Danvers High School

Danvers High School (DHS) is a public high school in Danvers, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Danvers Public Schools school district.

Danvers High School
Address
60 Cabot Road

Danvers
,
MA
01923

United States
Coordinates42°34′56″N 70°55′53″W
Information
TypeComprehensive high school
Motto"Ladies and Gentlemen Always"
Established1962
School districtDanvers Public Schools
SuperintendentMary Wermers
PrincipalAdam Federico[1]
Faculty100.8 (on full-time equivalent (FTE) basis)
Grades9–12
Enrollment974 (2016-17)[2]
Hours in school day7:30am - 1:55pm
Campus size46 acres
Campus typeSingle Building
Color(s)Royal blue and white   
Fight songVictory's Falcon (Played by the Falcon Marching band at home games and meets)
Athletics conferenceNortheastern Conference (NEC)
MascotFalcon
RivalGloucester Beverly
AccreditationNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
NewspaperThe Flying Onion
Feeder schoolsHolten-Richmond Middle School
Danvers Elementary Schools
WebsiteSchool website

Demographics

Student enrolment for the 2017-2018 School year (Grades 9-12) was 941. The school employs 85.2 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) teachers. The average class size is 19.1 (State average is 18.1) and the ratio of teachers to students is 1:13.

History

Opened in September 1962, Danvers High School was the successor to Holten High School. This had opened in 1855 originally in the town hall, with 67 students.[3] It had been funded by the Danvers Prudential Committee.[4]

Danvers High School received national (and later international) attention in 2009[5] when use of the word "meep" by students was forbidden, due to its disruptive use by some students.[6] Principal Thomas Murray banned the word, and threatened police action over its use in either speech or on clothing.[7][8]

In June 2010, The Boston Globe commended the speech "Operation Red Sprinkles" [9] by DHS Salutatorian Anisha Shenai (class of 2010), as one of the most e-mailed inspirational articles at Boston.com.[10]

In 2010, the school began a renovation project which was finished in time for the 2013-2014 school year. With a cost of $70 million, roughly half of it going to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the project saw updates to the auditorium, the field house, the Vye Gym and the general classroom wing. New sections included the library, the cafeteria, the science labs, the engineering labs, the administration offices, and the chorus and band rooms. It was the first major change the school since its initial construction in 1962.

Murder of Colleen Ritzer

On October 22, 2013, math teacher Colleen Ritzer, 24, was murdered in a restroom at the school. Ritzer's body was found dumped about 20 feet into the woods behind the northeastern Massachusetts high school’s athletic fields. Student Philip Chism, then 14, was arraigned in her death.[11][12] On November 21, 2013, Chism was indicted on charges of murder, aggravated rape and armed robbery.[13] Chism was charged as an adult and, on December 15, 2015, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated rape and armed robbery.[14] On February 26, 2016 he was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole in 40 years.[15]

The school was given additional financial support by the U.S. Department of Education to help it recover from the murder.[16]

Academics

Danvers High School offers the following levels of instruction: College Preparatory and Honors, Accelerated and Advanced Placement coursework. Standardized tests include the PSAT, SAT, SAT II, ACT, AP and MCAS.

Assistant superintendent and principal

The positions of assistant superintendent and principals were merged in 2011, and then replaced by the position of principal in 2017.

  •  ? - 2010: Tim Murray (high school principal)
  • 2010 - 2017: Susan Ambrozavitch (assistant superintendent of schools and high school principal)
  • 2017 - 2021: Dr. Jason Colombino (high school principal)
  • 2021 - : Adam Federico (high school principal)

Athletics

The school plays under the Danvers Falcons moniker and competes in the Northeastern Conference of District A in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The school fields teams in seven spring sports, eight fall sports, and 10 winter sports.

The arts

Marching band

The Falcon Marching Band has performed three times in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. They have also performed in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Hawaii. The Band was under the direction of Ron Parsons from 1987-2019 when he retired from his job at the school. During the beginning of summer 2019, his successor, Jeffrey Daniels; began his job as the new director of the falcon marching band.

A cappella

There are three a cappella groups at Danvers High School, Deception, Skywave, and Falconize. Deception is a six-person co-ed group that consists of members from Skywave and Falconize. Skywave, formerly called Ingrid Sound, is an all treble-voice group. Falconize is a co-ed cappella group.

Notable alumni

References
  1. "CONTACT – Danvers High School".
  2. "Danvers High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  3. Trask, Richard B (2008). "Touching the Past Occasional Descriptions of Items Within the Collections of the Danvers Archival Center". Danvers Archival Center. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  4. "Peabody High School". Peabody School History Project. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  5. McKean, Erin. "Meep!". Boston.com.
  6. Forman, Ethan. "What's wrong with 'meep'? It's all in how you say it" Archived 2012-07-15 at archive.today, The Salem News, 10 November 2009.
  7. "Meep Banned At Danvers High School". wbztv.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  8. "Danvers High School says students can't say 'meep'". Boston Herald. bostonherald.com. Archived from the original on 2009-11-15. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  9. "Operation Red Sprinkles"
  10. "Danvers High Salutatorian Speech", Boston Globe, Boston.com, Retrieved June 16, 2010.
  11. Botelho, Greg; Brown, Don; Brown, Pamela (October 25, 2013). "Sources: Teen followed Danvers teacher into bathroom, killed her with box cutter". CNN. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  12. "14-year-old charged with killing beloved Danvers, Massachusetts, teacher". CNN. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  13. "Massachusetts teen accused of killing teacher indicted on murder, other charges". CNN. November 21, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  14. "Massachusetts teen found guilty of murdering math teacher, other charges". CNN. December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  15. "Teenager who raped and killed his maths teacher is jailed for life". The Guardian. February 27, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  16. "U.S. Department of Education Awards Nearly $50,000 Grant to Danvers High School to Restore Safe School Environment". U.S. Department of Education. U.S. Department of Education. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  17. "Boston.com / Sports / College / Football / A_Giant_among_us?". archive.boston.com. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  18. "Nick Di Paolo to perform in Beverly". Danvers Herald. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  19. "Representative Theodore C. Speliotis". Retrieved February 1, 2018.

Bibliography
  • Ladies and Gentlemen Always: The Illustrated Story of Holten High School, Richard P. Zollo and Virginia Sherry Zollo (1994)
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