West Salem High School (Salem, Oregon)

West Salem High School (also referred to as West Salem High, West Salem HS, or WSHS) is a public high school of the Salem-Keizer School District located in Salem, Oregon, United States.

West Salem High School
Address
1776 Titan Drive Salem , (Polk County) , Oregon 97304 United States
Coordinates	44.959072°N 123.084295°W / 44.959072; -123.084295
Information
Type	Public
Motto	"It's a great day to be a Titan" [1]
Opened	2002
School district	Salem-Keizer School District
Principal	Jim Miller (2017-Present)
Teaching staff	78.33 (FTE)[2]
Grades	9-12
Number of students	1,737 (2018–19)[2]
Student to teacher ratio	22.18[2]
Color(s)	Black, forest green, and silver
Athletics conference	OSAA Mountain Valley Conference 6A-7
Mascot	Titan
Rival	Sprague High School
Newspaper	The Titan Spectator[3]
Website	westsalemhigh.com

Academics

In 2008, 82% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 339 students, 279 graduated, 29 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 26 were still in high school the following year.[4][5] As of 2017, 1,732 students were enrolled at West Salem High School. At that time, its graduation rate was 89%.[6] The 2017 class of 414 had 37 dropouts, and 87% of the class were graduating on time.[7]

Maps Credit Union Education Branch

West Salem High School is one of three high schools[8] in Salem, Oregon which are home to an education branch of Marion and Polk Schools Credit Union.

MAPS Credit Union education branches provide an opportunity for high school students to participate in the day-to-day operations of a real credit union. Students in certain business classes spend a small amount of time conducting real teller transactions for other students during lunch hours, under the supervision of a trained faculty member. The school's branch has been open since 2003.

Black football field

In 2012, West Salem installed a new black FieldTurf surface for its football field, believed to be the first of that color ever used for outdoor football (the Nebraska Danger of the Indoor Football League also use this color). The decision to use a black surface came about when the school's original green FieldTurf surface, installed in 2002, needed replacing. FieldTurf offered the school a discount of nearly $140,000 from the regular $437,000 replacement cost if it used an "unusual" color; West Salem chose black since it was a school color and also had not previously been used by another school. The school changed its home uniform color from black to green in order to avoid possible complaints by visiting teams about the uniforms blending into the field. The field and uniforms were fully paid for through fundraisers, including four local business sponsors.[9] However, as of 2015, the school has now started to use black uniforms with grey numbers.[10] As of 2020, the field has reverted back to green.

See also

• Michael Stephen Lampert

References

1. http://westsalemhigh.com/Admin/files/2aa6f0dd-774f-4046-89c6-7553c12a572c.pdf
2. "West Salem High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
3. The Titan Spectator
4. "State releases high school graduation rates". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
5. "Oregon dropout rates for 2008". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
6. "West Salem High School". U.S. News. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
7. "West Salem High School". The Oregonian. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
8. "MaPS Credit Union Wins Crystal Apple Award". The other school branches are the Vikings Branch at North Salem High School and the Royal Scots Branch at McKay High School: MaPS Credit Union. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
9. Chandler, Rick (August 21, 2012). "Oregon High School says 'The heck with everything, we're going with black turf'". Off the Bench. NBCSports.com. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
10. "West Salem's football uniforms getting harder to read". Statesman Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-03.