Venice High School (Venice, Florida)

Venice High School is a secondary school located in Venice, Florida which educates students in grades 9-12.

History

Venice High School, which was built in the late 50s, has been criticized for its aged buildings. Recently, a new music suite housing the chorus and band was built. There is talk of building a new school at the present site. The county is currently considering the timelime for the new school and could start the project as early as 2009.

In 2006 Venice High School was named an "A" school by the Florida Department of Education. In 2007 the school missed the 525 points needed for an"A" grade by 4 points receiving a score of 521 to earn a "B" grade [http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/default.asp?action=verifySelectionSchool&report=SG&districts=58&schoolYear=2006-2007%2C2005-2006%2C2004-2005%2C2003-2004%2C2002-2003%2C2001-2002%2C2000-2001%2C1999-2000%2C1998-1999&school_grade=&level=School&schoolNumbers=580221] . The school has increased its graduation rate from 63.9% in 1999 to 84.7% in 2007. Its dropout rate is 1.6%.

tudent Body

As of 2006, the school principal is Candace Millington, a continuous improvement practitioner and 2001 Florida Outstanding Assistant Principal of the year [http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/?archive_id=0&page_id=207596196&page_url=%2f%2fwww.newscoast.com%2f2venice.cfm%3fID%3d52196&page_last_updated=9%2f6%2f2001+7%3a22%3a13+PM&firstName=Candace&lastName=Millington] . Venice High School enrolls over 2,000 students annually, in contrast to the state average of 750 for K12 schools. Of those in attendance in 2005, 95% of the student body is Caucasian, 2% Hispanic, and 1% Asian and 1% African American. The school also has a significantly lower percentage of students eligible for the free or reduced lunch program compared to the state, 18% compared to 45.4%. [http://florida.schooltree.org/public/Venice-Senior-High-020927.html] The mascot of the school is the Indian.

Programs and Alumni

The school is noted for its small learning communities, its Academy of Excellence, and has an Advanced Placement Program. In past years, students have attended colleges such as University of Florida, University of Central Florida, Florida State University, New College of Sarasota,University of South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, University of Miami, University of Tampa, Saint Leo University Manatee Community College, and Santa Fe Community College. Out of state colleges of prestige have included Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, New York University, Georgia State University, Auburn University(gay), and The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Venice High had an undefeated State Championship Football team in 2000. The volleyball team has won two state titles, the last one in 2005. There have been a number of State Champions in wrestling, the most recent ones being Wade Consul 2007 and Jeremy Cooke a two time State Champion in 2005 and 2006. The baseball team is the 2007 5A State Champions with an overwhelming 12-1 victory over Port St. Lucie High School. The game was called in the 6th inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Venice High School include:

* Greg Pitts, Office Space Movie Actor [http://www.gregpitts.com/]
* Mark Guthrie, Major League Baseball player [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/G/mark-guthrie.shtml]
* Jon Knott, baseball player for the San Diego Padres [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/K/jon-knott.shtml]
* Sean Cw Johnson, TV Actor [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426206/]

Issues

Venice High , like every high school in the country, faces issues of teen drug and alcohol abuse. However the school has worked hard and with several methods they have addressed these issues at the school level. One of these methods was the creation of the Indian Pledge that has been quite successful around the community. For those students who do not respond, the school enforces a zero tolerance policy for all students.

Venice High has addressed facility issues such as a lack of adequate science labs, ill equipped portables, and aging classrooms. Many of these problems have been addressed personally by our superintendant, Dr. Gary Norris. Over $3 million of improvements were performed over the summer of 2005, including updating the science labs, pavement of the parking areas, and installation of new technology.

The faculty has had a few teachers investigated in the past: one for drug use as well as the selling of drugs to students and a few for sexual harassment, molestation charges and unprofessional conduct including changing grades. School administrators completed the necessary documentation and not one of these teachers still work at Venice High. [http://www.venicegondolier.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=072907&story=vn1.htm&folder=NewsArchive3] .

External links

* [http://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/vhs/ Venice High School official website]
* [http://florida.schooltree.org/public/Venice-Senior-High-020927.html Venice High School profile] provided by schooltree.org