Ottumwa High School

Coordinates: 41°00′54″N 92°24′22″W / 41.015°N 92.406°W / 41.015; -92.406

Ottumwa High School
Established	1923
School type	Public
Principal	Steve Hanson
Location	501 E. 2nd Street Ottumwa, IA 52501
Enrollment	1541 (2004–2005)
School colors	Red and white
School song	OHS school song (help·info)
Homepage	Ottumwa High School

Ottumwa High School is a public high school located in Ottumwa, Iowa. It is part of the Ottumwa Community School District, and it is the district's only high school. It was established in 1923. The school sports mascot is a Bulldog.

History

For several years, students in Ottumwa attended private classes inside area homes. Later, some students studied inside a local Methodist Episcopal church. In 1865, the first public school in Ottumwa—Adams School—was completed at "College Square", an area bounded by College, Fourth, Second, and Union Streets. The school, which utilized four classrooms on its top floor for the high school, cost $28,818.57^[1] to build, and it sat on the same site as the present-day high school. It was declared unsafe in 1883. The school board voted to tear down the condemned building and build a new one at the same site. With more citizens coming to Ottumwa, an additional high school was constructed about a mile west of the Adams School site in 1899. This building later served as a junior high school until it was closed in 1985.

This building served as Ottumwa High School from 1899 to 1923.

To address the growing student population, the Ottumwa Community School District began construction on the current high school building at the same location as the Adams School in 1921. The "new" high school was completed in 1923. As part of the construction, the Adams School was lifted from its foundation and moved east—it would serve as a building for vocational classes at the new high school.

Ottumwa High School as it stands today opened on August 29, 1923 to grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. It reportedly cost just over one million dollars to complete.^[1]

In the 1970s, an additional building was completed—the "Vo-Tech" building—for vocational and performing arts classes. The facility was connected to the main building via a skywalk accessible from the second floor hallway. This decade also saw the addition of a second gymnasium, often nicknamed the "Rubber Gym" because of its rubber floor, which was built behind the first gymnasium and replaced the Adams School, which was demolished.

In the 1990s, a city property tax was levied to help fund a multi-million dollar renovation project. The original aim of the project was to renovate the school hallways and some classrooms, add additional basement classrooms, relocate the cafeteria and library to a new area adjacent to the original building and connecting to the Vo-Tech building, renovate and modernize the school's gymnasium facilities (locker and exercise rooms), and remodel the school's auditorium. The project went over budget, and the gymnasium and auditorium phases were scratched. The cafeteria and library projects were successfully completed, along with the basement, classroom, and hallway renovations, by the end of the century. The skywalk formerly connecting the Vo-Tech and main buildings was replaced by the new building.

In spring 2001, the school received a grant for nearly $1 million from Vision Iowa to remodel the auditorium which is where they now hold all of their pep rallies, guest speakers, and drama productions.^[2] The auditorium was closed from 2002 to 2003 for renovations. Its grand re-opening took place on November 23, 2002.^[3]

The latest renovations to the Ottumwa High School building came in the summer of 2003, when renovations to the gymnasium facilities were completed with aid of a federal grant obtained with the help of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin.

In 2005, the school's front steps were the focus of a local controversy. The steps, which are in disrepair, needed to be replaced. A local architectural firm suggested two options: replace the steps with a similar staircase, or scrap the steps and redesign the building's entrance and facade. Although the architectural firm and local school board both recommended the cheaper option of scrapping the steps, a grassroots campaign of graduates spoke out against removing such an iconic part of the school. In August 2005, the school board decided to keep the steps, and no major decisions about what to do with them were made then.^[4]

Near the end of May the district decided to get rid of the steps in front of the school. The original idea was to just leave them off of the school and have a flat front of the building. As there were so many protests and different people against the idea the new plan now is to get rid of the steps and rebuild them. The steps had seen senior pranks that caused them to be painted with Sherman-Williams paint from the Ottumwa store, just a short walk from the school. Rebuilding them will cost around $3 million to redo, but they will be rebuilt with extra safety and better features to go with them.

The steps will soon have no passage way underneath them. Having air going underneath them causes them to rot faster. Also, the steps will be rebuilt with a heating system. This will increase safety on them in the winter time and janitors will have no need to go put salt on them in the mornings. Construction was finished in the 2006-2007 school year.

Campus

OHS is situated on one of the highest hills in Ottumwa. This view from the roof is an impressive look at downtown Ottumwa.

The main campus of Ottumwa High School consists of a four-story building in downtown Ottumwa. The hill on which the building sits was once the site of Chief Wapello's tribal village. Legend suggests he originally called the area "Ottumwa" from this spot in 1838.

The four floors of the main building can be roughly divided by subject areas: the rooms on the bottom floor contain mostly social studies and foreign language classrooms; the second floor contains several offices, family and consumer science classrooms, and mathematics classrooms; the third floor is mostly mathematics and language arts classrooms; and the fourth floor houses science and language arts classrooms. The school's auditorium and gymnasium are usually accessed from the second floor, though the auditorium extends to the fourth floor in height and the gymnasiums also extend an extra floor.

The Vo-Tech building houses vocational classrooms, a JROTC room, and a fiber optics network room on its first floor. Performing arts and special education classrooms are located on its second floor.

The two buildings are connected by a central cafeteria or commons; this building also houses a second-floor library with approximately 20,000 volumes.

Ottumwa High School does not hold any sporting contests within its campus; instead, the school uses other buildings or stadia within Ottumwa. The school does maintain a parking lot for students; a local church offers permit parking for students as well as a free parking lot with a limited number of places. The school does maintain two parking lots for faculty.

Students

Enrollment during the fall quarter of the 2004–2005 school year was 1541 students. 90% of the student body is white, 7% is Hispanic, 2% is Asian, 1% is African American, and less than 1% is of another descent.

10% of the student body qualifies for a special education program, while just over 37% of the student body speaks English as a second language. 6% of all graduates completed four years of English/language arts study and three years of either mathematics, science, or social studies in 2004–2005.^[5]

Ottumwa High School enrolls around twenty foreign exchange students each year.

Faculty

There are approximately 110 full-time faculty at Ottumwa High School, including 16 administrators or secretaries. This places the student-to-teacher ratio at approximately 16:1.

In 2001, anatomy/physiology teacher Gail Wortmann was named "Iowa Teacher of the Year." She was also awarded the Milken Family Foundation Teacher of the Year award in that year. From 2000–2002, science teacher Peggy Steffen served as an Einstein Fellow for NASA.

Extracurricular activities

Students at Ottumwa High School can participate in many extracurricular activities. In addition to 14 varsity athletic teams (baseball/softball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross-country running, football, golf, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, soccer, and wrestling), OHS offers numerous clubs and other activities such as the JROTC program and Drama. The OHS drama department presents several productions annually, and the band, choirs, and orchestra present several concerts.

An art club, debate team, speech team, international club, and science club are joined by local chapters of DECA, Future Educators of America, SADD, and the National Honor Society (known at OHS as the "Torch Club") to extend opportunities for students. There is also a student council with approximately 50 members, who help to plan homecoming (an annual tradition since 1938), intramural sports (basketball, dodgeball, powder puff football, and volleyball), and multiple "Spirit Weeks."

Of three intramural sports offered yearly, basketball is the most popular. It involves a regular season and a playoff tournament. Intramural dodgeball and beach volleyball seasons also take place each year.

Students may also take a year-long course to help produce the "Argus Annual", an annual yearbook since 1904, the student newspaper (formerly the "Argus News", but is now the "Bulldog Bulletin"), or the student television show ("BNN" -- Standing for "Bulldogs News Network"). A student-run café—with gourmet food cooked by family and consumer science students—offers bi-weekly meals to the community. Another class offers students interested in going directly into a field of work after graduation job shadowing experience.

Student traditions are observed around the week of homecoming, which is usually close to the end of September or early October. Students celebrate the school day with "dress-up days", (such as "duct tape day", "pink day", "black day", "Disney day", "Make-your-own t-shirt day", and "hat day"), a parade, a bonfire/local band concert, and a football game. Cheerleaders and football players TP each others' houses during homecoming week, and the senior class often celebrates Friday with a senior prank.

Curriculum

Ottumwa High School utilizes a seven-period school day, with classes beginning at 8:15 am and ending at 3:00 p.m. School is also dismissed at 12:30 p.m. on every second Wednesday of each month for faculty meetings. All students are required to take several core academic classes, including three years of language arts, two years of mathematics, three years of social studies, two years of science, and four years of physical education to graduate and receive a diploma.

As of the 06-07 school year, they mandated an advisory period for all grades. A twenty minute class to set kids in the right direction, and plan their future. Students have the same teacher all four years. It's held between third and fourth period. Students listen to announcements on Tuesday and Fridays. Also used to better organize assemblys, inform students on schedule changes, grade updates, and ITED testing. While many people are opposed to the advisory program for shortening each class, some students say it's an okay program. Black binders hold activities to get your goals accomplished towards a better future. Most of these are seen as useless, busy work. Every person in the building has an advisory including the principal and school nurse. So therefore, going to the nurse is not allowed during advisory. Neither is going to the bathroom allowed. It counts for half a credit per semester if all advisory activities are completed.

46 credits are required, and each daily semester-long course is one credit. A student must have a course load of at least 5½ credits per semester; students are assisted by the faculty when choosing their classes.

The 08-09 school year saw the elimination of the study hall.

Notable alumni

• Herschel C. Loveless – 1927 – Governor of Iowa (1957–1961)
• Carol Morris – 1954 – Miss Universe winner in 1956
• Tom Arnold – 1977 – character actor/philanthropist
• Stephen Blumberg – 1975 – Rare book thief
• Todd Davis – 1986 – inventor of world-renown Mule Dance
• Stevan Robinson – 1989 – musician
• E. J. Mather -- football and basketball player and coach
• Riley O'Brien -- Midwest 2-liter chugging champion

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Meagher, G.; Munsell, H. Ottumwa, Yesterday and Today. p. 49 and 51.
2. ^ Ottumwa Courier (2001), Ottumwa to receive nearly $1 million for OHS improvements.
3. ^ Ottumwa Courier (November 24, 2002), Hundreds pack new auditorium.
4. ^ Ottumwa Courier (August 9, 2005), No repairs for OHS stairs.
5. ^ Ottumwa Community School District (2004–2005), Annual Report.

References

• Taylor, J. Ottumwa: One Hundred Years a City. Chicago: Max Corp. 1948. p. 52.
• Meagher, G., Munsell, H. Ottumwa, Yesterday and Today. Ottumwa, Iowa: Ottumwa Stamp Works. 1923. p. 48–52.
• Sterling, R. Wapello County History. Montezuma, Iowa: Sutherland Printing Company Inc. 1986. p. 154–159
• Baker, C. In retrospect. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company. 1992. p. 164–167.

External links

• Ottumwa High School