John F. Kennedy High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
1901 Randolph Road Silver Spring, Maryland United States |
|
Information | |
Type | Public Secondary |
Established | 1964 |
School district | Montgomery County Public Schools |
Principal | Mr. Joe Rubens, Jr. |
Faculty | 94 (2013) |
Grades | 9-12 |
Gender | Co-Educational |
Enrollment | 1853 (2013) |
Campus | Southern Suburban |
Color(s) | Forest green and vegas gold |
Mascot | Cavalier |
Rival | Wheaton High School |
Yearbook | The Legacy |
Website | www |
John F. Kennedy High School is a public high school located in unincorporated in Montgomery County, Maryland. Part of Montgomery County Public Schools, the school is within the census-designated place of Glenmont , although it has a Silver Spring mailing address.
Over 1,700 students are enrolled at Kennedy, which is a member of the Downcounty Consortium along with nearby Montgomery Blair, Wheaton, Albert Einstein, and Northwood High Schools. Students from any of those high schools' base areas can apply to attend Kennedy through a lottery process, after students from Kennedy's own base middle schools -- Col. E. Brooke Lee and Argyle -- are offered spots.
The school mascot is the Cavalier.
Opening its doors in 1964, Kennedy High School was originally going to be called "East Wheaton High School," but due to President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, the school was renamed after him. It initially enrolled students in 7th through 10th grades, but by the fall of 1966 changed to the now-standard 9th through 12th grade format, graduating its first full 12th grade class in the spring of 1967.
Kennedy's early history is that of an experimental school, with open classes, no grades, and no required attendance. The onus was on Kennedy's students to be self-motivated. Kennedy's rare approach to education gained it international attention, but ultimately these trends did not become very popular in other schools. Kennedy itself eventually ended these policies as some parents refused to send their children to Kennedy, and demanded the school be shut down.