Northwood High School (Northwood) is located in Silver Spring and is one of five high schools that are part of Montgomery Downcounty Consortium. Northwood offers a number of academies for students as well as a variety of sports and clubs. In 2018, Northwood's six academies include Montgomery Middle College (MC2); Music, Theater and Dance; Politics, Advocacy and Law; Technological, Environmental and System Sciences; Humanities, Arts and Media; and Finance, Accounting, Marketing and Education.
Northwood originally opened its doors in 1956. The school was closed after 29 years in 1985 due to changing demographics in the area. As the need for additional space for high school students grew in later years, the Montgomery County Public School System re-opened Northwood in 2004.
The principal was Mildred Charley-Greene. She was appointed principal to Northwood in 2013 and was named 2019 Principal of the Year by the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals.
Northwood High School is located in
unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to:
* Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality
* Unincorporated entity, a type of organization
* Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...
, and is part of
Montgomery County Public Schools. It is in the
Kemp Mill census-designated place
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, suc ...
, and it has a
Silver Spring postal address.
History
In order to relieve overcrowding in local schools adjacent to major federal installations or defense projects, President Eisenhower signed Title 45 Public Law 81-874 "ASSISTANCE FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION" with $1,500,000 contributed to Montgomery County.
It was decided to build a new high school along 30 Acres on Old Bladensburg Road (later known as University Blvd) in Silver Spring with planned opening in fall 1956. The 2 story brick, tile, and glass rambler cost $1,955,143, with a student population of 1425. At its dedication
Arthur S. Adams
Arthur Stanton Adams (July 1, 1896 – November 18, 1980) was an American academic most notable for having served as the President of the University of New Hampshire. He also served as Assistant Dean of Engineering and Director of the Engineering ...
, president of the
American Council on Education
The American Council on Education (ACE) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) U.S. higher education association established in 1918. ACE's members are the leaders of approximately 1,700 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher educatio ...
, described the school as a "Magnificent Building" to a crowd of 1000 visitors.
The Northwood area grew prior to construction. The new school became a combination junior / senior high school named Northwood Junior Senior High School with new principal Edward (Ted) A. Bartlett. Principal Bartlett was
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
educated, a World War II veteran, and the former basketball coach from
Winchester High School in
Winchester, Massachusetts
Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the wealthiest municipalities in Massachusetts. The population ...
.
At the start of school September 1956, there was no working bell system, no mirrors in the wash rooms, no lockers, no cafeteria. They used whistles to mark start-stop of class periods.
On February 1, 1960 Harold R. Packard replaced Bartlett. Eugene R. Smoley became Principal in 1972. In 1977 Principal Bobby J. Mullis replaced Smoley, and retired at the 1985 closing.
Closing
The closing of Northwood High School was discussed and voted on 3 times by the
Montgomery County School Board starting in 1981 and finally ordered closed in a contested decision that aimed to alleviate the concentration of minorities enrolling at
Montgomery Blair High School
Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a public high school located in Four Corners, Maryland, United States, operated by Montgomery County Public Schools. The school's total enrollment of 3,600 makes it the largest public high school in Montgo ...
.
A nonprofit group, Northwood Community Solidarity Inc, was established to fight the closure.
After the closing, school trophies were given to students, and alumni. The varsity uniforms were sold to students for $1. The Northwood Indian headdress was donated to Wheaton Library for display.
From 1987 to 2004, Northwood was used to hold students from other high schools during renovations. The school was re-opened in 2004 due to increasing population. During its original run, the school's mascot was the
Indians. A September 2001 vote by the Board of Education banned ethnic and race-based team mascots at county schools. Students in the first class and Alumni from the 1958 first graduating class chose the
Gladiator
A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
s as the new mascot.
Reopening
Prior to the reopening the funds saved by the Northwood Community Solidarity for 20 years, $8,500, was donated to Northwood in memory of the late Bobby Mullis.
2008 was the first year since the school reopened in which there were all four classes. The school had approximately 1,400 students. This size has moved it from a division 2A school in Maryland High School athletics, to a division 3A school for the 2009-10 school year.
As of the 2019-20 school year, Northwood High School boasts over 1800 students from diverse backgrounds.
Bomb threat
On the morning of Tuesday, April 29, 2014, Northwood High School and
Northwest High School in
Germantown, Maryland
Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 91,249 as of 2020 U.S. Decennial Census, Germantown is the third most populous place in Maryland, after the city of Baltimore ...
were evacuated after a bomb threat. The
Montgomery County Police Department
The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), officially the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCP), is a nationally accredited agency and the primary law enforcement agency of Montgomery County, Maryland, providing the full spectrum ...
(MCPD) received information about the threat at 9:30 a.m. (EDT) and searched the schools, finding no bombs, and deeming them to be safe at 10:51 a.m. (EDT).
Sports
In 2018, Northwood students participated in 45 teams across 18 sports for the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Students played on both varsity and junior varsity levels and hosted girl, boy, and co-ed teams. Sports included baseball, basketball, bocce, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, pom pom, racquetball, side cheer, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball, and wrestling.
The school's sports program is only in their second season of having varsity teams. The varsity
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
squad earned a record of 5-5 and the varsity
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team reached the regional playoffs. The boys
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team has won the 3A/2A division championship for two consecutive years (2008, 2009). The boys
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...
team has won the
Montgomery County Public Schools division IV championship two consecutive years (2008, 2009). The boys cross-country team qualified to run in the state championships out of the 3A West region in 2009. In 2009 the girls Cross-Country team won the Montgomery County Public Schools division IV championship. In 2008 Northwood had three division 2A state champions in indoor track and one champion and runner-up in outdoor track. The varsity
cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
squad placed second in their division in the December 2008 Montgomery County Public Schools competition. The varsity
cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
squad placed first in their division and won spirit award in the November 2009 Montgomery County Public Schools competition
Prior to closing in 1985, Northwood had a number of division, county, regional, and state championships in a variety of sports. Don Greenberg was an all county member of the football and baseball teams during the 1973 and 1974 seasons which are often referred to as the "glory years" of Northwood athletics.
School facilities
The schools location is at the north-east corner of University Boulevard West and Arcola Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland. The school's architect, William N. Denton Jr., designed a classic H-shaped construction.
The original school opened with 55 classrooms, 11 administrative offices, a large gym, and 108 seat library and cafeteria seating 456.
Before the end of the first year, plans were made to add an additional 14 new classrooms.
Northwood has a recently remodeled multipurpose stadium where their football, soccer, track and lacrosse teams play, named after former Northwood Technology Education, (mostly Electronics) teacher David Kaplan who became an activist lobbying to keep the school open in 1985.
The athletic area of Northwood also includes two
baseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...
s, a track, and a concessions area to the left of the main stands of Kaplan Stadium. The school has a Media Center that mainly serves as a
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...
. There is also a band room, alternate music room, a full wellness center, and a film room that is the location of Northwood's television and radio station, WNHS.
To address crowding in the Downcounty Consortium, an addition and facility upgrades are planned for the high school. This expansion includes additional classrooms, reconfiguration of existing spaces and upgrades to building systems. It will bring the total student capacity to 2,700 students, an increase of 1,200 seats. During the upgrade, the school will operate out of the campus of
Charles W. Woodward High School
Charles W. Woodward High School is a former U.S. high school located in North Bethesda, Maryland, near Rockville.[Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Chillum Heights, Maryland, while attending Indiana University Bloomington Banks did theatre. In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles where he be ...]
, television and film actor
*
Alex Bazzie, football player
*
Jerry Ceppos, journalist and academic
*
George Daly, music executive (The Cars, Janis Joplin, The Tubes, Carlos Santana, Tool)
*
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge (born October 27, 1966) is an American journalist and the creator/editor of the Drudge Report, an American news aggregator. Drudge is also an author and a former radio and television show host.
Early life and education
Drud ...
, Creator and editor of the Drudge Report.
*
Jan Rose Kasmir, Cultural Icon, subject of historic picture at 1967 March on the Pentagon
*
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...
, photographer (Class of 1967)
*
George Pelecanos
George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writ ...
, author (detective and noir fiction), television producer and a television writer (
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
)
*
Evelyn Rosenberg, international artist and developer of the technique of Detonographics
*Ryan Wetzel, film producer and tour manager
* Rick Young, Emmy Award Documentary Producer for Frontline
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Public high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland
1956 establishments in Maryland
1985 disestablishments in Maryland
2004 establishments in Maryland
Educational institutions established in 1956
Educational institutions disestablished in 1985
Educational institutions established in 2004
Kemp Mill, Maryland