President William McKinley High School


President William McKinley High School, more commonly referred to as McKinley High School, is a comprehensive public high school in the Honolulu District of the Hawaii State Department of Education. It serves grades nine through twelve. McKinley is one of three schools in the Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area which includes Kaimuki High School and Roosevelt High School. It was founded as Fort Street English Day School in 1865. Later known as Honolulu High School, it was renamed in memorial to William McKinley, the twenty-fifth President of the United States, in 1907. President William McKinley High School is one of the oldest secondary schools in the state and several of its buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The campus displays sculptures by Satoru Abe and Bumpei Akaji. McKinley High School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

History

The high school was established in 1865 as the Fort Street English Day School and was founded by Maurice B. Beckwith. In November 1869, it was moved to Keōua Hale, the former palace of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. In 1895, it was renamed to Honolulu High School. In 1907, it was moved to the corner of Beretania and Victoria Streets and renamed President William McKinley High School. It finally moved to its present campus on King Street in 1923.
On June 5, 1938, the school gave diplomas to 1,288 students, the largest number of diplomas in the history of the school.

Crosswalk incident

In February 2023, McKinley High School junior Sara Yara was killed in a hit and run after a driver ran her over on a crosswalk near the school. The driver was charged with negligent homicide, amongst other charges. As a result of the incident, speed bumps, raised crosswalks, and red light cameras were added around the school's vicinity.

Academics

As of the 2023-2024 school year, the school is ranked #13 in Hawaii and #4,394 in national on the US News and World Report. The school had a 44.4% advanced placement participation rate, with 20% passing the exam.

Graduation requirements

As of the 2023-2024 school year, the school requires six credits in Electives, four credits in English, four credits in Social Studies, three credits in Mathematics, three credits in Science, two credits in either Fine Arts, World Languages, or Career Technical Education/JROTC, one credit in Physical Education, a half credit in Health, and a half credit for the Personal Transition Plan, for a total of 24 credits.

Academy structure

The school utilizes a career academy structure, which places freshmen students into a single housed academy and allows them to choose a career academy for their sophomore through senior year. The career academies are the Academy of Health Sciences, the McKinley Business Academy, the Tiger Media Learning Center Academy, and the McKinley STEM Academy. The school also offers a Global Academy, which allows students to take electives that are not a part of an academy.

Student demographics

School Year 2010-2011
  • Enrollment - 1782
  • Number of Economically Disadvantaged Students - 1026
Racial composition:

Faculty

School Year 2001-2002
  • Total number of teachers - 108
  • Number of teachers with 5 or more years at this school - 85
  • Average years of experience - 18.1
  • Number of teachers with advanced degrees - 32
School Year 2010-2011
  • Total number of teachers - 98
  • Number of teachers with 5 or more years at this school - 69
  • Average years of experience - 17.2
  • Number of teachers with advanced degrees - 42

Complex area information

McKinley High School is part of the Hawaii Department of Education Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area along with Kaimuki High School and Roosevelt High School.

McKinley Complex

The McKinley Complex consists of 11 elementary, middle, and public charter schools including McKinley.
  • Central Middle School
  • Halau Lokahi Public Charter School
  • Kaahumanu Elementary School
  • Kaiulani Elementary School
  • Kauluwela Elementary School
  • Lanakila Elementary School
  • Likelike Elementary School
  • Lunalilo Elementary School
  • Myron B. Thompson Academy
  • Royal Elementary School
  • Voyager Public Charter School

Feeder Middle Schools

McKinley High School feeds primarily from 4 middle schools in the Honolulu area.

Extracurricular activities

Clubs

The school offers a variety of clubs. Notable clubs based on organizations include CyberPatriot, DECA, National FFA Organization, and HOSA. Notable service clubs include Key Club and Leo Club.

Athletics

McKinley competes in the Oahu Interscholastic Association. As of the 2024-2025 school year, McKinley has 56 teams competing in 19 sports. These sports include cheerleading, cross country running, football, volleyball, soft tennis, bowling, air riflery, softball, basketball, soccer, swimming, golf, wrestling, canoe paddling, baseball, tennis, judo, boys volleyball, track and field, water polo, and flag football.
McKinley has fielded girls teams in basketball, volleyball, and swimming as early as in the 1910s. Some years even fielded girls baseball team before softball became recognized as its own sport. The yearbooks of those early years noted games often against St. Andrew's Priory, YWCA, Palama, Normal School, and even College of Hawaii. McKinley was a founding member of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu in 1909 alongside Punahou and Kamehameha. In 1970, McKinley left the ILH with four other Honolulu area public schools to join the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
The 1933 football team traveled across the Pacific Ocean and went on to defeat Weber College, Brigham Young University freshmen team, and Ricks College. Ricks College traveled to Honolulu the following year. McKinley won again by the score of 24–6 in a game attended by about 19,000 fans.

Football

The McKinley Tigers varsity football team competes in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red-East division. Joseph Cho has served as the team's head coach since 2010.
For the 2010 and 2011 seasons, McKinley's Tiger football team competed in the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Division along with seven other Oahu public schools including rival Kaimuki High School. In 2012, the football team was promoted to the OIA Red-East Division where it currently competes with six other Oahu public schools. The Tigers' homefield is currently the 3000 seat Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium on the Roosevelt High School campus.
In September 2012, the McKinley football team traveled to Corvallis, Oregon to play the OSAA 4A champions La Salle High School Falcons on the campus of Crescent Valley High School. McKinley won 43–22.
Season records

McKinley Athletic Complex

In September 2008, it was announced that McKinley was planning to upgrade its aging athletic facilities. Expected to cost more than $121 million, the upgrade has 14 elements including a 1,200 stall parking lot, construction of a second gym, renovation of the current gym, construction of a girls softball stadium, construction of a baseball stadium, construction of a 50-meter swimming pool, and construction of a 10,000 seat football stadium.
In 2011, ground was broken on the softball stadium. When completed, the softball stadium will be designated as the OIA softball championship field.

Noted alumni

Listed alphabetically by last name :

Architecture gallery

The architect most involved in the early layout of the King Street campus and design of its Spanish Colonial Revival buildings was Louis E. Davis. The original quadrangle was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

In popular culture

Several characters of the ninth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, The JoJoLands attend the school, including the main protagonist, Jodio Joestar.