- This article or section should be merged with Lowell High School
Lowell High School is a public academic-alternative high school in San Francisco, California, USA. It is a standard four-year high school and is part of the San Francisco Unified School District. The student population is about 2600, and there are about 120 staff/faculty members.
History
Lowell is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River, and was founded in 1856.
- 1856 Union Grammar School Founded
- 1858 Name changed to San Francisco High School
- 1874 Gender seperated, name changed to Boy's High School
- 1876 Moved within San Francisco to Gough and Octavia
- 1890s Girls slowly reintegrated into college prep program
- 1894 Name changed to Lowell High School in honor of poet James Russell Lowell
- 1908 Funds secured by bonds for new building
- 1913 School moved to new, larger campus on Hayes and Ashbury
- 1962 School moved to current campus to make room for future expansion and add a library, gymnasium and larger auditorium
- 1966 Enrollment limited, school switched from neighborhood to GPA/test based admission
- 1968 20-period modular schedule instated
- 1996 Lowell ranked 6th nationally in AP exam scores
- 2003 New academic/science wing opened on campus
- 2004 Unit 6 building section renovation completed; roof replaced; "temporary" bungalows 14,15, and 16 relocated
Location
Lowell is located in the Sunset District in San Francisco, California near Lake Merced, San Francisco State University, and the Stonestown Galleria and Lakeshore Mall shopping centers. It is accessible via the San Francisco MUNI K, M, 17, 23, 28, 28L, and 29 lines and by car at Eucalyptus and Forest View.
Controversy and legal action
Lowell High School has been the target of anti-affirmative action lawsuits by Chinese American parents [1] (http://www.arc.org/C_Lines/CLArchive/story2_2_04.html). These lawsuits resulted, in 2004, in a change of the admissions policy which means that the school will must now accept more than 45% Chinese American students if that is the result of student acceptance based on grades.
Facilities
- 3-story L-shaped academic building with two extensions
- 3-story science building
- 22 "Temporary" (almost as old as the other buildings) Bungalows, to be reduced in Fall 2004
- 2 Story visual and performing arts building with 1000-seat auditorium
- Library
- Gymnasium
- Football field, soccer/multipurpose field, 10 tennis courts and 8 basketball courts
Distinguished courses and programs
- The Lowell journalism students have won several NSPA Pacemaker awards for best high school newspaper and best of web.
- The school has the most Advanced Placement Program courses of any school in San Francisco.
- The football and baseball teams make city championships frequently, and the basketball team won the city championship for the first time since the 1950s in 2004.
Notable alumni
- Stephen Gerald Breyer, '55 Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
- Bill Bixby, actor
- Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, US politician--former Governor of California
- Carol Channing, actor/entertainer
- Eric Allin Cornell, Nobel Prize winner
- Joseph Erlanger, Nobel Prize winner
- Dian Fossey, researcher, portrayed in Gorillas in the Mist
- William R. Hewlett, HP co-founder
- Albert Michelson, Nobel Prize winner
- Pierre Salinger, '41 US President John F. Kennedy's press secretary
- Naomi Wolf, '80 Feminist author, Rhodes Scholar
External links
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