Skyline High School (Dallas)
Encyclopedia
Skyline High School is a secondary school in the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

. It was the first high school in the United States to offer a magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 curriculum.

Skyline serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District
Dallas Independent School District
The Dallas Independent School District is a school district based in Dallas, Texas . Dallas ISD, which operates schools in much of Dallas County, is the second largest school district in Texas and the twelfth largest in the United States.In 2009, the school district was rated "academically...

.

History

In the mid-1960s, B. J. Stamps and other Dallas educators conceived the idea of a very large high school for the Dallas Independent School District that would offer career education in addition to a traditional high-school curriculum. Stamps emphasized continually that the facility he envisioned was "absolutely not going to be a vocational school
Vocational school
A vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...

 for unsuccessful students" but rather a place where superior students could undertake studies in preparation for a variety of profession
Profession
A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain....

s. In December 1966, architectural plans for the school, whose working name was "Science-Technical Center," were approved by the Dallas School Board
Board of education
A board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....

. By 1969, Stamps, who had been slated as the school's first principal, suggested the name "Skyline High School," inspired by the view of the Downtown Dallas
Downtown Dallas
Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally been defined as bounded by the downtown freeway loop: bounded on the east by I-345 Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District...

 skyline
Skyline
A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...

 afforded from the school's upper floors, and in February 1970 the Skyline name was approved by the School Board.

Classes at Skyline began in the fall semester of 1970. Until the main facility at 7777 Forney Road opened early in 1971, instruction was held at other southeast Dallas sites. From its inception, Skyline has fulfilled Stamps's original conception of offering both a regular high-school curriculum and a multitude of magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 programs. The magnet offerings are organized as clusters, which are collectively called the Career Development Center. A student attending Skyline may generally choose from among two options: pursuing a normal, traditional curriculum (Skyline's original attendance zone was drawn to relieve Samuell and Bryan Adams high schools); or attending both a cluster and regular classes at Skyline.
In the early years of Skyline's existence, administrators and faculty of existing, traditional high schools in the Dallas Independent School District frequently expressed resentment of Skyline's desire to recruit their talented and gifted students and in some instances actively resisted recruitment efforts. District officials appointed a task force to address these concerns. Nevertheless, with the continued existence of Skyline's magnet programs and the subsequent "spinning off" of several independent magnet schools, the issue has persisted to the present day, and district officials continue efforts to allay feelings of resentment.

Over time, numerous clusters have left Skyline and moved into facilities of their own, becoming full-fledged DISD magnet high schools. For example, the Performing Arts Cluster and the Health Careers Cluster both discontinued their affiliations with Skyline in 1976 and became, respectively, the (presently-named) Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a public secondary school located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas . Booker T. Washington High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is the Dallas Independent School District's arts magnet school...

 and the High School for the Health Professions (now the School of Health Professions
School of Health Professions
The School of Health Professions is a magnet secondary school located in Dallas, Texas, United States. It is a part of the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center and is within the Dallas Independent School District....

 at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center
Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center
The Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center is a complex of schools in East Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas.TMC is a single building campus that houses six semi-independent magnet high schools in the Dallas Independent School District...

). In 2007, district officials announced a plan to relieve overcrowding at Skyline by moving several Skyline magnet programs to Emmett J. Conrad High School
Emmett J. Conrad High School
Emmett J. Conrad, MD High School is a public school located in Vickery Meadow, Dallas, Texas . Emmett J. Conrad High School, which covers grades 9-12, is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. The school currently has over 5,000 students and is a 5A school...

, meanwhile hoping to increase the latter's achievement levels. These actions have in some instances occasioned resentment by Skyline's own faculty and educational community, who have worried that Skyline's Career Development Center was created only to ultimately self-destruct, and, in the most recent events, that successful students educated at Skyline are being used to artificially boost another school's academic standing. District officials continue in their efforts to respond to these controversies.

Skyline served grades 10 and 11 in 1970–1971, and grades 10–12 from 1971 to 1976. The school has included grades 9–12 since the fall of 1976. Since its opening Skyline has consistently been DISD's largest high school in terms of enrollment.

School data

  • Mission: "Believe and Achieve...Simply the Best!"
  • Motto: "Unity in Effort...Pride in Result"
  • Enrollment: 5,131 during the 2008-2009 school year
  • Number of teachers: 296 during the 2007-2008 school year


Trustee district: District 9

Area:
Area East - Ivonne Durant

Alma Mater

Skyline, our alma mater

Proudly we proclaim

Our respect to all your standards

Honor to your name

Guidance, knowledge, inspiration

We receive from you

Hail to thee our alma mater

Hail to thee Skyline High

Fight Song

Hit the team across the field

Show them we are here

Set the Earth reverberating

With a mighty cheer

RAH! RAH! RAH!

Hit them hard and see how they fall

Never let that team get the ball

Hail! Hail! The gang's all here

So stand up for Skyline High!

School performance

Skyline High School, although being a magnet school, has had a longstanding reputation for having an overall below-state TAKS testing average. Currently, Skyline is undergoing a process to make it into an Exemplary School.

A team of Skyline students won the United States National Academic Championship in 1985.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Skyline include Frank Guzick, Edna Rowe, Ascher Silberstein, George W. Truett, and Urban Park. http://www.dallasisd.org/demo/schoolinfo/feeder2007/skyline.htm

Harold W. Lang, Sr. Middle School and John B. Hood Middle School (partial http://www.dallasisd.org/demo/schoolinfo/feeder2007/samuell.htm http://www.dallasisd.org/demo/schoolinfo/feeder2007/skyline.htm) feed into Skyline http://www.dallasisd.org/demo/schoolinfo/feeder2007/skyline.htm.

Notable alumni

  • Lanham Lyne '72, Texas state representative, former mayor of Wichita Falls, Texas
    Wichita Falls, Texas
    Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010,...

  • Pauline Medrano '72, mayor pro tem of Dallas
  • Kyle Gann
    Kyle Gann
    Kyle Eugene Gann is an American professor of music, critic and composer born in Dallas, Texas. As a critic for The Village Voice and other publications he has been a supporter of progressive music including such Downtown movements as postminimalism and totalism.- As composer :As a composer his...

     '73, classical composer, musicologist, music critic, author, and educator
  • Brian Berkeley '74, co-inventor of Macintosh II
    Macintosh II
    The Apple Macintosh II was the first personal computer model of the Macintosh II series in the Apple Macintosh line and the first Macintosh to support a color display.- History :...

     computer, led hardware development for first iMac
    IMac
    The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....

  • Brent Bourgeois
    Brent Bourgeois
    Brent Thomas Bourgeois is an American rock musician, songwriter, and producer. He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg with Larry Tagg, and has released several solo albums. His later work has been classified in the genres Pop and Contemporary Christian Music.- Early career :Born in New...

     '74, Christian rock musician and producer
  • Michael Weiss
    Michael Weiss (composer)
    Michael David Weiss , is a jazz pianist and composer best known for his fifteen year association with saxophonist Johnny Griffin....

     '76, jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, recording artist
  • J. David Spurlock
    J. David Spurlock
    J. David Spurlock is an author, illustrator, editor, and artist's-rights advocate best known as the founder of Vanguard Productions, a publisher of art books, graphic novels, and prints.-Career:...

     '78, author, artist, art professor, artist's rights advocate
  • Gentry Little '82, Radio Announcer for 30 years
  • Richard Dominguez
    Richard Dominguez
    Richard Dominguez is an American comic book artist and freelance storyboard illustrator. Best known for creating the popular series El Gato Negro, Dominguez publishes his comics through his imprint and art studio, Azteca Productions...

     '79, comic book artist
  • Peri Gilpin
    Peri Gilpin
    Peri Gilpin is an American actress known for her role as Roz Doyle in the U.S. television series Frasier from 1993 until 2004. Along with the principal cast, Gilpin won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2000...

     '79, actress (best known as "Roz Doyle
    Roz Doyle
    Rosalinda "Roz" Doyle is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Frasier. She is played by Peri Gilpin. Roz is the producer of Frasier Crane's Dr. Frasier Crane Show on KACL 780AM...

    " on Frasier
    Frasier
    Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...

    )
  • Keith Miller
    Keith Miller (outfielder)
    Neal Keith Miller is a former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball in 1988 and part of 1989 for the Philadelphia Phillies, mostly as a pinch hitter. Of his 55 games played, only ten included an appearance in the field, at five different positions.-Sources:...

     '80, major league baseball player
  • Joe Riley
    Joe Riley (artist)
    Joseph Vergel "Joe" Riley was a U.S. visual and plastic artist based in Dallas, Texas. A painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and special effects makeup artist, he made horror designs for latex masks and for films, such as the vampire movie Blade: Trinity from Marvel Comics, as well as conceptual art for...

     '82, visual and plastic artist, SubGenius
  • Deryl Dodd
    Deryl Dodd
    Deryl Dwaine Dodd is an American Texas Country artist. Originally a regular on the Texas club circuit, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, soon finding work as a background vocalist and songwriter...

     '82, country music artist
  • Dante Jones
    Dante Jones
    Dante Jones is a former linebacker in the NFL who played for the Chicago Bears from 1988–1994 and Denver Broncos in 1995. As a Sooner, Jones was an All Big 8 selection at linebacker in 1987.He is from Skyline High School in Dallas, TX, Class of 1983....

     '83, NFL football player
  • Michael Johnson
    Michael Johnson (athlete)
    Michael Duane Johnson is a retired American sprinter. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight world championship gold medals. Johnson currently holds the world and Olympic records in the 400 m and 4 x 400 meters relay. He formerly held the world and Olympic record in the 200 m, and the world...

     '86, world and Olympic champion sprinter
  • Larry Johnson '87, NBA basketball star
  • "Cowboy Troy" Coleman
    Cowboy Troy
    Troy Lee Coleman III is an American musician, better known by his stage name Cowboy Troy, who performs country rap. He is a member of the MuzikMafia, an aggregation of country music singer-songwriters whose membership also includes Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and James Otto...

     '89, country music artist
  • Chris Holt '90, major league baseball player
  • Steve Holy
    Steve Holy
    Steve Holy is an American country music artist. Signed to Curb Records since 1999, he has released three studio albums: 2000's Blue Moon 2006's Brand New Girlfriend and 2011's Love Don't Run...

     '90, country music singer
  • Allen Rossum
    Allen Rossum
    Allen Bonshaca Lamont Rossum is an American football cornerback and return specialist who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft...

     '94, NFL football player
  • Antonio Wilson
    Antonio Wilson
    Antonio Demarcus Wilson Antonio Demarcus Wilson Antonio Demarcus Wilson (born December 29, 1977 in is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League from 2000 to 2002. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played...

     '95, NFL football player
  • Cedrick NavyBoy Johnson '00, US Navy Recruiter-In-Charge of NRD Dallas
  • Chelsea Whitaker '00, NCAA Women's Basketball Champion
  • Mikail Baker
    Mikail Baker
    Mikail A'Lim Baker is an American football cornerback for the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Rams in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft...

     '05, NFL football player
  • Calvin "C. J." Miles, Jr.
    C. J. Miles
    Calvin Andre "C. J." Miles, Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association...

     '05, NBA basketball player
  • Omar Gonzalez
    Omar Gonzalez
    Omar Gonzalez is an American soccer player. He played youth soccer for the Dallas Texans Soccer Club. He currently plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.-College:...

     '06, MLS Soccer Player

School Schedule

Door Opens-8:15 a.m.

First/Fifth periods: 9:15 a.m.-10:50 a.m.

Second/Sixth periods: 10:56 a.m.-1:05 p.m.

-A Lunch-10:56 a.m.-11:25 p.m.

-B Lunch-11:30 a.m.-11:55 p.m.

-C Lunch-12:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

-D Lunch-12:35 p.m.-1:05 p.m.

Third/Seventh periods: 1:11 p.m.-2:40 p.m.

Fourth/Eighth periods: 2:46 p.m.-4:15 p.m.

External links

  • Skyline High School
  • Dwaine Caraway Scared DISD Away From Skyline - Dallas Observer
    Dallas Observer
    The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...

    - February 7, 2008.


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