McLean High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

McLean High School is a public secondary school located in McLean, Virginia. It is located on 1633 Davidson Road and part of Fairfax County Public Schools.

According to the school's home page, Mclean High School is located four miles from Washington, D.C., and tucked into the northeastern section of Fairfax County, McLean High School provides a supportive environment for the whole student—focusing on student achievement, while encouraging participation in sports, the arts, clubs, publications, and other co-curricular and extracurricular activities. The quality of our students’ educational experiences is a direct reflection of our community’s commitment to its schools and education. McLean is home to a highly educated business and professional population, including employees of the federal government, as well as international business and government professionals.

McLean offers an academically challenging program with courses designed to compliment the broad interests and abilities of a culturally diverse student body. Because of the strong academic orientation of the McLean community, the curriculum focuses on college preparation with an impressive array of advanced placement courses, while offering a wide variety of electives designed to appeal to all interests and vocations. Electives offerings include everything from an award-winning fine and performing arts program, with orchestral, choral, and instrumental levels suitable for the beginner or the expert performer to a preschool program in our early childhood education classes. McLean has provided the impetus for students to matriculate to the best universities and to embark on successful careers in a variety of fields. [1]

According to Newsweek Magazine's 2006 list of the top US high schools, McLean was ranked 86.[2]

Contents 1 Demographics 2 Test Scores 3 Athletics 4 Mascot 5 Newspaper 6 Yearbook 7 Notable Alumni 8 Spots in McLean HS 9 TurnItIn Controversy

[edit] Demographics

McLean High School's student body is 70% White; 4% Black; 7% Hispanic; and 19% Asian.

[edit] Test Scores

McLean High School is a fully accredited high school based on the Standards of Learning tests in Virginia. The average SAT score in 2006 for McLean was 1,755 (583 in Critical Reading, 602 in Math, and 570 in Writing).

[edit] Athletics

The school plays in the AAA Liberty District and the Northern Region. Their mascot is the Highlander, and their primary rival school is Langley High School, also in McLean.

[edit] Mascot

The school considered itself "The Eagles" before they became "The Highlanders." Girls' sport teams were known as "The Bald Eagles." The mascot was changed to what it is today in 1958 after a school wide vote to stick with the Scottish heritage of McLean, Virginia.

[edit] Newspaper

McLean also has an award winning newspaper, Highlander. In 2006, Highlander was inducted into the high school newspaper Hall of Fame after ten years of consecutively being an "All American." The paper can also be seen at its website [3].

Two writers from the paper won "National Story of the Year" awards while attending the school. The first was a feature story about the under age drinking that occurs at friday parties in student homes. The other was a sports story that revealed tobacco was being chewed on school grounds by some coaches and their players.

Highlander has existed since the school opened. In 1956, it was name the Hilltop Highlights, but was changed in 1958 to The Highlander. Since the paper's first publication, it has gone from being a newpaper to a newsmagazine and back to its current state, a newspaper. This year is volume 51 of the Highlander.

[edit] Yearbook

The Clan has been McLean's award winning yearbook since the school's first year. In 2005, The Clan was inducted into the high school yearbook Hall of Fame after ten years of consecutively being an "All American."

[edit] Notable Alumni

• Aldrich Ames- Ames is a 1959 graduate who became a CIA agent. He was convicted in 1994 for spying for the Soviet Union. Ames' story is widely told in novels and movies, and was also featured on the March 7, 1994 cover of Time (magazine).

• William F. Readdy- Readdy is a 1970 graduate who became an astronaut. He has flown three missions during his career.

• Duff Goldman- Goldman attended McLean during his sophomore year. He opened a bakery in Baltimore, Maryland and became the star of his own Food Network show, Ace of Cakes. He considers his McLean art teacher, Jeffery Meizlik, his biggest inspiration.

• Vern Yip- Yip graduated in 1986. He's a well known interior designer, who has appeared on design show Trading Spaces.

[edit] Spots in McLean HS

Craighill S. Burks Theater- The theater is named after the first principal that served McLean for ten years.

Elizabeth V. Lodal Library- The library is named after the principal that served McLean between 1985 and 1995.

Basil R. Harless Stadium- The stadium is named after the former varsity basketball coach who drowned in a boating accident in 1963.

The Rock- This is a four ton boulder given to McLean by the class of 1988. It is located at the rear entrance of the school and is painted by students on special occasions or events.

The Bomb Shelter- Though most students have heard of it's existence, almost none have seen it. It is located under the stage of the Craighill S. Burks Theater and was built as a bomb shelter in the event of a nuclear attack during the Cold War.

[edit] TurnItIn Controversy

In 2006, McLean implemented TurnItIn, an anti-plagiarism website aimed at deterring students from cheating. Several students objected to this implementation, believing it violated intellectual property rights. These students formed a Committee For Students' Rights and circulated a petition to stop the use of TurnItIn, which got over 1000 signatures. After this, use of the website was limited to freshmen and sophomores, and juniors and seniors would not have to use it. The Committee For Students' Rights still objected to this however. Following this, Dr. John Barrie, the creator of TurnItIn, came to the school to defend the website. The students still disagreed, and the controversy of violating intellectual property rights has not been resolved.

In early 2007, TurnItIn sued the Committee for defaming their image, but later fired their lawyers and dropped the lawsuit. The controversy between TurnItIn, McLean's administration, and the students still goes on today; no side wants to back down from their position.

In addition, many parents are against the use of TurnItIn.com, due to its cost and the fact that the school supports a company that would sue students.

On March 27, 2007, two McLean High underclassmen, joined by two underclassmen from a high school in Arizona, filed sued in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Virginia against Turnitin's parent company iParadigms, LLC. The Complaint charged copyright infringement and asked for $900,000 in damages and an injunction precluding Turnitin from archiving student papers without their permission.