Ronald Reagan High School (San Antonio)

Ronald Reagan High School
Address
19000 Ronald Reagan Drive San Antonio , Texas 78258
Information
School type	Public High School
Motto	Learning for Life, Learning for Leadership
Founded	1999
School district	North East ISD
Principal	Bill Boyd
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	3,692 (2007-2008)
Language	English
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Hunter Green, Silver and Black
Mascot	Rattler
Feeder schools	Bush Middle School Lopez Middle School
Rival schools	Churchill High School MacArthur High School
Athletic conferences	5A Division I
Website	http://www.neisd.net/reagan

Ronald Reagan High School is a Texas UIL Division AAAAA high school in the North East Independent School District named after U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The school is located in the Stone Oak neighborhood of North San Antonio.

History

In the early to mid 1990's, San Antonio, like many Sun Belt cities, experienced explosive growth in its suburbs - particularly affluent areas formed by migrants to the city. This was particularly the case in the area north of Route 1604 between the Blanco Road and US-281 corridors known as Stone Oak and Sonterra. The growth caused severe overcrowding at nearby Winston Churchill High School - at the time the farthest-north school in the North East Independent School District - ultimately resulting in a student population of 3,500 at a school designed for not more than 2,500. The NEISD recognized this growth, and as a part of its 1997 bond issue, the district included an allocation to build a new high school in this area although it has done little to nothing for the students currently attending to accommodate for this overpopulation.

After voters approved the bond issue, construction commenced on the 84 acre campus. The property had been purchased prior to this bond issue from descendants of rancher William Classen. Spaw Glass was the general contractor of the project. The name "Ronald Reagan" was chosen by future students of the school (those currently in attendance at other North East schools) from a list selected by the NEISD Board of Trustees. A spirit committee selected the mascot "Rattlers" from three finalists and chose green, silver and black as the school colors.

While finishing work was being completed on the new school, problems with the tiling in some classrooms led to the discovery that a previously unknown spring lay under the foundation of the building, causing cracks and perhaps long-lasting damage to the brand new school. Despite this problem,which prevented the use of some classroom facilities well into the first year of the school's operation, Reagan opened to much fanfare in August 1999.

Initially, due to its location and zoning, the school's classes were "pyramidal" - that is, the freshman and sophomore classes were among the largest of any school in San Antonio, and the Junior and Senior classes (due to many students' wishes to remain with extra curricular programs and teachers with whom they had formed special bonds over time) were disproportionately small. Despite the large underclasses, the school opened with a student population just under 2,000 students.

In its first year, Reagan competed as a 5A-NV or non-varsity school, fielding only a "JV" (junior varsity) football team that competed with other JV teams in Reagan's UIL district.

Past principals

Principal	Years Served
Joe Hannon	1999-2004
Bill Boyd	2004-Present

Organization

Reagan, like most NEISD high schools, is organized into departments, each with a chairperson who oversees and organizes the activities and efforts of that department and reports to the administrative staff. Each department in turn can consist either of a teacher who oversees a class schedule, or a sub-department (in the case of Athletics, Fine Arts and Foreign Language), which can be made up of one or more teachers (For instance, the director of bands oversees the Reagan Band and coordinates and organizes the activities of all assistant band directors).

School Year

Reagan uses a traditional U.S. school calendar, with classes beginning in late August or early September and ending in late May or early June. Students are given several holidays throughout the year (all federal holidays and one local holiday), in addition to two weeks off in December and January for holiday break and one week off in spring for spring break.

The academic calendar is broken into two semesters (fall and spring) and further subdivided into nine-week grading periods, during which students are issued three-week progress reports and a report card at the end of the period, which contributes one quarter of their final grade in the class.

Classes are graded on a 100-point grading scale, and each grade the student earns over their four-year high school career contributes to their ultimate class ranking. The 100-point grade is then converted into a four-point scale grade which appears on their high school transcript. Special weights are associated to classes based on their rigor (Advanced-placement classes are weighted one full grade point more (on the four-point scale). Consequently, if a student achieved a 3.3 in an advanced placement class, they would receive a 4.3 GPA ranking), and less rigorous courses might actually count against the student.

NEISD does not award competitive honors to students - any student earning a GPA of 100 or higher "ties" for the position of class valedictorian. In some schools, this can lead to a very large number of class valedictorians (as many as 100) as a result of large graduating class sizes and the extra weight given to advanced placement classes. Cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude awards are given based on the students' 100-point scale GPA upon graduation.

School Songs

Alma Mater

Reagan's school song, "Alma Mater" is a section of "Jupiter" from The Planets by composer Gustav Holst arranged by local composer David Mairs. The song was chosen by Reagan's first director of bands, J. Mark Chambers. The lyrics to the song were composed by Jo Scurlock-Dillard, the school's first Fine Arts department head and choir director. Reagan was among the first schools to select a famous classical work as its school song (as opposed to the more traditional method of having an original work composed for the school).

Rattler Fight

Reagan's fight song, "Rattler Fight" was composed by David Mairs, who was famous for composing many marching band shows (notably many of rival Churchill High School's until head director Fred Vollmar left to become head of Fine Arts for NEISD). The lyrics for the song were written by Alex Marks (Class of 1999), one of the few seniors with the courage to depart Churchill High School to help build traditions at a new school (Marks also served as the first Drum Major of the Reagan Marching Band, and the first (and only, as the position was later abolished) Speaker of the House of the Reagan Student Council.