Douglas MacArthur 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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. The school serves about 1,042 students from grades 9 to 12 in Decatur Public Schools District 61.

History

Built in 1957, MacArthur High School was named for General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

, an American army officer. Correspondingly, the school's sports teams' nickname is the Generals.

Demographics

As of the 2020 school year, the enrollment was 1,090 students. The racial makeup of the school in 2020 was 54.5.7%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 37.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.5%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

, 1.4% Asian, 0.7% Two or more races 0.3% Native American, and 0.3%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

. 66.3% of the student population are

low income Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

students.

Academics

In 2008, 36.8% of the student population met or exceeded in all subjects. The school did not make

Adequate Yearly Progress Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allowed the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country was performing ...

(AYP) as defined by federal and state laws in 2008. In 2008, the high school

graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

rate was 92.3%, up from 76.6% in 2007. The dropout rate lowered from 10.8% in 2007 to 2.5% in 2008.

Athletics

MacArthur High School is a member of the Central State Eight Conference. MacArthur fields teams in Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track & Field, Volleyball and Wrestling.

Notable alumni

* Brian Culbertson, musician, funk-based instrumentalist, jazz artist (Class of 1991) * Loren Coleman, cryptozoologist, author, television personality (Class of 1965) * L. Douglas Hagen (1946 - 1971), US Army Special Forces Green Beret and

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient (Class of 1964) * Steve Hunter, musician, guitarist, played with Mitch Ryder,

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

and others (Class of 1966) * David Joyner, actor * James W. Loewen, (1942-1921) sociologist, historian and author (class of 1960)

References

{{authority control Buildings and structures in Decatur, Illinois Public high schools in Illinois Schools in Macon County, Illinois