Naaman Forest High School 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 ''Öffentlichk ...

secondary school located in

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is located within Dallas County except for small portions located in Collin and Rockwall Counties. At the ...

, United States. Naaman Forest enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is a part of the

Garland Independent School District Garland Independent School District is a public school district with its headquarters in the Harris Hill Administration Building in Garland, Texas, United States. Garland ISD extends from the Dallas city limits, northeast to the county line and ...

. In 2009, the school was rated "

academically acceptable The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

" by the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

History

NFHS is built on a 62.13-acre site, which backs up to a natural forest preserve. It opened in 1988 with grades 6-9. Naaman Forest dropped a lower grade and added a higher grade until it attained senior high school status in 1992. Naaman Forest today serves 2,600 students, compared with 836 students 20 years ago. Naaman Forest has been fully accredited by the Texas Education Agency and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools since being founded.

Statistics (per 2010)

The attendance rate for students at the school is 95%, compared with a state average of 96%. About 44% of the students at Naaman Forest are economically disadvantaged, 12% enroll in special education, 4% enroll in gifted and talented programs, 24% are enrolled in career and technology programs, and 28% are considered "limited English proficient".2007-2008 TEA AEIS Campus Performance
Retrieved on 3 December 2009 The ethnic makeup of the school is 34%

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, 23%

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, 27%

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, non-Hispanic, 16% Asian/

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, and less than 1% Native American. The average class sizes at Naaman Forest are 22 students for

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, 21 for

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, 23 for math, 22 for

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, and 24 for social studies. Teachers at the school have, on average, 10 years of teaching experience and 7% of the teachers on staff are first-year teachers.

Academic programs

Agriculture

Naaman Forest also features Future Farmers of America, which promotes classes such as horticulture, plant propagation, and many other fields.

Building trades

Building-trades classes expose students to the construction field. Each year, the project constructs a three-bedroom, two-bath house that is given to Garland Habitat. The house is built on the school campus and then it is moved to its home site within the city of Garland.

Medical

Naaman Forest also has a career-preparatory program known as clinical rotations. Through this, students receive on-site training at Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Doctors Hospital at White Rock, and Baylor Hospital in Plano. In addition, Naaman is the site for GISD's emergency medical technician and pharmacy technician certification programs. Many clinical students participate in Health Occupation Students of America.

Achievements

Naaman received a Golden Performance Award from TEA for comparable improvement in math performance for the 2007-2008 school year. NFHS has been recognized by'' Newsweek'' as one of the top 1000 high schools in the nation based on Advanced Placement scores. In 2010 and 2011, the Naaman Forest Marching Band won its 20th and 21st consecutive First Division UIL ratings under the direction of band directors Larry Schnitzer, Gregory Taylor, and Matt Rush. In 2011, the Naaman Forest Jazz Band became an award-winning jazz band, taking second place at the UTA Jazz Festival and first place at the TCU Jazz Festival under the direction of Jazz Band Director Gregory Taylor. In 2012, the Jazz Band repeated its second-place finish at the UTA Jazz Festival. Also, Taylor was awarded "Outstanding Director".

Sports

Naaman Forest High School is most well known for its basketball team, which has been a very strong competitor for state titles throughout the history of the school. Naaman's basketball team in 2011-2012 went to the Final Four state finals, but in the end lost to Flower Mound Marcus. With this, Naaman Forest's basketball team is recognized as 10-5A District Champions, Bidistrict Champions, Area Champions, and Region II Champions. Naaman offers basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, tennis, softball, track and field, football, volleyball, and soccer. Naaman competed in the

University Interscholastic League The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organi ...

Class 5A classification for the 2013-2014 school year, but joined UIL's new Class 6A classification beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.

Notable sports alumni

* Melvin Bullitt - safety for the Indianapolis Colts * Jacob Lacey - cornerback for the Indianapolis Colts * Uche Nwaneri - guard for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

* Prince Ibeh - center for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

* Nick Browne - 2003 Consensus All-American for

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

Horned Frogs * John Harris- receiver for the Texas Longhorns (2010-2014) * Reyna Reyes - player for the Mexico women's national soccer team

References

External links

*
Garland Independent School District
{{authority control High schools in Garland, Texas Garland Independent School District high schools 1988 establishments in Texas Educational institutions established in 1988