Warren High School (Downey, California)

Warren High School, formerly Earl Warren Senior High School, is a public secondary school located in Downey, California (USA). Warren High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is a part of the Downey Unified School District.

History

In 1963, the Downey Unified School District Board of Education voted to change the name of Earl Warren Senior High School to simply "Warren High School." Del Ward was the first principal of Warren High school, in 1955, and the current principal is John Harris.

Earl Warren Senior High School was originally instituted by the Downey Union High School District, which operated Downey Union High School where grades 7-12 were taught. When that district built and began to operate separate junior high schools teaching grades 7-9, Downey's only high school was redesignated as Downey Senior High School and comprised grades 10-12. Eventually, in 1956, Downey incorporated as the City of Downey and a few years later, the Downey Unified School District was formed from several elementary school districts in Downey and the Downey Union High School District, which continued the junior high school and senior high school model until the early 1970's. At that time, the junior high schools in Downey became "middle schools" teaching grades 6-8 and the senior high schools became 4-year high schools comprising grades 9-12.

After its inception, class sizes grew gradually larger as a reflection of the Post-War Baby Boom. The class of 1970, with 715 students graduating was the largest to date and, by then, extra classrooms were needed. A new library was built, thus freeing up former library space for classrooms. A new physics laboratory was constructed alongside existing classrooms, as was a new electronics laboratory. Two prefabricated, freestanding modular classrooms were added next to the libraryin the late 1960's to help accommodate the growing student body. At the same time, a swimming pool was finally constructed for aquatic sports.

In the mid-1960's, the student body raised funds to save an old olive tree that was going to be destroyed to make room for new construction somewhere in Downey; the tree was transplanted to the Warren campus and became a symbol of school spirit.

Originally, the campus had a central hot-water heating system, which was impractical because of the many disjunct buildings, mostly with four classrooms apiece, served by covered, outdoor hallways. The heating pipes had corroded in the ground and at various points resulted in pools of boiling mud where the pipes had ruptured. Many classrooms were without heat. In 1971, new forced air heating systems were retrofitted into the original classrooms which were served by the defunct hot-water heating systems.

The Name Change

Earl Warren had been one of the most popular governors of California and was subsequently appointed as Chief Justice of the United States. While serving as Chief Justice, the Supreme Court came up with a number of liberal rulings, most notably Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which abolished the long-standing "separate but equal" doctrine that allowed segregateds schools in the United States. Downey, California was heavily Republican in those days, with a number of chapters of the John Birch Society established. Conservative politics dominated the all-white Board of Education, and Earl Warren's newfound liberalism was not to be tolerated. The name change was effected in a rather vain attempt to dissociate the Downey schools from the name of Earl Warren.

Earl Warren had been invited to and appeared at, the dedication of the school in 1955. Indeed the school colors of blue and gold were adopted because they were the official colors of the State of California. The California state animal, the bear, was designated as the school mascot, and indeed all the sports teams at Earl Warren High were known as "the Bears." The school newspaper was called "The Justice," and the girls' drill team was known as the "Honeybears." (Earl Warren's daughter Nina Warren was nicknamed "Honeybear".) In fact, the class rings were designed to show, among other things, the scales of justice on one side and a gavel on the other, referring to Earl Warren's tenure as Chief Justice of the United States. Thus, merely dropping the name "Earl" from the school's name was, at best, a symbolic, petty gesture of little efficacy. Everyone still knew the school was named after Earl Warren.

Demographics

Demographics for the 2007-2008 school year: 73% Latino or Hispanic, 6% African American, 5% Asian American, 13% European American and 2% Multiple or No Response.

External links

* [http://warren.dusd.net/ Official website]
* [http://schools.publicschoolsreport.com/California/Downey/WarrenHigh.html Warren High School at Public Schools Report]