Mount Vernon High School is a public
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., ...
in the
Fairfax County Public Schools
The Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) is a school division in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. It is a branch of the Fairfax County government, which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS's h ...
system located in
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
.
History

Originally constructed to take the place of the Lee-Jackson High School, Mount Vernon High school first opened in November 1939. With the opening of the school, Lee-Jackson principal G. Claude Cox moved to Mount Vernon, becoming the school's first principal, and Lee-Jackson became an elementary school.
In 1945, Principal Cox resigned to become principal of Wythe High School in
Wytheville, Virginia
Wytheville ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Wythe County, Virginia, Wythe County, Virginia, United States. It is named after George Wythe, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and mentor to Thomas Jefferson. Wytheville ...
, and Lee-Jackson principal Melvin B. Landes moved to Mount Vernon to begin a nearly thirty-year tenure there.
[This reference incorrectly states that Landes was principal of Lee-Jackson Elementary School in ]Mathews, Virginia
Mathews is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Mathews County, Virginia, United States. . Landes was principal of Lee-Jackson Elementary in Alexandria.
The school's current location was built in 1961 as Walt Whitman Intermediate School. In 1973, Mount Vernon and Whitman swapped facilities, and the former intermediate school was enlarged to serve its new role as a high school. The original Mount Vernon High School continued to operate as the Walt Whitman Intermediate School until 1985, when Whitman was moved to the former Stephen Foster Intermediate School.
Also in 1973, Principal Melvin Landes retired, and Thomas G. Hyer took over as Principal.
Following the departure of Eric Brent to become principal at
Forest Park High School in
Woodbridge, Nardos King became the principal of MVHS in 2006.
After nine years as principal, Nardos King resigned in 2015 to take a position as Assistant Superintendent of High Schools with the
Baltimore County Public Schools
Baltimore County Public Schools is the school district in charge of all public schools in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is the 25th largest school system in the US as of 2013. The school system is managed by the board of educatio ...
system. Assistant Principal Esther Manns became the interim principal of MVHS in September 2015. In February 2016, Rocky Run Middle School Principal Dr. Anthony S. Terrell was announced as the principal of Mount Vernon High School, beginning in March.
The original Mount Vernon High School is still standing on Richmond Highway; it became the
Islamic Saudi Academy
The Islamic Saudi Academy of Washington () was an International Baccalaureate (IB) World University-preparatory school, university preparatory school in Northern Virginia, accredited with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and au ...
, which moved to the facility in 1989. This school closed in 2016.
Academic achievement
Students with individual needs are accommodated through special education programs, including English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) program, and advanced placement and
International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...
programs. Mount Vernon is an accredited high school. The average SAT score in 2013 for Mount Vernon was a 1417 (479 in Critical Reading, 474 in Math, and 464 in Writing).
Demographics
For the 2014-15 school year, Mount Vernon High School's student body was 37.80% Hispanic, 29.56% Black, 20.91% White, 6.36% Asian and 5.37% Other.
Athletics
School athletic programs feature fall, winter and spring sports, including cheerleading, cross country, field hockey, football, golf, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, baseball, crew, lacrosse, softball, soccer, tennis, track and intramural sports.
In Mount Vernon's history, it has garnered five AAA State Championship titles. They won their first title in 1979, in basketball, their second in 1983, for football, their third in 2008 for the swim & dive team, and a fourth in 2013, for soccer, as well as one for wrestling.
Theater
Mount Vernon's "Little Theater," officially named "The Andrew Lee Pauley Theater," was dedicated to an English and Drama teacher who retired from the school in 1986. The Little Theater can hold a capacity of more than 400 students.
It is home to MVHS Theatre Arts program, under the direction of theater teacher Jessica Shaw.
Notable alumni
*
Callie Brownson, American football coach
*
Mickey Bowers, former
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Moder ...
player,
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
** Scouts BSA, sect ...
,
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
*
Ed Cunningham, former professional football player and currently TV sports journalist, analyst, and broadcaster.
*
Christina Chambers, actress
*
Gary Etherington, professional soccer player
*
Atlee Hammaker
Charlton Atlee Hammaker (born January 24, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher who played the majority of his career for the San Francisco Giants (1982–1990). He also played for the Kansas City Royals, San Diego ...
, former Major League Baseball pitcher
*
David Knight David or Dave Knight may refer to:
* David Knight (American football) (born 1951), former American football player
* David Knight (CND), chair for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 1996–2001
* David Knight (cricketer) (born 1956), Australian c ...
, former professional
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
player
*
Tim Koogle, first CEO and President of Yahoo
*
Tony Perkins, Chief Weatherman, ''
WTTG-TV''.
*
Lea Gabrielle, diplomat
*
Joe R. Reeder,
United States Under Secretary of the Army
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
from 1993 to 1997
*
Chuck Robb
Charles Spittal Robb (born June 26, 1939) is an American former U.S. Marine Corps officer and politician who served as the 64th governor of Virginia from 1982 to 1986 and a United States senator representing Virginia from 1989 until 2001. A me ...
, former U.S. Senator and Governor of Virginia.
*
Markus Rogan
Markus Antonius Rogan (born 4 May 1982 in Vienna) is a retired Austrian swimmer, who won two silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and a gold medal for 200 m backstroke at the 2008 World Short Course Championships in ...
, professional swimmer who earned a silver medal in backstroke at the 2004 Olympics
*
Bernard Shlesinger
Bernard Edward "Ned" Shlesinger III (born December 17, 1960) is an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who has served as an auxiliary bishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, Archdiocese of Atlanta sin ...
,
auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions.
...
of the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
The Archdiocese of Atlanta () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in northern Georgia in United States. The archdiocese is led by a prelate archbishop, who also serves as pastor of the mother chu ...
*
Kyle Soller
Kyle William Soller (born July 1, 1983) is an American-born, UK-based film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include three ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Awards as well as the 2019 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performan ...
, actor
*
William B. Taylor Jr.
William Brockenbrough Taylor Jr. (born September 14, 1947) is an American diplomat, government official, and former military officer. He served as the 6th United States ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 under Presidents George W. Bush and ...
, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine 2006-2009
*
Syd Thrift
Sydnor W. Thrift Jr. (February 25, 1929 – September 18, 2006) was an American scout and executive in Major League Baseball who served as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1985 to 1988, and the '' de facto'' general manager of ...
, former
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
scout and executive, was baseball coach at Mt. Vernon 1953–1956
*
Lucian K. Truscott IV, writer and journalist
*
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...
Darryl A. Williams, current
Superintendent of the United States Military Academy
The superintendent of the United States Military Academy is the academy's commanding officer. This position is roughly equivalent to the chancellor (education), chancellor or University president, president of an American civilian university. T ...
References
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1939
High schools in Fairfax County, Virginia
Public high schools in Virginia
1939 establishments in Virginia
Brick buildings and structures in Virginia