Skyline High School (Sammamish, Washington)

Skyline High School is a public high school in the Issaquah School District of King County, Washington.

Infobox School
name = Skyline High School
district = Issaquah School District
type = Public high school
principal = Lisa Hechtman [cite web
url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=skyline30e&date=20070330
title=Nathan Hale High principal picked to head Skyline
publisher=The Seattle Times
accessdate=2007-06-20]
location = 1122 228th Ave SE
Sammamish, WA 98075, USA
information = 425-837-7702
nickname = Spartans
colors = Green & Silver
enrollment = 1,277 (2005-06)
faculty = 52.5 (on FTE basis)
ratio = 24.3
website = [http://www.shs.issaquah.wednet.edu/ School website] Skyline is the district's third and newest high school, opening for classes in 1997 as a four-year high school. Its 50 acres straddle the apex of the Sammamish Plateau in the city of Sammamish. Skyline's mascot is the Spartan, and the school colors are green and silver.

Since the fall of 2005, Skyline has been a three-year senior high school (grades 10-12); with its students feeding in from Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus, a 9th-grade-only school which also includes the freshman class for rival Issaquah High School. Prior to 2005, two middle schools directly fed Skyline: Beaver Lake Middle School and Pine Lake Middle School. Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus is scheduled to be reassigned as a middle school (grades 6 ~ 8) in the fall of 2010 [Issaquah School District E-News, Friday 12 Sep 2008] at which time the two high schools (Skyline and Issaquah) will regain their freshmen classes.

During the 2005-06 academic year, Skyline had an enrollment of 1,277 students and 52.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 24.3. [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=5303750&ID=530375002567 Skyline High School] , National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 10, 2008.]

Athletics

Skyline has an athletics program which has earned several state championships: fastpitch softball in 1999; football in 2000, 2005cite web |url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=4agame04&date=20051204 |title=Harris heroics lift Spartans to 4A crown, perfect 14-0 |author=Michael Ko |publisher=The Seattle Times|date=2005-12-04 |accessdate=2007-12-01] and 2007cite web |url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=3agame01&date=20071201 |title=3A Football: Skyline finds a way to beat O'Dea, 42-35 |publisher=The Seattle Times|author=Tom Wyrwich |date=2007-12-01 |accessdate=2007-12-01] ; girls cross country in 2001; and girls track and field in 2007. [ [http://www.wiaa.com/History/champs.aspx Washington (State) Interscholastic Activities Association] , Accessed 2008 September 3]

Co-curricular activities

Skyline DECA is the largest academic student organization on campus with over 200 members. The chapter has achieved success in both community services and structured competitions. Having raised $30,000 for Make-A-Wish and other local charities is a hallmark of this group.Fact|date=September 2008 On a competitive level, in both 2004 and 2005 the Spartans qualified more students to the state level than any other chapter in the sixty-year history of Washington DECA, which has over 10,000 members. In 2006, the chapter qualified forty-six to the DECA National competition, more than any other school in the United States.Fact|date=September 2007 At Nationals, seven students received Top 10 in the Nation Honors; three of them made 3rd Place. In 2007, five students received Top 10 in the Nation Honors.Fact|date=September 2007

The largest extracurricular organization at Skyline is Key Club, also with over 200 members.Fact|date=September 2007 The chapter is part of Pacific Northwest Division 28, which has a record of winning the Spirit Award at District Conventions.Fact|date=September 2007

The school's orchestra, Skyline Symphony, performed in May 2005 at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Skyline Symphony was invited back for a second performance which took place in May 2007.

Ed Young Controversy

On October 22, 2006, the Seattle Times published a story concerning a former teacher at Kokanee Elementary School in the Northshore School District who had been accused of fondling several of his female students. [cite web
url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=northshore22m&date=20061022
title=School district ignored warnings, then silenced girls fondled by teacher
publisher=The Seattle Times
accessdate=2007-06-20 ] Carl Leede, who had been teaching in the district for 20 years, was said to have fondled several girls and used inflammatory language and inappropriate behavior during the course of his tenure at the school. [cite web
url=http://www.nwnews.com/editions/2000/20000320/local3.html
title=Teacher admits molestations
publisher=Northwest news
accessdate=2007-06-20 ] [cite web
url=http://isspress.1upsoftware.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=182&ArticleID=3283
title=District begins investigation of Skyline principal
publisher=Issaquah Press
accessdate=2007-06-20 ] Leede was reported several times for touching students to his direct supervisor, Principal Ed Young. [cite web
url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=skyline27m&date=20061027
title=Parents furious about principal's denials about teacher fondling complaints
publisher=Seattle Times
accessdate=2007-06-20 ] Young responded to the complaints in a meeting he had with Leede by giving him a pamphlet which described the differences between appropriate and inappropriate touching. [cite web
url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/links/northshore/nsd05.pdf
title=Memo from Principal Ed Young to Carl Leede
accessdate=2007-06-20 ] A civil suit was brought against the district, which was settled for $55,000, but which allowed Leede to continue working at Kokanee under the direct supervision of Ed Young. Leede later left the Northshore District and was convicted in 2000 on six counts of misdeamenor assault in charges that were brought by former students at Kokanee Elementary. Young was serving as the principal of Skyline when the story was published, and responded to the allegations by claiming that he had never heard any complaints about Leede. [cite web
url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=young10e&date=20061110&query=%22ed+young%22
title=Embattled Skyline High principal steps down
accessdate=2007-06-20 ] The Issaquah School District initiated an investigation, but Young resigned from his position before its conclusion. Young issued the following statement through the school district:

"All the while, I have concentrated on what's best for the students and school. As I visited classrooms and celebrated the Spartans'; homecoming victory, it became apparent to me that all of the media focus on me has detracted from Skyline; and I would never want to impede students' success." [cite web
url=http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/news/?ID=246
title=Issaquah School District press release
accessdate=2007-06-20 ]

The district then concluded their investigation, stating that his resignation "ended [their] involvement in the Northshore matter."

References

External links

* [http://www.shs.issaquah.wednet.edu/ Skyline High School Home Page]
* [http://www.skylinegridiron.com/ Skyline Football]