Type public Principal Yolanda McKinney Grades 9–12 Phone +1 302-475-3951 | Established 1969 Teaching staff 82 Enrollment 1,353 Founded 1969 | |
Address 2501 Ebright Rd, Wilmington, DE 19810, USA District Brandywine School District Mascots Raider, Image:Concord Raider.png Similar Salesian School, Delcastle Technical High Sch, Padua Academy, PS DuPont Middle Sc, William Penn High School | ||
Concord High School is a public secondary school located in Wilmington, Delaware, one of three high schools in the Brandywine School District. There were 1,217 students enrolled in the fall for the 2012–2013 school year.
Contents
Academics
Concord is a fully inclusive high school that is ranked ninth of 15 Delaware public high schools. It offers a range of levels, including AP, Honors, College Preparatory, Traditional, and Special Education, as well as a non-diploma track. Concord participates in DCAS.
Student organizations
Athletics
Concord is a member of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA). The Raiders compete in the Blue Hen Conference, and are currently assigned to Flight A based on the school’s enrollment size falling below the conference’s average. For those sports which the DIAA has split schools into divisions for playoffs or state championship meets based on enrollment size, Concord is assigned to Division I. Concord fields a full slate of teams in all three sports seasons:
Concord's current Athletic Director is Mrs. Lisa Brooks
Concord (and all Brandywine School District High School's) are partnered with ATI Physical Therapy to provide Sports Medicine Services.
Choirs
Freshmen Women's Chorus
Mixed Chorus
Select Women's Chorus, is an audition-only choir for women
Chorale, is an audition-only group of the top 36–40 singers in Concord High School
Madrigals, the top 12–16 voices from the Concord Chorale are selected for the Concord Madrigals, an a cappella group which is student-run and meets after school.
Sweet Adelines, is a Barbershop for Women, an a cappella group that meets after school and is student-run.
Barbershop, is the Men's Barbershop, an a cappella group that meets after school and is student-run.
Concert Band
Concord also has 2 concert bands: Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and 2 Jazz Bands: Concord Creators, and Raider Jazz.
Concord has the only full orchestra in the state of Delaware that meets every day.
The Concord Players
2005–2006 school year: In Spring 2006, the Concord Players put on the production Singin' in the Rain in which an actual rain stage was built
2006–2007 school year: The fall play was the stage adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The spring musical was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
2007–2008 school year: The fall play was the stage adaptation of Rumors, and the spring musical was The Pajama Game. The set for Rumors won a national first place recognition from Scenographics, a distributor of blueprints for set design.
2008–2009 school year: The fall play was the stage adaptation of Charlotte's Web, and the spring musical was Mame.
2009–2010 school year: The fall play was the stage adaptation of You Could Die Laughing, and the spring musical was Once Upon a Mattress.
2010–2011 school year: The fall play was the stage adaption of You Can't Take It with You, and the spring musical was Anything Goes.
2011–2012 school year: The fall play was a murder-mystery Bone Chiller and the spring musical was the Tony Award winning success stage-musical Bye Bye Birdie.
2012–2013 school year: The fall play was a stage adaption of Meet Me In St. Louis and the spring musical was the Delaware premiere of Legally Blonde.
2013–2014 school year: The spring musical was Shrek The Musical.
2014–2015 school year: The fall play was a story of a cursed town Fools and the spring musical was Into the Woods.
History
In the 1960s, the area north of Wilmington (referred to as Brandywine Hundred) was growing rapidly. The school district (then known as the Alfred I. DuPont School district) was opening new schools as rapidly as possible. Soon, it became apparent that the one high school in the district, Brandywine High School, would not be able to handle the increase in students. The district decided to open a second high school rather than expand the existing one.
The student body for the new high school was developed slowly. At first, students from the existing two junior high schools (Forwood and Springer) were selected based on where they lived to attend the yet to be built high school. The first year (1967–68), Concord High School was held at the then new Hanby Junior High and consisted of 9th and 10th graders. The students met in the top floor while elementary students attended classes in the lower floor while their school was being built. The following year (1968–69), the student body was expanded to 9th, 10th and 11th grades and the elementary students were moved out to their new home.
During this period, the Concord High School building was under construction and planned to open in the fall of 1969. However, a worker strike and construction issues delayed its opening. Since the school was not completed, the student body now consisting of 10th through 12th grades was forced out of their temporary home at Hanby Junior High and into the Brandywine High School building on double sessions. Brandywine High School students attended their school in the morning, while the Concord students attended in the afternoon.
Concord High School finally opened in January 1970 and the first senior class graduated a few months later in June. Even though the school was open, construction was not completed in several areas including the gym, auditorium and swimming pool until the fall of 1970.
The first principal, Dr. William J. Bailey, promoted what was, at the time, a progressive environment that emphasized trust and responsibility among the students. Students were given then unheard of freedoms and responsibilities, which worked extremely well during the progressive periods of the late 1960s and early 1970s. For example, there was no dress code for students or teachers; there was a students' designated smoking area near the bus stops at the front of the building and a rotating schedule was in place with a free period which the students could use as they pleased, including listening to music in the cafeteria, reading in the library, or doing independent study in the classrooms. At one face-to-face between Dr. Bailey and the senior class Bailey was asked if there could be a "Senior Odd Day" at the school. Bailey paused, looked around the auditorium and jokingly said..."every day's senior odd day at this school." Some courses were offered on a non-graded basis, meaning students were placed depending on their abilities rather than their age. For example, English was offered in 5 levels of mastery and each level could have students from all three grades (10–12). Grading earned within each level was still the traditional A – F. Bailey left in the mid-1970s to become a professor of education at the University of Delaware.