Druid Hills High School

Druid Hills High School is a high school operated by the DeKalb County School District. It is located at 1798 Haygood Drive, in the Druid Hills CDP in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States.Druid Hills CDP, GA
." ''United States Census Bureau''. Retrieved on May 5, 2009. It serves the Druid Hills CDP, the North Druid Hills CDP, and the North Decatur CDP.

School characteristics

Academics

Several levels of academics are offered at Druid Hills. From least to greatest difficulty, the course types available are online/DOLA, general, accelerated/honors/gifted, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate classes. Dual enrollment options are also offered. All classes are in accordance with Georgia Performance Standards and students must take state-administered End of Course Tests (EOCTs), unless otherwise exempt. Graduates often enroll as first-year undergraduate students at the University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Georgia State University.

Druid Hills has had IB accreditation since 2004 as an IB World School, however, AP classes generally are more populated than their IB counterparts. Roughly 10% of the student body enrolls in the IB Diploma Programme, often with less than 50 IB students per grade.

Schedule

Druid Hills runs on a block schedule, meaning that students normally take four classes per semester. Some classes last two semesters because of curriculum requirements, such as many Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. First and second period classes at Druid Hills are 90 minutes long. Third and fourth periods are slightly longer because of lunch and afternoon announcements.

Students in the IB Diploma Programme have special accommodations in regards to scheduling. Since more classes are required than the typical four given in a block schedule, many IB classes, especially higher-level classes, alternate with A/B days to work with the block scheduling. Because of this, IB students of a particular class are divided into two groups for A days and B days. When alternating days, an IB student's lunch may or may not be the same as that of the previous day. All lunches are approximately 30 minutes long. Since lunch is during third period, which lunch a student goes to is determined by what class the student has during third period.

Enrollment

Enrollment for the 2009–2010 school year was 1,421 students in grades 9- 12. A later population size indicated was 1,459.

Accreditation

On December 17, 2012, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced that it had downgraded the DeKalb County Schools System's status from "on advisement" to "on probation" and warned the school system that the loss of their accreditation was "imminent." Partially in an attempt to distance Druid Hills from the danger of disaccreditation and county mismanagement, parents and other contributors of Druid Hills High School began a petition to form a public charter cluster of five elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. This included Druid Hills High School, Avondale Elementary, Briar Vista Elementary, Fernbank Elementary, Laurel Ridge Elementary, McLendon Elementary, and Druid Hills Middle School. The charter cluster would have granted some autonomy to the schools as a group while still remaining part of the DeKalb County School District. However, this charter was turned down by the Dekalb School Board on November 11, 2013 with a 5–4 vote against it, which was a final and non-appealable decision.

School media

Druid Hills has two primarily student-run media outlets: ''The Spotlight,'' the school newspaper, and ''SAGA'', the school's yearbook. ''The Spotlight'', founded in 1938, is the oldest school newspaper in DeKalb County and is published 5-6 times during the school year, funded mostly by advertising revenue and subscriptions from community members. Each student in the school receives a free copy of ''The Spotlight''. ''SAGA'' is published yearly. The publications are run by classes rather than extracurricular clubs.

Notable facilities

;Alfred Uhry Theater:
When the Druid Hills Theater was renovated under the non-profit Uhry Theater project organization, the modernized facility became known as the Alfred Uhry Theater after the playwright Alfred Fox Uhry, a Druid Hills alumnus from 1954.

;The Joseph C. Faulkner Library Media Center:
The Joseph C. Faulkner Library Media Center was dedicated May 24, 2004 in honor of Joe Faulkner's retirement after 33 faithful years of teaching English and coaching cross country at Druid Hills.

Baron's Hall

Baron's Hall is a tradition that was established in 1962 at Briarcliff High School and was maintained when Briarcliff merged with Druid Hills High School. This ceremony is held for the purpose of honoring seniors who have excelled in the areas of athletics, leadership, service, the arts, academics, and foreign languages. The National Beta Club of Druid Hills sponsors Baron's Hall.

Three anonymous judges for Baron's Hall use a tally sheet to determine the awards. The judges give one tally mark for every year that a student participated in an activity. (example: football = 1 tally mark in the designated box). If a student has achieved letters/bars or has had a leadership position, one point is appointed for each. (example: football captain = 1 tally mark; a letter and two bars in cross country = 3 tally marks). The tally sheet is arranged by category; by the end, it is obvious which seniors deserve awards. Four to eight seniors are chosen per category.

NJROTC

In 1993 Shamrock High School acquired its (Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NJROTC) program. In 1996 Shamrock graduated its last class and was converted into a middle school. With Shamrock's NJROTC still in its infancy, the decision was made to maintain the program. Since the US government did not have a JROTC program at the public middle school level, the program could not stay at Shamrock. Druid Hills HS at the time did not have a JROTC program, so the program was moved there, thus forming Druid Hills NJROTC.

Sports

Cross country

The Druid Hills cross country team enjoyed success in the 2008 season. Both the girls' and boys' teams made the state championship, placing 8th and 5th respectively. Druid Hills' Nabil Hamid won the AAA state championship with a time of 15:49.82.

Boys' basketball

Druid Hills high school has won three boys' basketball state championships, in 1953, 1954, and 1957. The 2022 team made the Elite Eight.

Girls' basketball

Druid Hills high school won the girls' basketball state championship in 1960.

Boys' lacrosse

Druid Hills fielded a club team from 2009 to 2011 and competed in the North Georgia Lacrosse League. The team was composed of Decatur, Chamblee, Druid Hills, and Lakeside High School students, all of whom played in the Decatur Recreational Youth Lacrosse League. In 2012, the Dekalb County School System sponsored lacrosse throughout the county, enabling Druid Hills to field a varsity lacrosse team. Rivals include Dunwoody High School, Lakeside High School, Avondale High School, and Decatur High School.

Boys' gymnastics

Druid Hills High School has won three boys' gymnastics state championships, in 1956, 1964, and 1965.

Boys' track

Druid Hills high school has won eight boys track state championships, in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1963. Long-time WSB-TV news anchor John Pruitt was a member of the 1960 state champion team. 1980 US Olympic track coach Jimmy Carnes was the track coach at Druid Hills from 1957 to 1962. Carnes' Druid Hills track teams were a perfect 52–0 in dual meets and captured six Georgia high school state championships, and he was recognized as Georgia Coach of the Year six times.

Girls' tennis

Druid Hills high school won the 1981 girls' tennis state championship.

Boys' soccer

Druid Hills High School has yet to win a state championship. They finished AAAA runner-up to Southeast Whitfield High School in 2017, losing in second overtime 3–2. Current coach Thomas Bodnar has created a Druid Hills Middle School team to develop chemistry and find talent early.

Boys' football

Druid Hills High School has never won a state championship in football. Druid Hills High School currently plays at Adams Memorial Stadium.

Renovation

Druid Hills High School underwent a major renovation, which was originally scheduled to be completed in August 2009, but due to many delays, the date was pushed back into October 2009. Changes made include:

*New restrooms on the second floor of the main building
*Updates to the media center
*Expansion of the girls’ locker room
*New two-story building to house science classes
*Increased wheelchair accessibility
*New HVAC system
*New digital clocks in the hallways

Construction scandal

Former DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Crawford Lewis was indicted in 2012, along with former DeKalb County Schools Chief Operating Officer Pat Pope, and others, on criminal charges related to a construction scandal, involving DeKalb County schools. The indictment listed four counts of racketeering, as well as theft by taking and bribery.

School Lockdown Incident

At 10:30 AM on May 5th 2022 students at DHHS informed their principal that they believed a fellow classmate had brought a gun to school. The principle then informed the school resource officer, locking down the school while police searched for the student and the weapon. The lockdown was ended around noon when police decided that the student had likely escaped to the area around the school, the student was later apprehended on the Emory University campus just before 4 PM that day.

School Conditions Scandal

In early 2022, a group of DHHS students and parents posted a video showing various health and safety issues.The DeKalb County School Board voted against modernizing the school, leading to student protests. On April 25th the state superintendent sent a letter ordering the school board to take action to repair the school. On May 31st, 2022 the DeKalb County School Board voted 7-0 to restore Druid Hills High School at a proposed funding level of $50 million.

Feeder schools

Druid hills is fed into by the following Elementary Schools:

* Briar Vista Elementary School
* Fernbank Elementary School
* Laurel Ridge Elementary School
* McLendon Elementary School
* Avondale Elementary School

Druid Hills Middle School, formerly known as Shamrock Middle School, is Druid Hills' only feeder middle school.

Notable alumni

*Josh Arieh (class of 1992) - World Series of Poker champion
*Gayle Barron, distance runner
*Ron Blomberg (class of 1966) - Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees
*Brenda Boozer (class of 1966) - NYC Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano
*Hermann Flaschka (class of 1962) - award-winning mathematician
*Sam Massell (class of 1944) - former mayor of Atlanta
*Jerry McCumber (class of 1966) - mayor of Avondale Estates
* Robert Allison Pendergrast - chemical engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, contributing to the development of the atomic bomb; founded the Pendergrast Chemical Company in Atlanta
*Ray Stevens (class of 1957) - award-winning recording artist
*Herman Talmadge - former Georgia Governor (1947, 1948–1954); former Georgia Senator (1956–1980)
* Alfred Uhry (class of 1954) - playwright
* Terry Lawler (class of 1969) - Georgia State Representative, District 20, Post 5, 1983-1989

References

External links

Official website

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Educational institutions established in 1919
DeKalb County School District high schools
Druid Hills, Georgia
1919 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)