Jerome High School (Dublin, Ohio)

Dublin Jerome High School is a public high school located in Dublin, Ohio, United States. northwest of Columbus, Ohio. It is the newest of the 3 high schools in the Dublin City Schools district. Jerome opened for its first year during the 2004-2005 school year. Though located in the southeast tip of Union County, Dublin Jerome primarily serves students in parts of Franklin County and Delaware County. The head principal is Mrs. Cathy Sankey. The assistant principals are Mr. Scott, Mr. McDonnell, and Mr. Morris. Jerome's mascot is the Celtic. Jerome is also the number 1 high school in central Ohio and was ranked number 284 in the Newsweek top high school rankings.

Class Offerings

Dublin Jerome has many Honors and AP classes as well as technological and arts classes. AP classes currently offered at Jerome include: Chemistry, World History, English Literature, English Language, US History, European History, Biology, Physics B/C, Environmental Science, Calculus AB/BC, Statistics, Music Theory, Computer Science A/AB, and US Government. For the 2007-2008 school year, AP Art History will be offered. Additionally, Jerome offers foreign language classes in French, German, Latin, Japanese and Spanish; although, there are no AP level foreign language classes offered in French, German, Japanese and Spanish students in the highest levels of those classes are encouraged to take the relevant AP test. Some students from local middle schools come to Jerome to take foreign language classes.

Dublin Jerome is now an IB world school. Many parents oppose the stringent scheduling requirements that a full IB diploma requires, which will restrict the ability of students to take electives. Jerome also offers Philosophy as a course.

In September 2007, Dublin Jerome was designated a WILD School Site [ [http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Default.aspx?tabid=19075&EntryID=113 News Release Archives ] ] by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Dublin Jerome has as part of its property a 10-acre wooded area known as the Jerome Outdoor Experience Center, or JOEC. Systems of the Earth, Biology, and Advanced Placement Environmental Science are all classes that use this facility.

Controversy

In March 2005 a heterosexual student wearing a homemade t-shirt that said "I support gay marriage" was asked to take off the t-shirt. The next day about 20 students wearing similar t-shirts came to school in protest. They were asked to either change the shirts, turn them inside out, or to go home. The principal said that the shirts were disruptive to the learning environment of the school but the students believed it was only disruptive because the administration made a big deal out of it. Furthermore the students believed this action was in violation of their 1st Amendment rights. No legal action was taken following the incident. [ [http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/04/040605schoolsGay.htm Gay News From 365Gay.com ] ]

Athletics

Jerome offers OHSAA Division I high school sports including Swimming, Volleyball, Diving, Soccer, Hockey, Golf, Basketball, Football, Tennis, Cross Country, Track, Chess, Wrestling, and Lacrosse.The Boys golf team was the 2005 Division I state champions, the 2006 runner-up, and the 2007 state champions. The Girls tennis team was the 2007 doubles champions. The Girls golf team was the 2005 Division I state Champions. The Boys lacrosse team was the 2005 Division IB State Champions. In 2006, Jerome was Division IA runner-up in lacrosse.

Jerome's Basketball coach, Coach Kevin Alkire, was let go as of June 27th, 2007. He had a three year contract with the school that had been in place since the school was opened, but the district decided not to renew the contract when it ran out. Decision makers at the district headquarters listened to parents of previous players and the players before making a decision. Previous players cited verbal abuse and a career winning percentage below .500 as reasons for suggesting to the district to not rehire the coach. Mr. Alkire was also the ALC supervisor at Jerome. [ [http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/sports/stories/2007/06/28/jerome28.ART_ART_06-28-07_C3_SE759LD.html The Columbus Dispatch : Jerome's Alkire fired after parents air complaints ] ] The head coach for the wrestling team was Chris Ford for the first three years. He was the former coach at Huron High School, Ashland College, and The Ohio State University. The hockey team is coached by Patrick Murphy and has won the Blue Jackets cup two years in a row. Kevin Canini was the first state qualifier in wrestling at Jerome in 2005.

Jerome has recently purchased a new mascot costume, a change from its previous years where the mascot wore body paint and Celtic garb instead of a real costume. This was effective at the time due to the crowd-entertaining performance of gymnastics skills by the original student acting as mascot. The new costume is that of a cartoonized Celtic similar to the one pictured on Jerome's logo. It features a large head, red hair, and a war helmet. The new Celtic mascot is worn by students whom do not need to perform as the original. The new uniform was paid in large part by a competitive cheerleading company gift certificate, given to the DJHS Cheerleaders during one of their numerous award-winning performances throughout Central Ohio. The remaining balance of the mascot uniform was donated from various generous booster organizations of the school, many of which have parents demanding increased participation in school spirit activities throughout the school.

A fight song was created in 2007 with lyrics by members of the school. It was sung at sporting events throughout the 2007-2008 school year.

Marching Band

The Dublin Jerome Marching Band currently marches in the OMEA AA division as well as the Midstates OPEN Division. The band started out with around 140 members in its first year and has grown to around 180 strong. They have received 1s in the OMEA state finals each year since the school's creation in 2004; however, they once received a II from a contest. Also, since a lot of '09 Seniors have quit, the bands size has reduced dramatically.

See also

* Dublin City School District
* Dublin Coffman High School
* Dublin Scioto High School

External links

* [http://jerome.dublin.k12.oh.us Official School Website]
* [http://www.dublinschools.net District Website]
* [http://dublinjeromeceltics.com Athletic Website]

References