Warren Township High School
Encyclopedia
Warren Township High School, or Warren, is a public four-year high school
located in Gurnee
, Illinois
, a northern suburb of Chicago
, in the United States
. Due to the size of the student body, the school is split across two campuses: the O'Plaine Road Campus for freshmen and sophomores, and the Almond Road Campus for juniors and seniors. It is part of Warren Township High School District 121.
The first high school was erected in 1917. The one-floor school first opened in the fall of 1918 with 57 pupils in attendance. Between the years 1920 and 1924, a Vocational Agriculture Building and Farm Shop (separate from the school) were constructed. In 1926, a second floor and gymnasium were added to the 1917 structure. Additions to this structure were also made in 1951, 1956, 1960, 1968, and 1974..
On December 20, 1984 the high school building was destroyed by a fire. All students and staff moved to the Lake Forest West Campus where Warren Township High School existed from January 1985 to June 1987. Students and staff returned to Gurnee in August 1987 after the high school was rebuilt on the same site.
With enrollment continuing to increase, a second campus for Warren Township High School opened in 1997 for juniors and seniors. Called the Almond Campus, it is dependent on the O’Plaine Campus for amenities such as the football field, indoor pool and auditorium.
Two awards were presented to the high school in the 1999-2000 school year with a “Those Who Excel” recognition for creating a learning community throughout the school organization and the national “Blue Ribbon School” recognition from the U.S. Department of Education.
The last major construction project was partly completed in 2008 which included a renovation of the Almond Campus lunchroom. A 3 million dollar project that converted the black box theater into a larger seating area for students.
According to Warren's 2008 Report Card, the school failed to meet the minimum requirements for adequate yearly progress for the sixth year in a row. The school's 2008-'09 Federal Improvement Status is Restructuring. The school's 2008-'09 State Improvement Status is Academic Watch Status Year 3.
Since the 2004-2005 Report Card, Warren has had the status of "Choice". This was intended to allow parents to transfer their children to a school with passing scores.
Since the 2005-2006 Report Card, Warren has had the status of "Supplemental Educational Services" under the federal law. This requires Warren to offer free outside tutoring to economically disadvantaged students.
The first NCLB report card was published in the fall of 2003, the first year of Dr. Sobocinski's superintendency. The district failed to meet the minimum standards of NCLB in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The failure was always the result of failures within subgroups. In the All-Student category, Warren met the AYP standard. In each of the six years, the school district was found to have required all 11th graders to take the state assessment.
On June 26, 2009, a formal complaint was filed against the district by a retired Warren teacher. The plaintiff alleged that the district had improperly denied some juniors the right to take the PSAE. The formal complaint was acknowledged several months later by the State Superintendent of Education.
On July 8, 2009, the Illinois State Board of Education Director of Assessment informed the Warren superintendent that all juniors had to take the PSAE. Each district could set standards for becoming a junior, but could not make separate standards for those students.
On July 20, 2009, the NCLB liaison at the ISBE wrote to the Warren superintendent, stating that Warren was violating state and federal requirements and that federal funding was at risk. The liaison wrote that such practice must cease. The district later explained that the demand was unclear.
The decision to exclude some 150 juniors from the PSAE would result in an automatic failure in ten out of fourteen participation categories for the 2009 Report Card.
On July 21, 2009, the issue was discussed at length in an open board meeting. District officials agreed that about 150 juniors were prevented from taking the PSAE. Board members explained that the district was not trying to hurt the students and that the credit cutoff policy was beneficial for the students and the district. Other board members pressed for the district to comply with the ISBE order by testing all juniors in the future.
became an official sport in the state which made the state competition schedule comparable to other major sports with sectional, super-sectional, and state championships.
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
located in Gurnee
Gurnee, Illinois
Gurnee is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 28,834 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 30,772 in 2005. The village borders the city of Waukegan and is considered a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Gurnee is perhaps best known for being the location of...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, a northern suburb of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Due to the size of the student body, the school is split across two campuses: the O'Plaine Road Campus for freshmen and sophomores, and the Almond Road Campus for juniors and seniors. It is part of Warren Township High School District 121.
History
Since its formation in 1915, Warren Township High School District 121 has grown and evolved with its residents. From a one-story building on O’Plaine Road to two campuses located about 4.5 miles apart, Warren has seen graduating classes grow from about 25 students in the beginning to more than 900 today. There are more than 4,500 students divided between two campuses, representing one comprehensive high school program for more than 61,000 residents from Gurnee, Beach Park, Gages Lake, Grandwood Park, Grayslake, Millburn, Old Mill Creek, Park City, Third Lake, Wadsworth, Waukegan, and Wildwood.The first high school was erected in 1917. The one-floor school first opened in the fall of 1918 with 57 pupils in attendance. Between the years 1920 and 1924, a Vocational Agriculture Building and Farm Shop (separate from the school) were constructed. In 1926, a second floor and gymnasium were added to the 1917 structure. Additions to this structure were also made in 1951, 1956, 1960, 1968, and 1974..
On December 20, 1984 the high school building was destroyed by a fire. All students and staff moved to the Lake Forest West Campus where Warren Township High School existed from January 1985 to June 1987. Students and staff returned to Gurnee in August 1987 after the high school was rebuilt on the same site.
With enrollment continuing to increase, a second campus for Warren Township High School opened in 1997 for juniors and seniors. Called the Almond Campus, it is dependent on the O’Plaine Campus for amenities such as the football field, indoor pool and auditorium.
Two awards were presented to the high school in the 1999-2000 school year with a “Those Who Excel” recognition for creating a learning community throughout the school organization and the national “Blue Ribbon School” recognition from the U.S. Department of Education.
The last major construction project was partly completed in 2008 which included a renovation of the Almond Campus lunchroom. A 3 million dollar project that converted the black box theater into a larger seating area for students.
According to Warren's 2008 Report Card, the school failed to meet the minimum requirements for adequate yearly progress for the sixth year in a row. The school's 2008-'09 Federal Improvement Status is Restructuring. The school's 2008-'09 State Improvement Status is Academic Watch Status Year 3.
Since the 2004-2005 Report Card, Warren has had the status of "Choice". This was intended to allow parents to transfer their children to a school with passing scores.
Since the 2005-2006 Report Card, Warren has had the status of "Supplemental Educational Services" under the federal law. This requires Warren to offer free outside tutoring to economically disadvantaged students.
The first NCLB report card was published in the fall of 2003, the first year of Dr. Sobocinski's superintendency. The district failed to meet the minimum standards of NCLB in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The failure was always the result of failures within subgroups. In the All-Student category, Warren met the AYP standard. In each of the six years, the school district was found to have required all 11th graders to take the state assessment.
2008-2009 Report Card Scandal
On June 10, 2008, the school board created a new category of juniors. They were called "Juniors for the purposes of the PSAE." All students who met the traditional 8-credit standard became juniors. However, only students who had 11 credits could take the PSAE. About 85% were deemed qualified to take the PSAE. The remaining 15% could not take the PSAE. All juniors were housed in the Almond Road junior-senior campus.On June 26, 2009, a formal complaint was filed against the district by a retired Warren teacher. The plaintiff alleged that the district had improperly denied some juniors the right to take the PSAE. The formal complaint was acknowledged several months later by the State Superintendent of Education.
On July 8, 2009, the Illinois State Board of Education Director of Assessment informed the Warren superintendent that all juniors had to take the PSAE. Each district could set standards for becoming a junior, but could not make separate standards for those students.
On July 20, 2009, the NCLB liaison at the ISBE wrote to the Warren superintendent, stating that Warren was violating state and federal requirements and that federal funding was at risk. The liaison wrote that such practice must cease. The district later explained that the demand was unclear.
The decision to exclude some 150 juniors from the PSAE would result in an automatic failure in ten out of fourteen participation categories for the 2009 Report Card.
On July 21, 2009, the issue was discussed at length in an open board meeting. District officials agreed that about 150 juniors were prevented from taking the PSAE. Board members explained that the district was not trying to hurt the students and that the credit cutoff policy was beneficial for the students and the district. Other board members pressed for the district to comply with the ISBE order by testing all juniors in the future.
Statistics
Percentages less than 1% are shown as <1%. Other percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.School Overview
The overall view of the school through the Illinois Interactive Report Card.| Average Teacher Salary | $63,556 |
| Average Teacher Experience | 10.7 Years |
| Instructional Expenditure per Pupil (03-04) | $5,561 |
| Operational Expenditure per Pupil (03-04) | $10,433 |
| Low Income | 11% |
Sports
Warren's Blue Devils compete in the North Suburban Conference.- FootballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
- WrestlingScholastic wrestlingScholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
- Soccer
- SwimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
- CheerleadingCheerleadingCheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
- DanceDanceDance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- BowlingBowlingBowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- HockeyHockeyHockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
- TrackTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- GymnasticsGymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
- LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
- Water PoloWater poloWater polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
Cheerleading
In 1942, the Warren Township High School Cheerleading Squad won the ICCA state championship. Years later, in 2005, the team won 3rd place in the ICCA state cheerleading championship.The following year, the Illinois state cheerleading rules and regulations underwent a major change. CheerleadingCheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
became an official sport in the state which made the state competition schedule comparable to other major sports with sectional, super-sectional, and state championships.
Basketball
In 2011, the Varsity Basketball team finished second in the state of Illinois in their division.Activities
- Academic Team (Scholastic Bowl)
- Astronomy Club
- Art Club
- Band
- CEC (Council for Exceptional Children)
- CIA (Christians in Action)
- Choir
- Cheerleading
- Creations (Student published art and literary magazine)http://blue.wths.net/creations/
- Drama Club
- EXCEL
- FBLA (Future Business Leaders of Americana)
- FDA (Future Doctors of America)
- Fight Club
- French Club
- FROLF
- Funk Club (Pending as of the 2010-2011 school year)
- German Club
- Hockey
- Indian Club
- International Club
- Iris (GSAGay-straight allianceGay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,...
) - Knitting Club
- MECS (Mother Earth's Concerned Students)
- NHS (National Honor Society)
- PAC (Political Action Club)
- President's Council
- Scratch Paper (Student Newspaper)
- Ski Club
- SOS (Students of Service)
- Spanish Club
- Speech Team
- Student Council Facebook Group
- Tech Team Website Facebook Group
- Winter Guard
- Yearbook
Band
The Warren Township High School band program involves over 300 student. Ensembles include seven (with the new Concert Band II Almond added for the 08-09 school year) curricular concert bands, three curricular jazz bands, the largest marching band in the state, chamber ensembles, jazz combos and pep band.Jazz Bands
Throughout the year, three curricular jazz bands are offered: Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Lab Almond, and Jazz Lab O'Plaine. The Jazz Ensemble has performed at the 1995 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the 1996 International Association of Jazz Educators Conference, and the 2000 Monterey Jazz Festival. All four jazz bands received superior ratings at the 2008 Northshore Jazz Festival. In addition, Jazz Lab III O'Plaine received two perfect scores at the 2008 IHSA Organizational Contest. Jazz Ensemble has placed in the top three of their class at Jazz in the Meadows for over ten years, often performing in the Grand Finale Concert. In 2009, the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab O'Plaine both placed first in their class at Jazz in the Meadows. Jazz Ensemble was also named Grand Champion at Jazz in the Meadows.Athletic Bands
Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, the marching band program was consolidated from two marching bands into one. The combined band performs at community parades, football games, and field show competitions throughout the state of Illinois. With over 300 members, it is the largest largest band in active competition. The Marching Blue Devils have earned top honors at marching festivals throughout Illinois and finished in the top ten at the State of Illinois Marching Band Championships in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.Concert Bands
When marching season ends, the students are assigned to one of seven curricular concert bands: Symphonic Band I, Symphonic Band II, Concert Band I Almond, Concert Band I O'Plaine, Concert Band II O'Plaine, Concert Band II Almond, and Concert Band III. The concert band program is the core of the Warren Township High School Bands. In recent years, Symphonic Band II and Concert Band I O'Plaine have performed at the IHSA Organizational Contest and received superior ratings. Symphonic Band I is the premier ensemble at Warren Township High School. Symphonic Band I has given performances at the IMEA All-State Conference in 2000 and 2009, the Bands of America National Concert Band in 1998 and 2003, and has been accepted to the University of Illinois Superstate Festival over fifteen times, most recently in 2010. In 2010, Symphonic Band I was named Superstate AAA Honor Band after a truly inspiring performance of Music for Prague 1968 by Karel Husa. In 2011, Symphonic I performed Paul Hindemith's March from Symphonic Metamorphosis and David Gillingham's Apocalyptic Dreams at their Superstate AAA Honor Band performance.Winter Guard
The Warren Winter Guard has been successful. The Winter Guard placed first in the 6-minute Flag Show category at the 2007 Team Dance & Flag Illinois state finals in Peoria, earning its seventh State Championship title in a row. The Warren Blue Devil Winter Guard has begun taking their show on a larger road this year, becoming a force in the Midwest Color Guard Circuit, competing against winter guards from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa this season. The team completed their season on March 3, going undefeated in their class.Notable alumni
- William G. Stratton, Class of 1930, Governor
- Kevin Anderson, Class of 1978, actor
- Dan RonanDan RonanDan Ronan is the Senior Director of Communications, Media Relations and Marketing at the American Bus Association, a Washington D.C. trade association representing the Motorcoach, Tourism and Travel Industry...
, Class of 1977, CNN Correspondent - Brandon PaulBrandon PaulBrandon Paul is an American college basketball player. He was awarded the title of 2009 Illinois Mr. Basketball. Paul attended Warren Township High School before choosing to play collegiate basketball at the University of Illinois...
, Class of 2009, Basketball Player