Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas, Texas)

Woodrow Wilson High School is a public high school located in East Dallas, Texas (U.S.). Woodrow enrolls students in grades 9– 12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). It is located adjacent to the Junius Heights historic district.PDF
(includes map of the district, which indicates the locations of Lipscomb, the library, and Woodrow Wilson) and (includes map of the district)

It was named in honor of former U.S. president Woodrow Wilson, who died just three years before the school building was completed. The structure is a Dallas Landmark, as well as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, the highest honor the state can bestow on a historic structure. The National Trust for Historic Preservation wrote that the Woodrow Wilson school "defines how a historic neighborhood school can remain a vital and integral part of the educational process and continue to serve surrounding historic neighborhoods."

In 2009, DISD authorized Woodrow to apply to become certified as the first Dallas school to be authorized as an IB World School offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB degree). It earned its official designation as an IB World School on March 18, 2011. In 2015, the school was rated " Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.

History

Early history

Designed by Dallas architect Mark Lemmon, the school opened in 1928, and was constructed in the Elizabethan style."Second junior high starts shaping up," ''The Dallas Morning News'', April 24, 1933, section 1, page 3: "The exterior of the .L. Long Junior Highbuilding has been designed in Elizabethan style to harmonize with the previously established Woodrow Wilson High School, on the campus of which it is being constructed." - Available from NewsBank Readex, accessible with a Houston Public Library library card. At the cornerstone-laying ceremony in April 1927, a piece of the wedding cake of Woodrow Wilson's second daughter, Jessie, was included in the cornerstone "in memory of Mr. Wilson.""School corner stone holds wedding cake of Wilson's daughter," ''The Dallas Morning News'', April 21, 1927, section 2, page 15. - Available from NewsBank Readex, accessible with a Houston Public Library library card. At US$700,000, the school's cost exceeded that of the district's previous four high schools by at least $100,000."Wilson High being built: Masonry work started on big East Dallas school," ''The Dallas Morning News'', March 24, 1927, section 2, page 13. - Available from NewsBank Readex, accessible with a Houston Public Library library card. The ornamental lighting was made b
Potter Art Metal Studios
of Dallas; a 90-year company still in existence. Special features of the building included a gymnasium boasting "one entire wall of glass windows" and an auditorium that was to be the "best equipped and best lighted" in the district, with footlights and a separately ventilated orchestra pit."Woodrow Wilson High School ready for equipment," ''The Dallas Morning News'', May 18, 1928, section 2, page 13. - Available from NewsBank Readex, accessible with a Houston Public Library library card. A theater organ was later placed in the pit and pipes put in special lofts on the third level. The September 1928, ''Dallas Herald'' said the school "presents a rare spectacle from afar." Photos and the original blueprints of the school building were featured in an exhibition celebrating the works of Mark Lemmon at The Meadows Museum.Press information related to the Mark Lemmon exhibit
, from the Meadows Museum.

The school has been colloquially called "Woodrow" by students and community members from its beginning, fostered by first principal G.L. "Pop" Ashburn, who led the school until 1956. The mascot of the school is the Wildcat. A Parent Teacher Association chapter was formed for the school even before its 1928 opening."Wilson High P.-T.A. to be organized," ''The Dallas Morning News'', August 26, 1928. Society News section, page 4. - Available from NewsBank Readex, accessible with a Houston Public Library library card.

Until 1957 (when Bryan Adams High School opened), Woodrow was the only " East Dallas" high school.

The original principal of Woodrow Wilson served for 30 years.Lyons, Gene. "This is Woodrow Wilson: A School that Works." ''Texas Monthly''. Emmis Communications, January 1979. Volume 7, No. 1. . START: p
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CITED: p
152

1970s through early 2000s

Woodrow Wilson integrated in the 1970s as the percentage of black and Hispanic students increased year after year. Gene Lyons of ''Texas Monthly'' stated in 1979 that "In short, everything that has been happening demographically within the DISD and, by extension, within U.S. big-city high schools has been happening to Woodrow Wilson."Lyons, Gene. "This is Woodrow Wilson: A School that Works." ''Texas Monthly''. Emmis Communications, January 1979. Volume 7, No. 1. . START: p
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CITED: p
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In 1976 federal judge William McLaughlin Taylor Jr. wrote a school integration order for Dallas. This initial order stated that the enrollments should be balanced by closing Woodrow Wilson. The school remained open after residents of Lakewood protested, saying that it would close an already-integrated school.Lyons, Gene. "This is Woodrow Wilson: A School that Works." ''Texas Monthly''. Emmis Communications, January 1979. Volume 7, No. 1. . START: p
69
CITED: p
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His order did not require education levels after grade 8 to use integration busing. Lyons wrote that therefore Woodrow Wilson was "one of the few "naturally integrated" schools in Dallas."

In 1981, interiors for the movie '' Crisis at Central High'' starring Joanne Woodward, were filmed at the school.Jan Hubbard. "Titles rare at school -- but not winners - Heismans make Woodrow Wilson unique," ''The Dallas Morning News'', December 6, 1987, : "The school was built in 1928 on muddy roads at what now is the corner of Glasgow and Reiger in East Dallas. It is such a throwback to what schools once looked like that producers of ''Crisis at Central High'', a movie made in the early 1980s about desegregation in Little Rock, Ark., shot all of the interior scenes of the movie inside Woodrow." Many students, including the late Lance Bircher '83 (cited for his scene by imdb.com), were used in the filming. Of course, Woodrow students (actually the old alumni) were thrilled to receive a visit from Miss Woodward's husband, Paul Newman.

In 1979, Woodrow Alums planned and held Woodrow's 50th Anniversary Celebration, established the Woodrow Wilson High School Hall of Fame, and inducted the Hall of Fame's first class of members. Nine years later, in 1988, Woodrow Alums formalized their activities by creating the Woodrow Wilson High School Alumni Association, Inc. as an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) Texas nonprofit corporation, to maintain and improve communications for and among Woodrow Alums. In 1989 and 1999, the Alumni Association held Woodrow's 60th and 70th Anniversary Celebrations and, at each, inducted additional members into Woodrow's Hall of Fame. Since the 70th, Woodrow's Anniversary Celebrations have been held at 5 year intervals.

In 2004, thousands attended Woodrow's 75th Anniversary Celebration, which included a parade (from Lakewood to the school, with Congressman Sam Johnson as Grand Marshal, chauffeured in a new Ford Mustang driven by fellow alumnus Carroll Shelby, the legendary auto designer and builder), followed by an auditorium-packed program at which a new group of members was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Scores of "mini-reunions" also were held during that day in assigned rooms throughout the school.

In October 2007, the school was cited as one of 39 model schools in Science and Math by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Choose Woodrow and Rod Dreher's article

Around 2008, Woodrow parents launched "Choose Woodrow," a program aimed towards attracting families in the Lakewood neighborhood towards Woodrow.Fischer, Kent.
Woodrow Wilson High parents want more families to choose Dallas ISD


. ''The Dallas Morning News''. Friday April 4, 2008. Retrieved on September 29, 2015.

Rod Dreher, a politically conservative columnist in ''The Dallas Morning News'', argued that the program was unfair. Dreher argued that even if the campaign attracted more white students who would raise the school's test scores overall, it would not help lower performing minority students who are enrolled at Woodrow.

Rick Wamre, the president of Advocate Media, wrote in the ''Lakewood Advocate'' that Dreher had wrongly insinuated that the "Choose Woodrow" parents were racists. Jim Schutze of ''Dallas Observer'' wrote that the article had accurate observations about the campaign targeting white persons and the disparity of the school, but he criticized what he called the piece's "painting a picture of the white people who send their kids to Woodrow as somehow racist, because their kids are mainly in the advanced placement classes and the kids of color are mainly not."Schutze, Jim.
Why Rod Dreher Really Isn't Wild About the Woodrow Wildcats

Archive
. ''Dallas Observer''. Monday April 14, 2008. Retrieved on September 29, 2015. Michael Landauer wrote an editorial in the ''Dallas Morning News'' stating that Dreher made an "unfair" accusation against the Woodrow Wilson parents and that he "actively chooses to assign dark motives to people who are taking an active role in their neighborhood school."

In response to the above articles, Dreher defended his column and posted rebuttals against his critics' arguments.

Late 2000s to present

In 2009, Woodrow celebrated its 80th Anniversary. In honor of alumnus Carroll Shelby's designation as Grand Marshal of the 80th Anniversary Parade, scores of non-Woodrow graduates joined the parade — most showing off their Ford/ Shelby Mustangs or Cobras, but a few were driving Dodge Vipers (another vehicle Shelby helped develop). During the main ceremony in the school's packed auditorium, the Alumni Association inducted twenty more individuals into Woodrow's Hall of Fame. The celebration concluded with an "Alumni Band Roundup" at Eddie Deen's Ranch that evening, where hundreds of Woodrow alums ate, drank, and enjoyed each other while listening and dancing to music played by eight bands, each composed of Woodrow Alums (with a few ringers here and there) from various classes between 1960 and 2008. A documentary video of the 80th Anniversary Celebration was produced by Michael Barnes and Kathy Kilmer Moak, both from the class of 1967. It featured historical photographs and interviews with many alums interspersed with clips of events during the 80th Anniversary Celebration. It premiered at the Lakewood Theater in the fall of 2009.

In the fall of 2009, Woodrow became one of four high schools in Texas to be designated as candidates for designation as an IB World School. In March 2011, the school earned the IB designation after a rigorous three-year application process, including an extensive site visit by the IB Organization.

In December 2009, Woodrow earned the Texas ACT College Readiness Award, the only Dallas comprehensive high school to receive that honor.

The Woodrow Wilson High School Community Foundation was formed in 2009. The Community Foundation's purpose is to raise funds, grants, and scholarships to support the faculty, students, and programs at Woodrow and its feeder schools. It also exists to cultivate other area programs and projects.Jennings, Jordan, Amanda Presmyk, Laura Murphy, and Essete Workneh., "Discrepancy between levels of public education visible in Dallas." '' The Daily Campus''. Tuesday, December 13, 2011. Updated on Wednesday, December 14, 2011
2Archive
. Retrieved on December 17, 2011.

In 2011, ''The Washington Post'' ranked high schools based on the quantity of AP/IB exams taken per graduating senior, without taking scores on those exams into account. In the so-called "challenge index", Woodrow finished at 588 out of the top 1,900 high schools in the nation. In 2012, the school moved up 157 places to 431 out of the top 1,900 high schools in America, or the top 9%. In 2015, the school moved up to 271 out of the top 2,300 high schools in the country. This placed Woodrow above all area suburban comprehensive high schools except Highland Park and Colleyville Heritage

In 2015, ''D Magazine'' put Woodrow and its feeders at the top of the list in a real estate analysis, "Where to Buy for the Best Schools"

Kyle Richardson, who served as principal for a five-year period, left in 2016. In May of that year was replaced by Michael Dang, previously principal of Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet. However Dang resigned in June of that year, Steve Ewing served as principal for 2016–17. Roxanne Cheek served as principal for the 2017–18 school year; she left DISD and became a principal at Aikin Elementary School in the Richardson Independent School District. In 2018 Michael Moran, previously an assistant principal at Bryan Adams High School, became the principal of Woodrow Wilson. In July 2022, former J.L. Long principal Chandra Hooper-Barnett became Woodrow's new principal.

Campus

The three story main campus building, made of brick, uses the Neo-Gothic architectural style. The school library is on the third floor. Gene Lyons of ''Texas Monthly'' wrote that the design features "all reflect the college-prep institution the school was intended to be" when it was first built, citing the library's bay windows and the large lawn. This building is across from Randall Park.

In 1979 the school was developing its permanent shop facilities in an addition that had a cost of several million dollars. Previously the school had few industrial education course offerings, and no permanent shop facility was available.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the new science/performing arts wing at Woodrow was held on May 23, 2011. The $14 million, structure was authorized in a 2008 DISD bond election. It is only the third expansion of the school's facilities in its 83-year history. (A boys' gym was added in 1953 and another addition was opened in 1979 in time for the school's 50th Anniversary Celebration.) The addition is three stories tall and located at the rear of the campus near "Downtown Lakewood". It houses the new Performing Arts Academy and three laboratories for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy. These academies are part of the school's redesign into four college prep academies which began implementation in the fall of 2010 as a four-year roll-out (the other two academies are the IB Academy and the Business & Entrepreneurship Academy).

The building addition was designed by Brown Reynolds Watford Architects with offices in Dallas, Houston, College Station and San Francisco. Principal Architect Craig Reynolds is a current Woodrow parent. It features two-story separate choir and drama rooms. The choir room has practice rooms and the drama room features a black-box theater, costume shop and prop facilities. A large dance rehearsal hall is also on the first floor. Three large science labs are on the third floor, along with new restroom facilities. The new addition replaces part of the 1979 wing, which cost $1 million. The areas replaced are former wood and metal shops - no longer needed with the school's new college-prep curriculum. The rest of the 1979 addition is being remodeled into a larger band hall and athletic facilities. There is room left for a future competition-size gymnasium to connect to this area.

As part of this same project, Woodrow's main 1928 building had its original windows restored and HVAC replaced, including new air exchangers in the auditorium courtyards. The first-floor restrooms were restored to the historic marble and wood and the second and third level facilities were gutted and replaced with modern fixtures. Electrical fixtures and computer lines throughout the campus were brought up to current standards. Drainage and landscaping improvements were also included in the construction, along with resurfacing of the parking lots and the Tim Brown-Davey O'Brien Track.

As of January 2013, the wing has been occupied by students; the official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on March 23, 2013.

An addition, also with three stories, and a new gymnasium for athletic games are scheduled to be finished on June 27, 2019.

School operations

The Texas Education Agency campus profiles state that the funds spent per student at Woodrow are similar in amount to those spent per student at Highland Park High School. Woodrow receives financial support from Alumni, its Parent Teacher Organization, and the Community Foundation. As of 2011, due to budget cuts, the school ended its "Professional Learning Community" and reduced its custodial staff to two employees.

Attendance zone

As of 2019 Woodrow serves: most of the upper east side of East Dallas, including:

Caruth Terrace, - Compare with the DISD maps. Greenland Hills (the "M Streets") Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica, Junius Heights, Lakewood, Lakewood Heights, Lower Greenville, most of Munger Place, almost all of Swiss Avenue, Vickery Place, Wilshire Heights, Mount Auburn, the Belmont Addition, Glencoe, and Stonewall Terrace,

As of 1979 the attendance boundary included wealthy, middle class, and working class areas: the wealthiest areas were in the north of the zone, the poorest to the south, and the middle-to-upper income ones to the west. Within the boundary was Lakewood, several condominiums on Bob-O-Links drive, and shotgun shacks in the industrial district.Lyons, Gene. "This is Woodrow Wilson: A School that Works." ''Texas Monthly''. Emmis Communications, January 1979. Volume 7, No. 1. . START: p
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CITED: p
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CITED: p
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Academics and history of student performance

In addition to its regular program, Woodrow offers the IB program to students.

History of academic performance

In 1979 Gene Lyons wrote that academic performance at Woodrow Wilson had declined in the 1970s; he wrote that when comparing performances of Woodrow to those of other schools as well Woodrow's younger students to its older ones, the trends together suggest "an incipient

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