Established 1901 Principal Zoraba Ross Phone +1 216-371-7101 | Superintendent Talisa Dixon Grades 9-12 | |
Type Public, Coeducational high school School district Cleveland Heights – University Heights City School District Address 2181 Miramar Blvd, University Heights, OH 44118, USA Hours Closed now Monday8AM–3PMTuesday8AM–2:15PMWednesday8AM–3PMThursday8AM–3PMFriday8AM–3PMSaturdayClosedSundayClosed | ||
Cleveland heights high school commencement june 1 2015
Cleveland Heights High School (or commonly known as Heights) is the senior high school of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District.
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History
Cleveland Heights High School was founded in 1901. The current student population is more than 1800, with 18 students per full-time teacher. The school is mostly African-American, with 76 percent identifying themselves as such, and Caucasian (19%), multiracial (4%) and Asian (1%) minorities.
Heights athletic teams play in Division I.
The school is known for its strong music departments, including the Vocal Music Department (VMD) which include A Cappella, Men's and Woman's Barbershop, Singers, and Men and Women's choruses. The Heights Gospel Choir was founded in 1974, and remains active as an extracurricular ensemble. The Instrumental Music Department (IMD) consists of the well respected Heights High Symphony, Symphonic Winds, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Concert Orchestra, Marching Band, Jazz Lab, and Jazz Band. During the 1960 and 1970s, Heights High's music programs were nationally renowned with the Choir and Orchestra considered amongst the best in the country. For a number of years, world-renowned musicians performed with the Orchestra and the Heights Band & Orchestra Parents organization and Heights Choir Parents Organization played a major role in promoting music and making Heights High synonymous with the highest quality music. Recently, the Heights High Symphony, Symphonic Winds and Jazz Ensemble competed in the 2007 Heritage Festival in Chicago, Illinois culminating at an award ceremony at Medieval Times where the Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Jazz Ensemble received Gold (or Superior) ratings.
The life stories of forty-eight fascinating graduates of Cleveland Heights High School are featured in the book Every Tiger Has a Tale written by Gary Stromberg, a 1968 graduate of the school.
In 1991, the school won the 23rd National High School chess tournament. The team consisted of Andy Gard, Joshua Jex, Ari Singer and Wenning Xing. Wenning Xing also tied for the second place individual spot with a score of 6.0 out of seven; Josh Waitzkin (of "Searching for Bobby Fischer" fame) took first place with 6.5 out of seven.
Gates Foundation involvement
Heights High School recently became a pilot school for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Small schools movement. Heights has divided itself into what used to be five and now four small schools designed to improve student achievement based on an individual's learning style. The five schools at Heights are:
Much controversy among the student population and teachers as well has risen around the implementation of Small Schools at Heights as well as how they have been run.
In popular culture
Cleveland Heights High School featured in the 2006 movie The Oh in Ohio that included Mischa Barton and Danny DeVito. The cafeteria and pool are easily recognizable, along with other spots frequented by Heights High students such as Coventry Village.