Susan Miller Dorsey High School

'Susan Miller Dorsey High School'
Dorsey Pride
Location
Los Angeles, California, United States
Information
Locale	3537 Farmdale Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90016
Principal	George Bartleson
Type	Public High School
Grades	9-12
Mascot	Dons/Donnas
Established	1937
Students	2400
Homepage	Official Website

Susan Miller Dorsey High School is a high school located in the South Los Angeles section of Los Angeles, California. Dorsey is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Village, Leimert Park, and portions of Crenshaw. The school first opened in 1937 and currently enrolls an average of 2,400 students. (The 1955 Dorsey High School Yearbook shows a graduating class, the Highlanders, approximately 83% white, 12% African American, and 5% of Japanese descent.) Dorsey High is now one of the few predominantly African-American high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, with 55% of its students African American and an additional 45% Hispanic. It is located at 3537 Farmdale Avenue, near Rodeo Road in Baldwin Village. The school colors are green and white, and its mascots are the Dons (male) and Donnas (female). Dorsey's most significant rival is Crenshaw High School, commonly referred to as "Coleslaw" amongst Dorsey students. Dorsey is adjacent to View Park Continuation School.

History

The school was named after Susan Miller Dorsey, the first female superintendent of the Los Angeles public school system. Dorsey was born in 1857 in Penn Yan, New York She graduated from Vassar College in 1877 and spent a year teaching at Wilson College in Pennsylvania, returning to Vassar to teach Greek and Latin. In 1881, she married Baptist minister Patrick William Dorsey. The same year, the couple came to Los Angeles, where he became pastor of First Baptist Church at 6th Street and Broadway (then known as Fort Street). In the early 1890s, her husband abandoned her, taking their son with him. Dorsey returned to teaching in 1896 at Los Angeles High School, where she rose to vice principal. By 1913, she was assistant superintendent of schools. In 1920, she became superintendent. Dorsey remained superintendent for 9 years.^[1] In 2007, the West Adams Preparatory High School opened and relieved Dorsey.^[2] Dorsey 1995 football team goes down in history as the best team assembled in history. The football team won thirteen games to go on and win the 4A championship game against San Pedro High School. The star-studded team won with Dennis Northcutt (Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars), Na'il Diggs( Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers), Antonio Chatman (Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals), Raymont Skaggs, Marlon Henry, Juan "JJ" Jimenez, Alvin Nairn, Calvin Carlyle, Donte "cool breeze" Miners, Anthony "TJ" White, Che Britton, Kaki Malaki and Abdul Noah to name a few. Dorsey football coach Paul Knox stated he has had many good teams and players, but the football team of 1995 is still his favorite and most memorable teams he has coached.

Extracurricular activities

The school is widely known for its athletic teams, such as football (Coliseum League Champs for the 2006 season), basketball, and track & field. Dorsey's football games are played in Jackie Robinson Stadium at the nearby Rancho La Cienega Park. In addition, Dorsey High's academic decathlon team placed third in the district's Super Quiz competition as well as earning the most improved team in the district in 2007.The team improved 9000 point from the previous year. The four major players or" the fantastic four" as their coach referred to them,consisted of Luis Larios,Joon Jang, Vonda Tamai,and Dolnedia MaroQuin. Dorsey has a high attendance rate and a Rifle Club for seniors. Dorsey has recently started a black and brown unity club to ease racial tensions within the school. So far its going fine. Additionally, they have a Los Angeles Police Academy Magnet Program and a Law Magnet Program.

Criticism

Dorsey has been criticized for its disciplinary problems due to the gang influence around its area (Baldwin Village, widely referred to as "the Jungles"). The area has been known to have gang activity from an area Blood gang, the Black P Stones, who often feud with other nearby gang, the Rollin 60's Crips who are found congregating near rival Crenshaw High School. Students from 18th Street, Harpies and Easy Riders occasionally brawl with students from Rolling 20's and students are threatened daily by violence because of that.

External links

• Dorsey High School website
• Susan Miller Dorsey High School profile provided by schooltree.org

References

1. ^ Rasmussen, Cecilia (May 13, 2007), "Dorsey devotee the picture of determination", Los Angeles Times: B2, <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then13may13,1,1813085.story>
2. ^ http://www.laschools.org/employee/mpd/fs-mpd/download/07-08_webmaps/Proj02.pdf