Ponderosa High School, Parker, Colorado
| Ponderosa High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 7007 East Bayou Gulch Road, Parker, Colorado | |
| Coordinates | 39°26′10″N 104°45′19″W / 39.43611°N 104.75532°WCoordinates: 39°26′10″N 104°45′19″W / 39.43611°N 104.75532°W |
| Information | |
| Motto | Proud, Productive, Proven |
| Established | 1983 |
| School district | Douglas County School District RE-1 |
| Principal | David Haggerty |
| Staff | 180 |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 1382 |
| Color(s) | Cardinal and gold |
| Athletics | CHSAA 4A |
| Athletics conference | Continental League |
| Mascot | Mustangs |
| Newspaper | The Mustang Express |
| Information | 303-387-4106 |
| Website | http://www.phsmustangs.org |
Ponderosa High School (commonly Pondo or PHS) is a public high school in Parker, Colorado, United States. It is part of Douglas County School District RE-1.
The school earned an "Excellent" rating by the Colorado Student Assessment Program in 2004, and a "High" score in 2005.
Ponderosa has won ten 5A state wrestling titles since 1997, including eight consecutive wins between 2003 and 2010. The seventh consecutive win broke a 60-year-old record set in 1944–1949 by Denver North. In addition, Ponderosa has a perfect 167–0 conference dual record from 1994 to the present. NFHS Coaches Association National Wrestling coach of the year Tim Ottmann retired after 2008 and the team is now coached by Corey McNellis.
Ponderosa's football team won the 2003 5A State Championship.
Ponderosa has also won state championships in Girls Basketball (1986), Boys Basketball (1988), Girls Softball (1992), Girls Volleyball (2009), and Boys Lacrosse (2014).
The school moved down to CHSAA 4A starting in the 2011-2012 school year, due to the foundation of Legend High School in 2008.
The Ponderosa High School bands have a history in the Parker community. The Marching Band has been state champions nine times. The Winter Percussion Ensemble came in second place in 2008 and has won numerous awards throughout its history. In 2011 the school hired Bill Phalen as band director.
In 2005, Ponderosa teacher Nicole Andrea Barnhart became a registered sex offender after it was discovered that she was having an intimate relationship with one of her sophomore students.
In October 2007, Ponderosa student Jake McCarty drove his Nissan Maxima into a traffic signal pole. The police found him dead at the crash site, where the car was completely flipped. After McCarty's death, his friends and family felt angry that the principal did not address the issue in a respectful manner by holding a school-wide moment of silence for him. The principal addressed this by saying that getting the whole school involved would perhaps be overkill, as, out of a student body of over 1,200, not all students actually knew Jake personally, and bringing the grief to others was deemed unnecessary. Additionally, the school administration did not feel that holding a moment of silence was the best way to remember McCarty. Controversy also stemmed from widespread rumors that school officials had prohibited teachers from acknowledging Jake's death in their classes. Students widely regarded the administration's "business as usual" approach as disrespectful to Jake and his family. After attention was brought to this issue by the school newspaper, The Mustang Express, as well as by the McCarty family, local news agencies became involved and placed pressure on administration officials to rectify their misconduct. The paper also dispelled the administration's claim that all forms of memorial services must be approved by the district, proving that this was entirely false. Following this, several school organizations, although the student council had no part in organizing a remembrance, initiated their own means of honoring McCarty, and they were not prevented from doing so by the administration in their efforts.
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