Poolesville High School

Poolesville High School is a public all magnet high school located in Poolesville, Maryland, United States.

Poolesville High School
Location
Poolesville
,
Maryland

United States
Coordinates39°8′36″N 77°25′6″W
Information
TypePublic (magnet) secondary
Established1911
PrincipalMark Carothers
Number of students1,235
Color(s)Black and Vegas gold    
WebsitePoolesville High School

History

The core of the building was built in 1911 as an elementary school. The building housed Poolesville's middle school and high school up until 1997 when John Poole Middle School was built.[1] Poolesville's first graduates were seven students in 1920.[2]

From the school's inception until 2002, the school's mascot was an Indian, and its logo was the profile of an Indian warrior in full headdress. In 2001, amid some controversy, the school's students and Poolesville Community voted on whether to keep the mascot or to change it to a falcon. Although the students and community elected to keep the Indian as the mascot, at the beginning of the 2001–2002 school year the Montgomery County Board of Education, under pressure from the Maryland Bureau of Indian Affairs, overruled the vote. Beginning in the 2002–2003 school year, the students voted to change the school's mascot to a falcon.

Academics

Starting in the 2006–2007 school year, honor students in northern Montgomery County ("upcounty") have the opportunity to become a part of one of three magnet programs called "houses": Global Ecology; Humanities; or Science, Math, and Computer Science. Students test into high school during their last year of middle school and, if accepted and enrolled, are "certificate" students and are required to take the standard courses pertaining to their specific program. As Poolesville is considered a whole magnet high school, Poolesville resident students (if they do not apply and join one of the other programs) automatically become part of a fourth program called the Independent Studies program or ISP, but are "non-certificate" and can choose to take specialized courses. The Independent Studies Program is specifically for Poolesville resident students only and cannot be applied for by out-of-district students.

Poolesville was ranked Washington Post's #1 Most Challenging High School in Maryland in 2016,[3] U.S. News' #1 Best High School in Maryland,[4] and Newsweek's #1 Top High School in Maryland in 2015.[5] The school's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program was ranked #121 in Newsweek's 2019 nationwide survey of US high schools.[6]

A total of 1,180 students attend the school, across all grade levels and magnet programs, and are instructed by 65 full-time teachers.[7]

Transportation

Because magnet students may come from anywhere within upper Montgomery County, 18 buses service out-of-area students. For Poolesville local students, there are nine buses.[8]

Notable alumni
  • Matthew Heimbach, founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party and former white nationalist. Also attended the attempted coup at the capitol and provided bodily services to one Richard Bertrand Spencer. [9]
  • Irvin Smith, football player[10]
  • Robert Huang, professional League of Legends esports player for Cloud9 (C9 Blaber), graduated in 2018.

Sports

Poolesville fields teams in the following sports:

Demographics
Year Enrollment Native American/
Alaskan Native		 % Asian/
Pacific Islander		 % African
American		 % Non-Hispanic
White		 % Hispanic %
2012–131,23530.228623.162571758998
2009–101,15060.524321.1706.176866.8635.5
2008–091,04980.818617.7605.775071.5454.3
2007–081,01280.812712.6504.979078.0373.7
2006–0793950.1697.34545.877782.7343.6
2005–0686130.2323.44465.375787.9232.7
2004–0582540.4353.34354.272888.2232.8
2003–0477630.1353.21293.769689.7131.7
2002–0375330.2282.98233.168290.6172.3

See also

Nearby schools

References
  1. "Town of Poolesville Comprehensive Master Plan" (PDF). December 5, 2011.
  2. Jewell, E. Guy (1976). From One Room to Open Space: A History of Montgomery County Schools from 1732 to 1965. Rockville, Maryland: Montgomery County Public Schools.
  3. "Maryland Schools - The Washington Post". apps.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  4. "Maryland Best High Schools". Archived from the original on 22 April 2020.
  5. "America's Top High Schools 2015". Newsweek. 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  6. "The Top 500 STEM High Schools". Newsweek. November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  7. "Best High Schools Maryland". US News. December 1, 2019.
  8. "Poolesville HS - Bus Routes". www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  9. Heim, Joe. "This white nationalist who shoved a Trump protester may be the next David Duke". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  10. Eberly, Tim (January 21, 2001). "Poolesville Sizes 'Em Up". The Washington Post. in the past 30 years, only one former student, 1985 graduate Irvin Smith, has earned a full athletic scholarship to a major Division I college (Smith started at defensive back at Maryland).
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