Keystone Oaks High School

Keystone Oaks High School
Location
1000 Kelton Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15216
Information
Type	Public high school
Established	1969
School district	Keystone Oaks School District
Principal	Scott Hagy
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	865
Mascot	Ultan "Angry Ginger" McGlone
Information	412-571-6039
Website	K.O. High School

Keystone Oaks High School, built in 1969, is a public high school in the South Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the only high school in the Keystone Oaks School District. It is usually referred to as "KO."

History

The main building of the high school was built in 1969, four years after the three suburbs of Green Tree, Dormont and Castle Shannon combined their students to form a common school district. The high school was built on a 43-acre (170,000 m²) tract of land in neighboring Mount Lebanon, just outside the southwest border of Dormont. The site adjoined the Kelton Avenue Elementary School, which no longer exists.

The name 'Keystone Oaks' refers to the merger of the three school districts: 'key' for the 'door' in Dormont; 'stone' from the 'castle' in Castle Shannon; and 'oak' as a tree in Green Tree. The name was suggested by Thomas Clark, of the Class of 1965, and was chosen as part of a student competition to name the new school district.

Due to the deteriorating state of the district's Jay Neff Middle School (the original Dormont High School), a new middle school was attached to the old high school in 1996. This precipitated a massive redesign of the grounds, including the demolition of a little-used outdoor amphitheatre and the construction of a band practice field and new tennis courts. These tennis courts were later repaved in 2006.

Through the summer of 2001 and the 2001-2002 school year, the high school was extensively renovated.

In January 2007, the school officially decided to turn its Journalism and TV/Video Classes into clubs, so as to ease the strain of increased class sizes on English teachers.

Academic achievement

In 2009, Keystone Oaks High School was ranked 83rd out of 123 western Pennsylvania high schools, by the Pittsburgh Business Times for academic achievement based on three years of the PSSAs on: reading, writing, math and one year of science.

Graduation Rate:
2009 - 94%
2008 - 86%
2007 - 88%

PSSA Results
11th Grade Reading
2009 - 67% on grade level. In Pennsylvania, 65% of 11th graders on grade level.
2008 - 60%, State - 65%
2007 - 72%, State - 65%

11th Grade Math:
2009 - 59% on grade level. In Pennsylvania, 56% of 11th graders are on grade level.
2008 - 56%, State - 56%
2007 - 58%, State - 53%

11th Grade Science:
2009 - 33% on grade level. State: 40% of 11th graders were on grade level.
2008 - 32%

College remediation According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 41% of Keystone Oaks School District graduates required remediation in mathematics and or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges. Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates, who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania, will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading or English.

Dual enrollment

The high school offers a Dual Enrollment program. This state program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. The students continue to have full access to activities and programs at their high school. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books. Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions.

For the 2009-10 funding year, the school district received a state grant of $9,415 for the program.

The building

Keystone Oaks High School is a two-and-a-half story red brick building. Its shape is basically rectangular, with a one-story library bisecting its longest sides. Two arms extend out from its western and southern corners; the western arm houses the gymnasium, weight room, and pool, and the southern arm links to the middle school, auditorium, and art classrooms. The bottom floor of the main building houses lockers, administrative offices, and (since the 2001-2002 renovations) middle school classrooms. The top two floors are almost entirely classrooms.

The pool has a 12-foot (3.7 m) deep end, and roughly a 4-foot (1.2 m) shallow end, and has a diving board, an electronic scoreboard, and bench-style stadium seating. The swim team has its own separate locker rooms, apart from the larger locker rooms designated for the basketball, wrestling, and football teams.

The High School contains a planetarium that had languished in disrepair from the mid 1980s into the late 1990s. It has since been refurbished and is one of the school's most interesting bits.

Extracurriculars

The district offers a variety of clubs, activities and sports.

By Pennsylvania law, all K-12 students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those homeschooled, are eligible to participate in the extracurricular programs including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the district's schools.

The arts

Keystone Oaks has a very talented group of students interested in music and the arts.

In February 2007, the high school hosted the PMEA District 1 West Band Festival,in which nine Keystone Oaks students participated. The school also regularly sends students to PMEA District 1 Honors Band, as well as to PMEA Region Band and occasionally to State Band.

Each year, Keystone Oaks High School students perform a spring musical. The list of KO musicals are as follows: 2005 Once On This Island 2006 Singin' In The Rain, 2007 Anything Goes, 2008 Brigadoon, 2009 Barnum, and in 2010 Footloose

Clubs and activities

The school has many after school clubs and activities, including language clubs for Spanish, German, and French, SADD, Pep Club, PJAS, Student Senate, Art Club, Environmental Club, Academic Team, The Gay Straight Alliance, Adventure Club, Math Club, Science Club, a chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Health Careers Club, Forensics (a Speech and Debate Club), Friends of Rachel (began by the program Rachel's Challenge, in memory of Rachel Scott), a Yearbook Club, Best Buddies and many others.

Some notable events are often held by the clubs as fundraisers, such as FBLA's All Night Dodgeball Game, and SADD's annual Safety Bug. Students Senate and the Class planning committees organize the Junior-Senior Prom and Graduation. PJAS, the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science, competes in a competition against many other school every year. Forensics often competes in many regional and state competitions and are quite successful. Academic Team attends quiz competitions at local colleges, and form a team every year consisting of seniors for the local tv competition Hometown High-Q on KDKA, hosted by Ken Rice and this year will be attending the national competition in Chicago, IL. The Future Business Leaders of America is chapter of a national organization, and attands the regional, state and sometimes national competitions every year. Notable is their success in the category of Parliamentary Procedures, which they place in the top every year at the State Competition in Hershey, PA.

Marching band

The Keystone Oaks High School Marching Band under the direction of Laura Hanlon, allows students of the KO High School, and select students of the 8th grade class, to participate in supporting their school through various functions, such as football games, band festivals, and parades. However, the KO marching Band is a non-competitive band. In Spring of 2009 the band will be performing in the Magic Kingdom Parade at Walt Disney World. Florida. The 2009-2010 Marching Band will perform at all football games, band festivals, and local parades. Additionally, the band will perform in the 2010 Apple Blossom Festival Night Time Fireman's parade in Winchester, VA.

Athletics (Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles)

Keystone Oaks is a member of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League. While not known as any athletic powerhouse, the wrestling, swimming, and tennis teams have at times seen success.

As Keystone Oaks High School is located outside the southern end of Dormont, their football stadium is located at the northern end (Hillsdale Ave.) near the Banksville/Pittsburgh border.

The school only has a few rivalries of note. Chartiers Valley High School can be considered a rival, but KO is especially at odds with Thomas Jefferson High School. Both can be considered rivals of KO due to the similarities in demographics and because the three schools often are in the same section of WPIAL. In some sense, Mount Lebanon High School is also a rival by geography, since KO is located within Mount Lebanon, but has no student from there. Seton-La Salle Catholic High School, located across the street from KO, was in former times a rival, but declining enrollment has led the two schools to be moved into different classes in WPIAL, and the rivalry has died down.

Starting with the 2008 football season,the Keystone Oaks/ Seton-La Salle Rival has been renewed. Keystone Oaks has moved to Class AA and plays in the Century Conference, in addition to Seton-Lasalle.

The Golden Eagles finished the 2009 regular season at 8-1. With a quarter-final win against Mt. Pleasant, Keystone Oaks advanced to the WPIAL semi-finals for the first time in school history.

Notable alumni

The comedian Dennis Miller graduated from Keystone Oaks. Supposedly one of his popular early routines was about an algebra teacher from the school.

Terry Haas, co-host of the HGTV series Designed to Sell, is also a Keystone Oaks alumna.

Michael J. Tobin, PhD, Adjunct Professor at Duquesne University Center for Environmental Research and Executive Director of Healthy Home Resources, graduated in 1975

Congressman and 2008 Presidential Candidate Ron Paul of Texas also attended the school. (He graduated from Dormont High School, which merged into Keystone Oaks in 1965.)

Dean F. Sittig, Ph.D., editor of The Informatics Review, an online serial devoted to helping clinicians and information technology professional keep up with the rapidly changing field of clinical informatics graduated in 1979. Dr. Sittig played basketball and tennis while at Keystone Oaks.

Thomas D. Russell, J.D., Ph.D. Professor of Law at the University of Denver in Denver, CO attended KOHS from 1975-1979.

Michael Aubrecht Historian and author of books on Major League Baseball and Civil War history. Member of class of 1990.

Standard & Poor's Rating of Allegheny County School Districts

Keystone Oaks: Moderately above-average student results. Comparatively high spending.