Southwood High School is a senior high school in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

. It is a part of

Caddo Parish Schools Caddo Public Schools is a school district based in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. The district serves all of Caddo Parish. History In 1965, the board was sued by Shreveport pastor and civil rights leader E. Edward Jones and his wife, Le ...

. The school's colors are orange and blue. The school mascot is a cowboy.

History

Caddo Parish Caddo Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de Caddo'') is a parish located in the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 237,848. The parish seat is Shreveport, which developed a ...

, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

which governs the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

, contacted

George Peabody College Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. ...

in 1949 to survey the city's school system and recommend ways to improve it. The following year, the survey was completed, and recommended the construction of a new

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 ...

in southwestern Shreveport within the following 15 years. In 1967, the city again consulted George Peabody to conduct another survey, which found that their initial predictions of growth in southwest Shreveport were correct, and once again called for the construction of a new high school in the area. In between these two surveys, there was considerable economic growth in the area due to an increase in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

, and the federal government began enforcing the

integration of schools School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and rema ...

, making the project for a new high school more feasible. The city government began putting into motion the planning of a new school, and construction began on May 13, 1969. The school was slated to open in September 1970, but a 60-day

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

and the defaulting of subcontractors tasked with working on the project delayed the projected opening to January 1971. Classes at Southwood were held on the campus of Woodlawn High School, using a half-day schedule to accommodate both schools. Construction on the Southwood campus was completed on May 24, 1971, and the school opened that fall. In the spring of 1970, the school board held a contest in which people submitted names for the new school. The name Southwood High School was chosen due to the

wooded A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

area the school was located in, and due to the presence of a school to the north of Shreveport called

Northwood High School Northwood High School may refer to: * Northwood High School (Irvine, California) * Northwood High School (Louisiana) * Northwood High School (Montgomery County, Maryland) * NorthWood High School, Nappanee, Indiana * Northwood High School (North C ...

Safety

The school attracted national attention following a number of high-profile fights which broke out in September 2021. Over the span of three days, 23 students were arrested. Following these incidents, a group of about 40 fathers of Southwood High School Students began patrolling the school, preventing fights from occurring, while also providing emotional support for students.

Athletics

Southwood High athletics competes in the LHSAA.

References

External links

Southwood High School
Shreveport, Louisiana High schools in Shreveport, Louisiana Public high schools in Louisiana Educational institutions established in 1971 1971 establishments in Louisiana {{Louisiana-school-stub