Plano Senior High School
Plano Senior High School is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas, serving students in grades 11–12. The school is part of the Plano Independent School District, with admission based primarily on the locations of students' homes. Plano is a two-time Blue Ribbon School and a Texas Exemplary School. Students at Plano Senior typically attended one of two feeder high schools: Clark or Vines.
Founded in 1891 as Plano Public School, serving both primary and secondary students, the school was, by the mid-1910s, sending a majority of its graduating students on to college. Plano High School, created in 1952 by separating the primary students into Mendenhall Elementary School, was immediately accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, allowing its graduates to enter college without taking an entrance exam. In 1964, Plano High School integrated with the Frederick Douglass School, and the integrated football team won the first of the school's seven state championships in 1965. In 1975, the school moved to a new campus with five buildings, very similar to the layout of a junior college, where it has remained since. The old building is now the T. H. Williams High School, serving 9th and 10th grade. During the first year only at the new campus, PSHS served 10th – 12th grade, making the Class of 1978 the only class to attend school at this campus for three years.
Plano administers more Advanced Placement tests each year than any other school west of the Mississippi River and all but one school in the United States. The school is accredited by the Texas Education Agency as well as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Plano was ranked in the top 2,000 high schools in the United States in 2013. Plano's mascot is the Wildcat. In 2013 Plano was ranked 117th in Newsweek's review of America's Best High Schools.
As of the 2012–2013 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,627 students and 149.54 classroom teachers, for a student-teacher ratio of 17.57:1.
History
Plano Public School
In the 19th century, various private institutions existed within Plano for the education of children. One of these, the Plano Institute, was a private school founded in 1882 that offered an Artium Baccalaureatus degree. On June 9, 1891, the people of Plano determined by a vote that the city should assume control of the schools. In July of that same year, the citizens approved a fifty cent tax for school purposes and for the purchase of the Plano Institute's land and building. The building was used for the new Plano Public School, from which Plano Senior High School would develop. Thus, 1891 is generally considered the school's foundation year. The original school grounds would later become the Cox Administration Building. In 1892, Plano graduated its first class of five people.In 1899, the Plano Independent School District became a separate entity from the city. Because of this separation, 1899 is cited by the district as the establishment date for Plano Senior High School. Starting in 1901, the school was affiliated with the University of Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, and Southwestern in order to ensure that graduates could secure entrance to college. Unfortunately for students, official affiliations eventually ended due to budget restrictions. However, the affiliations, coupled with the high standards of Plano schools, led to a large number of graduating students going on to attend college. By the mid-1910s, a majority of the graduating class matriculated to an institute of higher learning, such as the University of Texas at Austin or Baylor University. According to the 1915 Plano Review, "The University of Texas probably draws more students from Plano than any one other institution." The Review goes on to state that "no town in Texas, in proportion to its size, has more students in higher institutions of learning than Plano."
The original building burned down in 1894 and was reconstructed on the same site. The rebuilt Plano Public School again burned down in the spring of 1903, leading to the construction of yet another new building. The students went to classes in the local Opera House until the completion of the new building, often called the "Spanish School" because of its Moorish architecture. Following its construction, the district built various new facilities to support its students, including a new band hall, gymnasium, and auditorium.
In 1922, the Texas Department of Education informed the district that the Spanish School was "inadequate... for high school work." By 1924, the district had constructed a new building to house the Plano Public School. In 1935, while the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, the WPA offered to build the district a much-needed new gym. The US$125,000 building, completed in 1938, was used as a gym, auditorium, classroom, and laboratory, allowing new subjects to be taught, including agriculture, business, and home economics. At the time, Texas required that students complete 16 credits, or full semester courses, to graduate. This expansion allowed Plano students a choice of 30 credits with which to fulfill the requirement.
Plano High School
In September 1952, Mendenhall Elementary School was created, allowing primary students to be separated from secondary students. That same year, the newly created Plano High School was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, allowing its graduates to enter college without taking an entrance exam. In 1961, Plano High School moved to a new location on the east side of town, now the site of Williams High School, and the new building was constructed at a cost of $993,590.Following the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, the Plano school board considered the issue of integrating Plano High School with Plano Colored High School. The school board formed a committee of "colored citizens" to address the concern. Twice, in 1955 and 1957, when asked if they favored integration, the citizens on the committee stated they "were perfectly happy with their school and would like to be left alone." In 1964, the issue was raised again when the school board voted to let students of the Plano Colored School, by then renamed the Frederick Douglass School, decide if they wanted to integrate with Plano High School. The students voted to integrate, and Douglass School became a primary facility. The 1964–1965 football team, the first integrated team for the school, won the first state championship in school history, helping to ease racial tensions. By 1968, Douglass School was closed. The Texas Education Agency later praised the district for its handling of integration, calling it "an exceptional job."
Plano Senior High School
In the 1970s, in response to massive growth and with a desire to lower dropout rates and increase college readiness, then Superintendent H. Wayne Hendrick began a search for a new way to organize the school system. After touring several successful systems across the country, including those in Flint, Michigan; Cherry Creek, Colorado; Evanston, Illinois; and Hillsboro, Oregon, Hendrick found none of their systems suitable for Plano's needs. He instead decided to create a new senior high system. While the majority of American high schools serve students from grades nine through twelve, Plano's high schools serve only ninth and tenth graders, while senior high schools serve eleventh and twelfth graders. Two high schools feed into each senior high school, such as Plano Senior High. This system allows students to complete most of their required credits in high school and specialize with vocational classes at the senior high.Campus
The current campus dates from 1975. The plan created a site with five buildings, very similar to the layout of a junior college. The campus now contains six buildings with the addition in 2002 of an indoor workout facility. The buildings are interconnected by greenspace, which features a man-made pond as the central element. The campus was constructed at a cost of 10.3 million U.S. dollars. The school opened for the 1975–1976 school year with only two buildings completed. By Christmas of 1975, all five buildings were completed, and the school was dedicated on March 7, 1975. The new senior high school offered a broad variety of studies previously unseen in the district. The new facility offered courses in social studies, drama, art, and journalism as well as vocational studies in clothing design, professional childcare, air conditioning repair, and metalworking.Due to high population growth rates in Plano, Plano East Senior High School opened to juniors in 1981 to alleviate overcrowding. And in 1999, Plano West Senior High School opened to juniors for the same purpose.
Plano Senior High students currently feed from Vines and Clark High Schools. In 2002, Plano completed an $18 million renovation, making ADA compliance upgrades, and renovations to the science department, HVAC, fire sprinkler, and security systems, and site lighting. Renovation work which took place between 2010 and 2011 focused on updating fine arts spaces and adding new science classrooms.
The campus is slated to receive major renovations and additions as part of Plano ISD's 2022 bond program. Planned changes include a new cafeteria, library, and front entrance, with expected completion in 2028. The school's new baseball and softball complex is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in May 2025.
Demographics
In the 2012–2013 school year, the demographic breakdown of the 2,627 students enrolled, was:- Male – 49.4%
- Female – 50.6%
- Native American/Alaskan – 0.2%
- Asian/Pacific islander – 22.6%
- Black – 6.9%
- Hispanic – 13.3%
- White – 53.5%
- Multiracial – 3.5%
Academics
Plano was named a National Blue Ribbon School in the 1984–85 school year and again from 1994 to 1996. In the 2007 graduating class, 97% of graduates went on to college or university: 80% went on to four-year universities, while 17% went to two-year colleges. Students in the class achieved an average composite SAT score of 1163 out of 1600 and a mean composite ACT score of 24.7 out of 36. Many Plano students received National Merit Scholarship accolades in the 2007 school year, including 46 finalists, 54 semi-finalists, and 62 commended students. These individual class statistics are indicative of previous years' performances.