H. D. Woodson

The school is named after Howard Dilworth Woodson (1877-1962). A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Woodson worked for the federal government as a civil/structural engineer for many years and became a civic leader in the Far Northeast/Deanwood neighborhood, campaigning for more resources for education, redevelopment, and utility services for the area. During that time, the District of Columbia did not have an elected government. Woodson frequently testified before U.S. congressional committees for D.C. oversight.^[4]

Woodson advocated for a high school to be built in Deanwood in response to demands in the area for a local school. Since the Deanwood area had no neighborhood high school, students traveled to Eastern, Spingarn, or Anacostia high schools.

Early years: 55th & Eads Streets, NE

The new school opened in 1972 at 55th and Eads Streets NE and was named Howard Dilworth Woodson Senior High School. Described as the first high-rise high school in the country,^[5] it consisted of a seven-floor tower above a plaza and a ground floor with a greenhouse on the roof, and elevators and escalators that took students and faculty up and down the tower. Initially, the building's size and shape ran into obstacles with the planning boards. However, H.D. Woodson's son, Granville Woodson, the chief of the DCPS buildings department, argued successfully that the size and shape of the new school was precisely the point and made the school the focus of the community by appearing as significant as possible.^[6] The school resembled a modern office building with a large outside pedestrian plaza, a surface parking lot for 200 vehicles, and a stadium with track, athletic fields, and tennis courts. A student contest to create a slogan for the building resulted in the nickname "the tower of power".^[6]

When Woodson finally opened for grades 10 and 11 on September 13, 1972, it was praised as a state-of-the-art campus with a new look, equipment, and specially recruited new teachers.^[7] Inside the school there were 82 classrooms, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a large gymnasium, health suite, dance studio, auditorium/theater, and a military armory with ROTC classroom. Between 1975 and 1979 it averaged 1,800 students per year during the day and 380 students per year at the evening community school. Students from all quadrants of the city attended the school, which was set up as a "comprehensive" high school, offering both traditional academic and vocational programs, including wood and machine shops, a drafting program, an electrical trade program, a "power mechanics" lab to study jet and rocket engines, extensive home-economics facilities, and a greenhouse. Between 1975 and 1979, Woodson had a graduation rate of 95%.^[6]

In 1986, the school held a special dedication ceremony to name its gymnasium after John P. Davis, the school's first boys' basketball coach (1972–82), died in 1984.^[8]

1990–2008: Decline and lack of funding

The school building deteriorated due to a lack of funding as the years went by. By the 1990s, Woodson's tower "loomed over the Deanwood neighborhood became an outsized symbol of the District government's dysfunction."^[9] Instead of the custodial staff being tied to the size of the building, DCPS tied the staff to student enrollment. As the student body declined, so did the number of custodial staff members. Preventive maintenance essentially came to a halt.

With a shortage of money for maintenance, broken pipes dripped throughout the building. The escalators no longer functioned and were used as stairs. As classes changed, the administration implemented a system for students to go up the escalators and down the stairwells at every corner of the building.^[9] Woodson's pool had previously been used by the community, but by the mid-1990s, the Department of Parks & Recreation ceased contributing to the pool's maintenance, and soon after, the six-lane pool was closed.

Despite building deterioration, Woodson's athletic success continued. The closing of the school's pool did not stop the Warrior Sharks from winning the DCIAA Championship during the 1994 swim season. In a "dry-land swimming" technique, the team swam on tables using stopwatches, and the coach developed breathing and kicking techniques.

Each year, the varsity football team appeared in the annual DCIAA Turkey Bowl, winning four City Championship titles.

The school's "African Warrior" mascot was initially displayed backward, showing the buttock of the warrior. In the mid-1990s, DCPS turned the warrior to face front. Woodson is also represented by three colors: red, black, and green, representing the blood, skin, and land of black people.

2008–2011: Relocation

Eventually, the original building was demolished in 2009 and replaced by a new three-story state-of-the-art facility in 2011. As Woodson was being demolished in 2009, ninth-graders attended Ron Brown Middle School on Meade Street Northeast. The upper-level students settled in at a former middle school in Southeast, once named Fletcher-Johnson Education Center on Benning Road.

In September 2014, during halftime at a Roosevelt v. H.D. Woodson game, the school honored coach Robert Headen by dedicating the school's new stadium to him. As head coach, he had a record of 268 wins with only 87 losses and won six city titles during his coaching career.^[10] Headen was the first high school coach from DC inducted into the National High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and in the Washington, D.C. Hall of Fame for sports.

Demographics

98.9% of the students at Woodson are Black, non-Hispanic. Other students are Hispanic / Latino (0.6%), Native American / Alaska Native (0.2%), Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander (0.2%), or Multiracial (0.3%).^[12]

Attendance boundary

• Attendance Zone Changes: The H.D. Woodson HS attendance zone is made up of the middle school attendance zone designated to geographically feed into H.D. Woodson - Kelly Miller MS.
• Geographic Feeder Pathway: Anyone living in the new attendance zone for Kelly Miller MS is zoned for and has a right to attend H.D. Woodson High School. Any student attending a feeder middle school out-of-boundary has the right to continue in the feeder pathway to H.D. Woodson. Feeder pathway changes were made to align school building capacity with population and boundary participation rates and to support racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, where possible.
• Programmatic Feeder Pathway: McKinley MS is a STEM middle school. Eighth-grade students at McKinley MS have the right to attend Woodson HS to continue a STEM pathway.

Feeder schools

• Elementary Schools
  • Nalle Elementary School
  • Smothers Elementary School
  • Aiton Elementary School
  • Burrville Elementary School
  • Drew Elementary School
  • C.W. Harris Elementary School
• Middle Schools
  • Kelly Miller Middle School feeds into Woodson ^[13]

Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund

Susie Kay founded the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund (HDSF) in 1996 while working as an American Government teacher at Woodson. Kay organized a one-day charity basketball tournament to raise money to assist students with college expenses, raising $3,000 for academic college scholarships. As well as scholarships, HDSF provided mentorship from DC-area professionals and college and career preparation.^[15] To get HDSF on its feet, Key searched for corporate sponsors and volunteers, and as the operation grew, she was eventually asked by DCPS to raise funds for all DC Public School students.^[16]

HDSF brought together more than 1,000 students and mentors, facilitated more than 250 internships, engaged over 1,000 volunteers in community cleanup projects, and helped more than 900 students attend college through scholarships totaling more than $3 million. Hoop Dreams shut down operations because scholarships beyond the 2009–10 academic year could not be guaranteed.^[17]

Athletics

The school's sports program is among the strongest in the DC metro area, winning multiple varsity boys' football championships and varsity boys and girls basketball championship repeats. The boys' varsity basketball team finished the 2015–16 season undefeated and won the state championship, ranking 8th in the nation.^[18]

The District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) is the public high school athletic league in Washington, D.C. The league was founded in 1958. The original high school conference for D.C. schools was the Inter-High School Athletic Association, formed around 1896. That organization was segregated, and black schools in the District formed their own athletic association. The Inter-High League was renamed the DCIAA in 1989 to bring the District of Columbia in line with other states' interscholastic athletic programs.

The DCIAA sponsors varsity championships in basketball, baseball, bowling, cross country, football, Flag football -girls, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, skiing, and track and field.

The District of Columbia State Athletic Association (DCSAA) was created in 2012 by D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray to expand interscholastic competition and enhance student-athlete achievement in public schools, public charter schools, and independent private and parochial schools.^[19] Prior to its creation, the DC City Title was a postseason game between DCIAA & WCAC championship winners.p