Associates and built in the

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

style. Two weeks after the school opened, a fire broke out destroying parts of the lower level, however classes resumed a few days later. A formal dedication was held on November 17, 1977, with the Honorable Bob Stump, representative, as guest speaker. On February 12, 2016, the school was the site of a murder suicide shooting that killed two 15-year-old girls.

Ethnic diversity

Independence's ethnic diversity as of January 2008 was: * Asian: 45 (2.68%) * American Indian/Alaskan: 25 (1.4%) * African American: 239 (14.26%) * Hispanic: 968 (57.79%) * White: 398 (23.76%)

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1977 Public high schools in Arizona Education in Glendale, Arizona Schools in Maricopa County, Arizona 1977 establishments in Arizona