Reynolds High School (RHS) is the only

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

Troutdale, Oregon Troutdale is a city in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States, immediately north of Gresham and east of Wood Village. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 16,300. The city serves as the western gateway to the Historic Columbia Ri ...

, United States, in the northeastern part of the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

. It is part of the Reynolds School District, and is the second-largest high school in Oregon.

History

The school takes its name from the school district, which was named for the

Reynolds Aluminum Reynolds Group Holdings was a New Zealand–based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acqu ...

plant in the city that closed in 2000. On May 29, 1979, a three-alarm fire injured three students and damaged the gym and theater. Reynolds High School merged with Columbia High School in 1989. Columbia High School is now the site of Reynolds High School, and the former Reynolds High School is now one of three middle schools in the district, Reynolds Middle School.

2014 shooting

On June 10, 2014, an

active shooter An active shooter is the perpetrator of an ongoing mass shooting. The term is primarily used to characterize shooters who are targeting victims indiscriminately and at a large scale, who oftentimes, will either commit suicide or intend to be kil ...

situation occurred at the school during morning period. One student, 14-year-old freshman Emilio Hoffman, was killed. A physical education teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The shooter, 15-year-old Jared Michael Padgett, who was using an AR-15 and also equipped with a

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

and a knife, engaged a responding officer in a gunfight before retreating inside a school bathroom, where he fatally shot himself.

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and

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agents secured the school. The students were evacuated and were released to their parents at a nearby

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store. The shooting occurred on the second-to-last day of the school year. During the evacuation, a second gun, which was unrelated to the shooting, was found at the scene and one person, who did not have a permit to carry a concealed firearm, was taken into custody. The individual confessed to bringing the gun to the school to protect his sister, a freshman at the school. Padgett had planned to pursue a career in the

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. He was a member of the

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program, and his oldest brother served in the military in

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. Padgett had managed to acquire his weapons from a secured area in the family home. This was the first fatal

school shooting A school shooting is an Gun violence, armed attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shooti ...

in Oregon since the 1998 Thurston High School shooting, which left two students and the shooter's parents dead and another 25 wounded.

Oregon Governor The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician and physician who served as the 35th and 37th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015. In February 2015, shortly after beginning his fourth term, ...

attended a community vigil in Troutdale that evening; he called the shooting "a senseless act of violence".

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, speaking at a

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-sponsored question-and-answer session the day of the shooting, declared, "We're the only developed country on earth where this happens." Obama further stated that only a massive shift in

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could sway

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to act in favor of greater

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measures. In 2015, a bond resolution was proposed, which would grant the district $125,000,000 to help replace, and renovate several schools in the district, and install security upgrades in every school in the district. A portion of this sum of money was used to remodel the northern portion of the main establishment. This specifically includes remodeled science, functional life-skills, culinary, and early childhood education classrooms, cafeteria area, and kitchen. Relocation of the main office and counseling office by the new and more secure main entry. And all buildings that make up the campus internally connected. Construction was started spring of 2017, and is projected to be complete fall of 2018.

Academics

In 2008, 64% of the school's seniors received a

high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

. Of 611 students, 388 graduated, 130 dropped out, 39 received a modified diploma, and 54 were still in high school the following year. In 2009, there were nearly 900 freshmen in the incoming class, a record for the school. This was combined with a 25% layoff of teachers, over 40 teachers at the school. This caused class sizes to increase.

Notable alumni

* Diego Hernandez, Oregon State Representative, District 47 *

Drew Eubanks Drew Eubanks ( ; born February 1, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oregon State Beavers. Early life Eubanks was bo ...

, Utah Jazz forward * David James Duncan, author of The River Why, My Story As Told By Water, The Brothers K * Matt Wand, Oregon State Representative, District 49

References

{{authority control 1919 establishments in Oregon Educational institutions established in 1919 High schools in Multnomah County, Oregon Public high schools in Oregon Troutdale, Oregon School shootings in Oregon