Superintendent Steve Thompson Grades 9-12 Phone +1 440-975-3648 Colors Grey, Columbia blue | Principal Zachary Weagley Enrollment 1,400 Number of students 1,400 | |
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Type Public, Coeducational high school Athletics conference Western Reserve Conference Profiles | ||
South High School is a public high school in Willoughby, Ohio. It is one of two high schools in the Willoughby-Eastlake City School District. The school was created when the Willoughby Union High School was split into South High and North High School
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About 20 minutes east of Cleveland, Willoughby South High School is located close to scenic and historical Downtown Willoughby. The total enrollment is between 1,200 and 1,400 students in grades 9-12. The principal is Zachary Weagley and the two assistant principals are David Miller (11-12 grades) and Christopher Plush (9-10 grades). James Mormino is the athletic director.
Willoughby South, along with its sister school (and rival), Eastlake North High School, have been awarded the Blue Ribbon School award by the US Department of Education (the highest award attainable by American Schools), and both schools have won the Ohio Academic Decathlon multiple times. [2]
Athletics
Willoughby South is a member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and part of the 8-team Premier Athletic Conference.
Sports include:
Academic Decathlon
Willoughby South has won the Academic Decathlon state competition 8 times, most recently in 2010.
Notable alumni
Flag Controversy
For many years, the flag of South High was the Confederate Battle Flag used in the American Civil War. The school has since then adopted a new flag, which is simply a re-coloration of the Confederate Flag. The original decision to name the school the "South Rebels" stemmed from the original Union High, with "South Rebels" seeming to some to be the logical name for the school after the "Union" was split. however, there is the problem of seeming to celebrate the Confederacy, whose secession from the Union was centered on the institution of slavery.
In October 2010, A shirt depicting a re-coloration of the Confederate Flag was sold in the spirit shop. The Principal decided to pull the shirts. The spirit shop offered to refund any money students paid for the shirt or to replace them with a less inflammatory version; however, many students chose to keep the Confederate flag shirt as an expression of support for their traditional flag.
Shooting incident
On September 2, 2008, a student brought a gun to school and fired two rounds within the school, one piercing the ceiling, another shattering a trophy case. The student then put the gun to his head, but was talked out of doing himself any harm by the Vice Principal of Eastlake North, Jeff Lyons.