Montwood High School

Montwood High School
Where Excellence Abounds
Location
12000 Montwood Drive El Paso, Texas USA
Information
Type	Public
Established	1989
Principal	Rosa Maria Mireles-Menchaca
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2,569[1]
Campus	Urban
Color(s)	Kelly Green, Blue
Mascot	Rocky the Ram
Yearbook	'Aries'
Website	MHS Official Website

Montwood High School is a four year public high school located in the East El Paso area of El Paso, Texas, United States. The school was completed in 1989, just in time for the 1990/1991 school year. The school was opened serving grades 7, 8, 9, 10 and would gain a grade/lose a grade until the first graduating class of 1993. Montwood has many academic programs such as Advanced Placement, Dual Credit, MASI (Montwood Advanced Studies Institute), and Synergy. Montwood was named a 1997-98 National Blue Ribbon School.^[2]

History

History In August 1990 Montwood high school opened with Art Shaw as the principle. Faculty and staff began teaching in 1990. Montwood high school first opened with grades 7,8,9,10 the first school senior did not graduate until 1993. Montwood high school was built to hold a total of 2200 student’s .In 1993 Montwood implements their first year round program, not many Texas school offer this program. Montwood administration, faculty, and staff students have been accredited with the southern association of college and schools. In August of 1991 Montwood took a big technological step by implementing televisions in every classroom for morning and afternoon announcements. From 1994 to 1997 Montwood high school was labeled as a Mentor school. In 1994 Montwood high school reached an enrollment of 2690 student. To accommodate these new student the school built 5 portables and 26 teachers where hired on to the education staff. Montwood also received a new principle David Del Toro, in August of 1995 Ken Bailey and Ralph where also added to the Montwood high school staff as assistant principals. In 1997 Montwood high school department of education was recognized at a national level. They were labeled a National Blue ribbon school and from that day on Montwood high school received the tittle as Montwood high school where excellence abounds. In 2004 Juni Mathews becomes the new principle of Montwood high school. He also brought in two new assistant principals Robert Abdo and Kim Baxter. This is the same year Kristin Breton, is chosen as a National Merit scholar and won a YMCA reach award for young women. On August 2005 Derrick Brown becomes a Montwood high school assistant principle. The following year Patricia Cuevas also becomes a Montwood high school assistant principle."^[3]

Campus

Montwood consists of three main buildings and one separate career and technology building. The "A" Building, which is shaped like two joined lower-case "t's" is the primary academic building where the majority of classes are held. It consists of three floors, with the first floor housing the theatre, library, administrative offices, cafeteria and the Commons. The second floor contains more classrooms and a mezzanine which surrounds and overlooks the commons below. The third floor only contains classrooms.

The "B" building houses the campus's two gyms: the main Tony Harper Gymnasium (formerly the Green Gym), and the auxiliary Blue Gym. The majority of classes held here are in the fine Arts, such as choir, band, dance, and orchestra, as well as health and physical education classes and most of the sports locker rooms. The building is two floors, with two areas adjacent to each gym overlooking the basketball courts.

The "C" Hall, or Sky-Walk, is the second-floor hallway with eight classrooms that joins the A and B buildings together. Students can enjoy the shade and occasional breeze that is created in the breezeway underneath the Sky-Walk.

The new Career and Technology building houses the school's cosmetology class, along with a fully functional kitchen and dining area for culinary arts, a new athletic training room, weight room, electrical trades, and a girls' locker room.

Like the other high schools in the Socorro Independent School District, there is no stadium located on campus. Track and swim Meets and soccer and football games are played at the SISD Student Activities Complex.

NJROTC

( Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) In August 1995 NJROTC was labeled by the chief of Navel Education and Training for being one of the top 10% out of the 85 western US schools.^[4]

Sports

In Dec 1994 Montwood high school Varsity Cross Country team won first district 2-5A Championship. In 2009 two Montwood athletes signed to Division one university’s, Offensive lineman Jake Swenson signed to New Mexico State. While sprinter Chris Muncie singed to Arkansas. On June twenty eighth of 2011 another Montwood athlete signed to a Division one University. Elijah James Britton signed to Clemson University to run track and field. In March of 2009 Montwood high school’s cheer squad participated in the American Showcase National Cheer off. Montwood high school cheer received 2nd place in the Varsity large squad division. Montwood cheer also participated in Jamfest in 2009 placing first in their division the competition was held in San Antonio. In January 2010 Montwood cheerleading squad participated in the battle of the Sun City placing first, with the best use of tumbling. This was Montwood high schools 3rd consecutive win in the Battle of the Sun City cheer competition. In February of 2010 Montwood Cheer squad also competed in the Americas Cup placing first in their division. They also received the Judges choice award. At this competition they won their 2nd consecutive American cup cheer competition. In April of 2011 Montwood high school cheer squad participated in the Redline cheer and Dance competition. They received first in the large varsity squad division.^{[5] [6]}

Clubs

-Student Council (A club where students come up with creative was to improve the school) -Athletic Trainer -Best Buddies -Criminal Justice (An organization where high school students attend court cases and have mock trials of their own) -FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) -Chess Club -FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) -BPA (Business Professionals of America) -Television Club (T.V club is an organization where student make school videos and are in charge of the morning announcement) -Year book (Year Book club is where students construct the school yearbook) -Astronomy (Astronomy club consists of student who enjoy watching and analyzing planets and stars) -Anime (Anime club is a club for students who enjoy watching and reading Anime) -Latin -Science -Social Studies club - A team - Emerald Dances (is an organization where students come together to learn various forms of dance)^[7]

Test Scores

In 2009 -2010 the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skill (TAKS) was used to test Montwood student in Math, Science, English and Social Studies. In 2010 9th graders had an 85 % pass rate in Math and a 90% pass rate for English. Grade 10 had a 70% pass rate for Math a75 % pass rate for science and a 95% pass rate for Social Studies. For grade 11 there was a 95% pass rate for English, a 90% a 90% pass rate in Math and a 95% pass rate in Social Studies^[8]

Enrollment

In 2011 Montwood had an enrollment of 790 freshmen, 600 shpmores, 600 juniors and 600 seniors.^[9]

Programs

• -Vocational Education- Accounting, Cosmetology ,Culinary Arts ,Drafting , Health, Phys Ed, ROTC • - Art- Art • Science – Astronomy • Music –Band • Computer Science- Computer Science and Multimedia • Fine Arts-Dance, Drama • Social Studies/Social Science- Economics Psychology • English- Journalism, Literature, Speech, Debate • Advance Placement- Math, Science, Foreign Language • Vocation/ Technical Curriculum (Vocational and or technical course offers a comprehensive school, usually a senior high school.) • Special Education classes (A school program within a school that provides services and training for students, with moderate to severe Mental and or physical disability.) • English as Second Language (English language classes for students whose first language is not English.^[10]

Teaching Rate

Total number of teachers- 114 Average teacher rating – 3.7 Schools Rating- 445^[11]

Student Ethnicity

• Caucasian- 8% • Hispanic -88% • African American-1% • Asian American-1% • Native American-1% ^[12]

Car Show

In 2009 various clubs and athletics groups at Montwood high school participated in a car show. The schools wrestling coach was Leo Garcia. While other faculty members such as Patricia Arellano, Danny Gonzales and other school staff members organized the car show and carnival in hopes of raising funds. The events theme was based on the memory of professional wrestler Eduardo Gory, “Eddie^[13]

Riot

In January 2003, over 1,000 students walked out of class in protest of the district-wide change from a traditional eight-period schedule to a block schedule.^[14] The then-peaceful protest turned into what was later called a riot when the El Paso Police and SWAT teams demanded that the students return to class. When the students were slow to mobilize, the officers began to push the students towards the building, causing some students to retaliate with rocks and water bottles.^[15] Ultimately, several students and some teachers were arrested. The school was placed under lockdown for the remainder of the school day, though many students had left it within minutes of the riot's beginning. The riot made its way to The New York Times due to police brutality controversies.^[16] The school district eventually made the changes, and has used block scheduling ever since.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF)
3. ^ "History of Montwood High School". History of Montwood High School. http://www.sisd.net/domain/689. Retrieved 11/2/11. 
4. ^ "History of Montwood high school". History of Montwood high school. http://www.sisd.net/domain/689. Retrieved 11/1/11. 
5. ^ "El Paso Times". El Paso Times. http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_18367086?IADID=Search-. Retrieved 11/3/11. 
6. ^ [www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com "El Paso Times"]. El Paso Times. www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com. Retrieved 11/3/11. 
7. ^ Lazaro, Jeanette. "Clubs to join at Montwood". Clubs to join at Montwood. http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/769/articleid/179108/newspaperid/745/Clubs_to_join_for_Freshmen.aspx. Retrieved 11/8/11. 
8. ^ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://www.trulia.com/schools/TX-El_Paso/Montwood_High_School/. 
9. ^ "Enrollment". Enrollment. http://www.trulia.com/schools/TX-El_Paso/Montwood_High_School/. 
10. ^ Lazaro, Jeanette. "Programs at Montwood high school". Programs at Montwood high school. http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/769/articleid/179108/newspaperid/745/Clubs_to_join_for_Freshmen.aspx. Retrieved 11/9/11. 
11. ^ "Teachers rate". Teachers rate. http://www.trulia.com/schools/TX-El_Paso/Montwood_High_School/. Retrieved 11/10/11. 
12. ^ "School ethnicity". School ethnicity. http://www.schoolfamily.com/find-a-school/school/1000014948-montwood-high-school. Retrieved 11/10/11. 
13. ^ "Montwood car show". Montwood car show. http://www.convictedartist.com/montwood_high_school_car_show_el_paso.html. Retrieved 11/09/11. 
14. ^ KVIA.com El Paso, Las Cruces - Weather, News, Sports - Students riot at Montwood
15. ^ Texas high school protest turns into riot - News
16. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E3DA1F39F933A05752C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=Montwood&st=cse

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