Dartmouth High School is a four-year public high school serving grades 9 to 12, located in the southern half of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States.[5]
As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 979 students and 76.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 13.5 to 1.[6]
The school began in 1902 on Russell's Mills Road in what is now the Salt-Marsh Pottery. By the 1930s the school had moved to a building on Slocum Road (referred to as the Elmer Poole School), which is now used as the town hall. In 1955 a new school was built next door, on the corner of Hawthorne Street, with the building being expanded twice, in 1965 and 1981. In 2003, the school was moved to its new location at the end of Bakerville Road, at the junction of Russells Mills Road, on the former farmland of the King family, with the former high school now being used as the middle school.[7]
In 1993 during a social studies class, a student was stabbed to death by classmates who barged into the classroom armed with baseball bats, Billy clubs, and knives. Three students aged 15 and 16 were charged with first-degree murder of Jason Robinson.[8][9]
For much of its early history, Dartmouth High School (DHS) had several assorted designs associated with its mascot of an Indian. In 1973, Clyde Andrews, a member of the DHS class of 1974 and a member of regional Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) redesigned and formalized the logo to its current design. This was to more accurately reflect the eastern woodland Indians that had roots in the region of Old Dartmouth.[7] This design was quickly adopted to represent not just the school, but Dartmouth as a whole.
The use of high school Native American mascots has been a topic of nationwide debate, leading to regional controversy over the school's logo in early 2022. With increasing contention, the question of whether to keep the Indian or replace it with a more appropriate alternative emerged. Those in support of the logo argued that the logo was more than a simple design, but an icon. It was pointed out that no iconography of the Indian was placed to where it could be stepped on and thus demeaned, along with the fact that when it was worn by sports players and members of the community alike, they "were elevated to a higher standard, to lose with grace and win with dignity." Those against the logo believed that the image's use as a sports icon had negatively affected the people of the Wampanoag tribe, and downplayed the current and former challenges Indigenous peoples had and continued to face.[10] The issue was to be settled in early April 2022, where a vote would be held among the community to decide the fate of the Logo. With a split of 4,048 to 969, one of the largest voter turnouts in the history of the town, the community overwhelmingly advocated to keep the logo. This was later commemorated on April 25 at the annual school committee meeting.[11]
The music department at DHS has a long history of success and is nationally well renowned. The music department includes the marching band, concert band, and jazz band, as well as the orchestra, chamber orchestra, chorus, and a cappella group Harmonix. It also includes the Winter color guard program and the Winter percussion program.[12] All of which are finically aided through the Dartmouth School Music Association, or DSMA, through its providing of vital funds, scholarships, and support insuring the continued survival and growth of all of these programs.[13]
The band is under the direction of Ian Flint (was under the direction of William Kingsland up until the 2020 school year) and has been a Division 5 winner of NESBA Championships in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and Division 6 in 2019. In 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022; the band has won first place at USBands (formerly USSBA) National Championships in Annapolis, Maryland (2008–2011) and East Rutherford, New Jersey (2012–present).[15] The band also began competing in Bands of America circuits in 2022 by winning the New Jersey Regional Championship with an 83.600.[16] Additionally, they have many other titles in NESBA, where the marching band holds the highest score in NESBA history, 99.6,[15] received in 2018 with the field show entitled "The Rainforest”. They also held the previous records of 99.1 scored in both 2014 and 2017. In USBands they tied the highest score of 98.575 that was set in 2008. The Band also holds many titles at MICCA, and formerly in EMBA. The group has also performed at the 1996 Tournament of Roses Parade, as well as several other festivals and Magic Music Days at the Walt Disney World Resort. The band and percussion performed their own shows virtually in 2020.[17]
The Dartmouth High Winter Percussion performs in Winter Guard International where they consistently placed in the top 3 from 1998 to 2013. Today, they compete in Scholastic World Class at Winter Guard International championships held in Dayton, Ohio. The group won WGI Percussion Scholastic World Championships in 1998, 1999, 2008, 2009, and 2014, with 2nd-place finishes in 2000, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, and 2018 and 3rd-place finishes in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2022. In Winter Guard International world class competitions, they have consistently won fan favorite. They have also held the record for the highest scoring group in the Percussion Scholastic World division for 15+ years. The group did not attend NESBA Finals or WGI World Championships in 2020 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The group was able to perform in virtual WGI competitions in 2021, however.[18]
The DHS Winter Guard competed in the Scholastic A Class of WGI where they made WGI Finals three times – in 2014, 2016, and 2017. After their 2nd-place finish in 2017 the group moved into the Scholastic Open Class where they received 13th place in their debut season in the division in 2018. The Winter Guard has been awarded the "Fan Favorite" award in 2016, 2017, and 2019. The Winter Guard did not attend NESBA Finals or WGI Championships in 2020 because of the global pandemic.[19]
The DHS Indoor winds program was established in 2021-2022 under the direction of Ian Flint and Michael Rayner. The winds made WGI finals and placed 2nd during their first year despite facing early complications and a complete show redesign due to copyright issues.[20]
The high school's orchestra has also traveled to many places national as well as international places such as Ireland,[21] the Azores, Canada, Austria and Germany, and New York. They traveled to Ireland again in April 2014, which included playing for the mayor, and getting critiqued by music professors there.[22][23][24] On December 16, 2016, the high school performed a tribute concert to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, featuring both students and guest musicians on electric violin, cello, guitar, along with a drummer and a keyboardist.,[25][26] and hosted another Trans-Siberian Orchestra tribute concert at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford the next year. The orchestra also traveled to Scotland in July 2018.[27]
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