Eastern High School (Kentucky)

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Eastern High school
Established	1950
Type	Public Secondary Magnet
Principal	James A. Sexton
Students	~2,000
Grades	9–12
Location	Louisville, Kentucky ,United States
District	Jefferson County Public Schools
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Blue █ and White █
Mascot	Eagle
Newspaper	The Eagles Quill
Students per Teacher	20:1
Website	Eastern High School

Founded in 1950, Louisville Eastern High School is located off Shelbyville Road in Middletown, Kentucky, Eastern High School offers a blend of tradition and excellence. With an enrollment of over 1,750 students, this school has been the pilot for education partnerships with companies such as IBM, Dell and Microsoft.

1 Academics
2 Athletics
- 2.1 Football
3 Famous alumni
4 History
5 Censorship controversy
6 Clubs and Groups
7 External links

[edit] Academics

Eastern was recently chosen by Newsweek as the #300 School in America by virtue of its high rates of AP course taken and passed (over 50% pass rate of over 500 tests taken). This is remarkable because, unlike Louisville's other two entries, duPont Manual HS at 225 and Male HS at 700+, Eastern is not a magnet school. While it does have a large technology program, it is fueled by regular students from all over the county.

It should be noted, however, that Newsweek's ranking was based solely on the number of AP tests - or IB, though the only school in Jefferson County that has IB classes is Atherton - taken at the school, divided by the number of graduating seniors. Because both duPont Manual and Male High Schools discourage students from taking tests they are not prepared to take, this ranking actually reflects poorly on Eastern. When looking at actual AP scores, Manual and Male students both score much higher on average than those at Eastern.

[edit] Athletics

Eastern offers teams in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, chess, cross country, cross dressing, dance, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, rifle, softball, soccer, swimming, track and field, tennis, volleyball and wrestling. Within the past decade Eastern has won state championships in girls' track as well as boys' basketball and soccer. The James A. Sexton athletic complex, which includes a football, baseball, softball, soccer, and field hockey field, as well as tennis courts, is regarded as the best in the city of Louisville.

The boys basketball team was the state runner up in 1957, losing the championship game to Lexington Lafayette 55-52. In 1997 Eastern's boys basketball team won the state championship and finished the season with a 35-2 record. In 2003 and in 2006 the boys basketball team won the LIT (Louisville Invitational Tournament).

The girls track team has won 9 state championships (most recently in 2006) and has been the state runner up 6 times. The boys track team won the state championship in 1990 and has been the state runner up 5 times.

The boys soccer team won the state championship in 1996.

Eastern has won several state tennis championships and won the 1955 state golf championship.

Eastern has won the state chess titles three times, the last coming in 1989.

Eastern's wrestling team has been the state runner up twice, in 1979 and 1993.

[edit] Football

The Eastern Eagles football team represents Eastern High School in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. They play their home games at Eagle Field in Middletown, Kentucky. Ken Whalen is the current head coach of the Eagles.

[edit] Famous alumni

Ned Beatty, Class of 1955, actor
Stan Curtis, Class of 1967, founder of the Kentucky Harvest charity
Quentin Dastugue, Class of 1973, elected to the Louisiana legislature at age 23, serving for 16 years; Republican nominee for Governor of Louisiana in 1995
Hugh Durham, Class of 1955, former head basketball coach at the University of Georgia
Tom Easterly, Class of 1958, member of the Kentucky Senate 1974-1982, Florida House of Representatives 1988-1990, and Democratic nominee, Kentucky's 6th congressional district in 1978
Ashley Eicher, Miss Tennessee 2004
Carroll Hubbard, Class of 1955, former member of the United States House of Representatives
Don Janzen, Class of 1954, author
Mike McCoy, Class of 1970, a football player for the Houston Oilers
Rajon Rondo, Class of 2004, basketball player for the University of Kentucky and Boston Celtics; first round NBA draft pick, 2006
Felton Spencer, Class of 1986, former NBA basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs; 6th overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft
William S. Wallace, Class of 1965, a four star general in the United States Army who commanded all U.S. forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Todd Wellemeyer, major league baseball player

[edit] History

The school opened in 1950 on its present site in Middletown, Kentucky. The library was later added to the front of the school, giving the building a layout in the shape of the letter "E". The school has been part of the Jefferson County school system since before the county system aborted the old Louisville city school system. The school was co-ed from its start and was integrated long before busing was ordered in Jefferson County.

Court-ordered busing began in Louisville and Jefferson County schools in 1975. As the 1975 school year began, 900 National Guard troops were sent to Jefferson County schools by Governor of Kentucky Julian Carroll at the request of Louisville mayor Harvey I. Sloane and Jefferson County judge-executive Todd Hollenbach. Several anti-busing riots occurred elsewhere in Jefferson County. Eastern saw some protests against bushing but was relatively tranquil because the school was already desegregated.

[edit] Censorship controversy

In March 2007 Eastern's principal, James Sexton, ordered that Advanced Placement English classes at the school stop using the Toni Morrison novel "Beloved", and instead read "The Scarlet Letter". Students, parents and others in the community were angered by the unilateral decision. ^[1]^[2] On March 28 WHAS 11 News has a short blurp about the controversy. Many students ended up angered at the two news articles because they felt it should have been dealt with internally. The student who wrote to the Courier Journal^[3] suffered rude remarks.