L. D. Bell High School (Hurst, Texas)

Infobox_School
name = L. D. Bell High School


imagesize = 175px
motto = We do not imitate, but are a model for others.
established = 1957
type = Public
principal = Jim Bannister
staff = 148.8 (2005-06)cite web|url=http://www.tea.state.tx.us/|title=Academic Excellence Indicator System; 2005-06 District Performance; Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD; Bell H S|publisher=Texas Education Agency|accessdate=2007-05-29]
faculty = 120 (2007-08)
enrollment = 1,919 (2007-08) [cite web|url=http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/highschools/leaderboard/schoolinfo.html?page=school&sid=1496|title= My High School, Hurst L.D. Bell Raiders, School Information|accessdate=2007-05-22|publisher=WFAA.com]
free_label = Grades
Colors
Mascot
free_text = 10-12
Blue and white (silver)
Blue Raider
location = 1601 Brown Trail Drive
Hurst, Texas 76054
country =USA
district = Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District
website= [http://schoolctr.hebisd.edu/education/school/school.php?sectiondetailid=10&sc_id=1175626968 L.D. Bell Homepage] Lawrence Dale Bell High School, more commonly known as L. D. Bell High School, is a public high school in the cities of Hurst and Bedford, Texas and part of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District. The school is named for Lawrence Dale Bell, the founder of nearby Bell Helicopter Textron, and was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School for 1994-96.

L. D. Bell's marching band has placed in the top five of every competition entered since 1999, and in 2007 won the Bands of America Grand National Championship. The men's and women's gymnastics teams have won a combined total of 35 state championships since 1967.

History

L.D. Bell High School opened in 1957 at a campus on Pipeline Road. Lawrence Dale Bell High School was relocated to the current campus on Brown Trail Drive in 1965, at a site donated to the school district by Lawrence D. "Larry" Bell, Founder and President of Bell Helicopter Textron in Hurst. The new location was able to accommodate a growing student population resulting from the rapid suburban growth in Hurst, Euless, Bedford, and Colleyville. The former high school grounds now house Central Junior High, the H-E-B Athletic Complex, KEYS (Keeping Eligible Youth in School) High School, and the Forest E. Watson (F.E.W.) Center.

Preceding Jim Bannister as principal was Jim Short. Both of these men were preceded by the state legislature-commended [cite web|url=http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=77R&Bill=HR839|title=TLO - 77(R) History for HR 839|date=2001-05-04|accessdate=2007-05-29|publisher=Texas Legislature Online|author=Smith] E. Don Brown, a former president of both the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals (TASSP). [ [http://www.principals.org/ Principals.org - National Association of Secondary School Principals - NASSP ] ] [cite web|url=http://www.tassp.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=50|title=E.Don Brown joins TASSP staff as Interim Director of High School Services|publisher=TASSP|accessdate=2007-05-22]

In 2002, the school was at the center of a national zero tolerance debate when an honor student was expelled for having a non-serrated bread knife in his truck-bed. The knife was left in the truck by accident after the student had helped move his grandmother's possessions. His expulsion was rescinded when media attention mounted against principal Jim Short and the school district. [ [http://www.citizenreviewonline.org/august_2002/student_snagged.htm Student snagged by zero tolerance prompts soul-searching ] ]

On June 2, 2006, a senior Bell theater student, Katherine Smith, was arrested for "tampering with a consumer product" after she put bleach in a 20 oz. Mountain Dew bottle and gave it to the 15 year old actor who had won a leading role in the play, "Ha", for which Smith was the understudy. [ [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0602061dew1.html Dosing The Dew - June 2, 2006 ] ]

Campus and facilities

L. D. Bell High School moved to its present location in 1965. Venues on the L.D. Bell High School campus include Nathan F. Danford field (baseball); a softball field; the Raider Bowl - a football field with permanent bleachers, a track, a field house, and an observation deck; a practice football field for the marching band with an observation deck; several other large football fields; and four parking lots (faculty, student, band hall and Bell Freeway Entrance (B.F.E.) / Raider Bowl).

The northern section of the campus grounds, including all buildings, is within the Hurst City limits. The baseball diamond and most of the Raider Bowl and track are located within Bedford city limits. [cite web|url=http://www.ci.bedford.tx.us/Departments/planning/pnz_pdf/070118_ZoningMap.pdf|title=070118_ZoningMap.pdf|publisher=City of Bedford, TX|accessdate=2007-05-22|format=PDF]

L.D. Bell shares the use of district facilities such as Pennington Field for soccer, football, and marching band events; the H-E-B Natatorium located on the Trinity High School campus; and the HEB athletic field located at Central Junior High.

tudent body

During the 2005-2006 school year, L. D. Bell High School enrolled 1,947 students in grade 10 (35.0%), grade 11 (34.5%), and grade 12 (30.6%). Ethnicities represented include white (66.1%), Hispanic (15.3%), Asian and Pacific Islander (6.0%), African American (11.9%), and Native American (0.7%). Twenty-five percent were economically disadvantaged.

There were 590 graduates in the class of 2005. The annual dropout rate is 0.5% (in 2004-2005).

L.D. Bell receives students from three feeder schools: all students from Bedford Junior High school and Hurst Junior High school attend Bell along with a share of the students from Central Junior High school. Students in the attendance zones for Bedford Heights, Bellaire, Bell Manor, Donna Park, Harrison Lane, Hurst Hills, River Trails, Shady Brook, Shady Oaks, Stonegate, and West Hurst elementary schools attend L. D. Bell High School.cite web|url=http://www.hebisd.edu/pages/schools/school_listings.html|title=HEB ISD School Feeder Chart & Sites|publisher=Hurst Euless Bedford Independent School District|accessdate=2007-05-22]

Academics

L.D. Bell High School is ranked 210th in the nation (and 4th within Tarrant County) on Newsweek's 2007 list of the top 1,200 high schools in the country. [Citation|title=Tarrant schools make the grade|url=http://www.star-telegram.com/407/story/110470.html|newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Northeast edition)|date=2007-05-22] The rankings are based on the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests taken by graduating seniors — L.D. Bell had 2.595 tests taken per Class of 2007 graduate. 2007 is the first year that L.D. Bell has been included in the list.cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/site/newsweek/|title=America's Top Public High Schools|year=2007|accessdate=2007-05-22|publisher=Newsweek]

Among Tarrant County high schools, Bell High School ranks eleventh (of forty-six) in average points above passing on the 11th grade TAKS test. [Citation|title=School ratings can hide disparities: Another way to gauge high school quality|url=http://www.star-telegram.com/229/story/103586.html|last=Brock|first=Katherine Cromer|last2=Claassen|first2=Jeff|newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Northeast edition)|pages=1B,9B|date=2007-05-16 [http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2007/05/16/12/Ratings.source.prod_affiliate.58.pdf (direct link to chart)] ]

* National Merit Finalists (2007): 5 [cite web|url=http://www.hebisd.edu/pages/news/db_pages/detailspage_pr.asp?PR_ID=543|title=Nine Named National Merit Finalists|date=2007-02-14|publisher=Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District|accessdate=2007-05-15]
* Mean SAT Score (Class of 2005): 1037
* Mean ACT Score (Class of 2005): 21.5

The district has offered the IB Diploma Programme and Pre-IB preparatory classes at L. D. Bell since fall 2002, graduating the first class of IB students in spring 2004.

L.D. Bell students may take specialized or vocational courses at other school district facilities, such as broadcast journalism classes at the F.E.W. Center (near Central Junior High) or automotive repair and service, culinary arts, computer aided drafting, and cosmetology classes at the Technical Education Center (near the district administrative buildings and Pennington Field on Central Dr.).

External links

* [http://schoolctr.hebisd.edu/education/school/school.php?sectiondetailid=10 L.D. Bell High School]
* [http://hebmarchingcontest.com/ H-E-B Marching Contest]
* [http://www.ldbellband.org/ L.D. Bell Band Homepage]
* [http://www.ldbellfootball.org/ L.D. Bell Football Boosters Homepage]
* [http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/highschools/leaderboard/schoolhome.html?page=home&sid=1496 WFAA.com "My High School" Sports News for L.D. Bell]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1501+brown+trail+hurst+texas&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=28.252954,59.765625&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=32.842421,-97.162764&spn=0.003651,0.010815&t=k&om=1 Google Satellite Image of School]

References