Communications Arts High School
| Communications Arts High School | |
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| Address | |
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11600 FM 471 W San Antonio, Texas, Bexar County 78253 |
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| Coordinates | 29°30′01″N 98°43′13″W / 29.500237°N 98.720151°WCoordinates: 29°30′01″N 98°43′13″W / 29.500237°N 98.720151°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Public, High School Magnet |
| Founded | 1995 |
| School district | Northside Independent School District |
| Superintendent | Dr. Brian Woods |
| Principal | Lisa Baker |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 530 (2010) |
| Color(s) | Red |
| Yearbook | Unity |
| Website | nisd |
Communications Arts High School (commonly ComArts or CAHS) is a magnet school in the Northside Independent School District of San Antonio, Texas, United States. Founded in 1995, the school has an enrollment of 100–130 students per class, accepting 130 freshmen per year. The school is a "school within a school" sharing the campus of William Howard Taft High School with an academic focus on teaching multimedia and communications skills.
Communications Arts resides within the larger Taft High School campus in the C building. Teachers may elect to hold special classroom activities in the school's outdoor classroom, and students are allowed to have lunch there as well. Students taking Yearbook or Advanced Video Technology classes have access to a publications lab equipped with iMacs. The school is one of the smallest in the district, with there only being four hallways.
Admission to Communications Arts is open to Bexar County students with at least a C average and requires the submission of an application and the student's choice of an essay or a 5-minute video. Eligible applicants are entered into a lottery system with selected students notified by mail. Prior to admitting the class of 2005, the admissions process did not operate as a lottery, and admitted students were selected based on the merits of their application. Each year, the school accepts approximately 130 freshmen. As a public school, no tuition is charged to either in-district or out of district students.
Communications Arts' curriculum focuses especially on communications skills. All students are required to have at least three credits of Spanish. Students are also required to take Digital Interactive Multimedia, Media Criticism, Communications Applications (speech), and Independent Study Mentorship classes over their four years, with the option of taking other advanced media classes separate from Taft. These courses include Art 4 Electronic Media (Advanced Video Production), Digital Graphics and Animation, AP Art History, and Yearbook.
Additional emphasis is placed on college preparation. All students take the PSAT on campus once a year. All students take Advanced Placement courses, with students being required to take AP World History their sophomore year. Students also take AP US History, AP English III and IV as well as other AP science and mathematics courses on the Taft campus in their junior and senior years. All AP courses are supplemented with test preparation books including those of companies like Kaplan, Inc which are given to students free of charge in their first semester. All core courses that are not offered as AP (such as World Geography) are offered as Pre-AP courses, though students may elect to take regular versions of the course on the Taft campus. Students who follow the standard curriculum generally graduate with Distinguished Achievement Diplomas.
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