Wiki Wednesday 12-26-07

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on “Random article” in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Most schools in the USA are on winter break for the holidays right now, probably including this one:

Bel Air High School is a high school in the city of El Paso, Texas, USA.

Bel Air High School is located in the city of El Paso, Texas. It was established in 1957. Bel Air had its first graduating senior class in 1961 with only 61 graduates; today Bel Air High School has 400+ graduates annually. The school is in the Ysleta Independent School District, Bel Air is a school for Health Professions.

Bel Air High School made Newsweek‘s list of the nation’s top high schools based on rankings influenced heavily by the number of students who took Advanced Placement tests last year. According to a MSNBC.com report, Bel Air ranks 984th on Newsweek’s list of the nation’s top high schools. The schools were ranked based on the number of students taking the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in 2004 divided by the number of graduating seniors. Earlier this year, Bel Air was removed from a Texas Education Agency (TEA) list of schools that did not meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (August 2005) required by the federal government as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. The school is now in good standing as of October 2005

A decade ago, Bel Air was on the verge of being taken over by the state for poor academic performance. Instead of state oversight, the school in 1996 became the only public high school in the county to be reconstituted, meaning all employees, from custodians to teachers, had to reapply for their jobs at the school. Only former principal Vern Butler was allowed to remain without having to reapply for his job. Seventy-three of the 132 teachers and staff members who were at Bel Air were rehired.

The current facilities consists of a main building, a four story science wing and library, Army JROTC Building, Health Professions(HP) Building, Fine Arts Building, a Theatre Building, and a modern high school stadium.

In October 2006, 12 teachers at Bel Air High School filed a grievance against the Ysleta Independent School District claiming they were required to work during off-duty hours without compensation. The grievance claimed labor-law violations and harassment from then principal, Daniel Girard and other administrators. In June 2007, the Ysleta Independent School District Board of Trustees apologized to the teachers who complained but voted not to compensate the teachers. After the filing of the grievance, several teachers had either requested a transfer to another school, or quit. Daniel Girard, who had been Principal of Bel Air High School since September 25, 2005, accepted a job as a principal of Akins High School in the Austin Independent School District. Upon Mr. Girard’s acceptance of principalship in Austin in May 2007, Marvyn Luckett who had priviously been with the YISD for over 22 years was appointed Principal of Bel Air High School for the 2007-2008 school year.

Check out their Wikipedia article for statistics and info about extracurriculars and teams.

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