From 1956 to 1962, DeSoto High School was located at 200 East Belt Line Road. In 1962, a new campus opened at 601 East Belt Line Road. As the district continued to grow, voters approved a $7.5 million bond by a vote of 445-366 in 1973 that contained a provision for the construction of a new high school. On February 15, 1974, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the new site, 600 Eagle Drive. The building contract was awarded to Central Texas Construction of Terrell at a cost of approximately $3,100,000. The school opened on August 16, 1976. To relieve overcrowding, an adjoining Freshman Campus opened in 1997 to serve the district's ninth graders. In 2011 The Dallas Morning News reported that the school "had a lower-than-expected college readiness percentage." In 2011, the district built additions to improve the school's college and career academies. The State of Texas defined "college readiness," or readiness to undergo university studies, by scores on the ACT, SAT, and 11th grade Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests. DeSoto High offers International Baccalaureate, early college, and academic magnet programs to better serve the academic needs of its high-achieving students preparing to attend college.
School uniforms
In the 2005-2006 school year, DeSoto ISD began a mandatory school uniform policy at all of its schools. Formely, the mandatory uniform was:
Shirt - yellow, green, black, white, or gray
Pants - khaki or black
On Fridays, a DeSoto or college shirt may be worn with jeans.
DeSoto ISD, in 2019, has changed the policy and the students no longer have to wear uniforms.
Student demographics
In the 2014-2015 school year, DeSoto High had a total of 2,238 students in grades 10-12.
Athletics
The DeSoto Eagles compete in the following sports:
Baseball
Basketball
Cross country
Football
Golf
Soccer
Softball
Swimming and diving
Tennis
Track and field
Volleyball
Band
Cheerleading
Wrestling
State championships
The DeSoto baseball team won state championships in 1979 and 1985. The Lady Eagle track and field team won three consecutive state championships in 2011, 2012, and 2013. They also won in 2007 and winning 4 straight in 2016, 2017, 2018,and 2019. The Eagle track and field team won state titles in 2012 and 2016. The boys' basketball team won the Texas 5A State Championship in 2003 and 2009. In 2016, the boys' team won the 6A State Championship, upsetting #1 ranked Atacostia High 73-54. In 2016, the varsity football team won the 6A Division II state championship in the AT&T Stadium. This was the first state football championship in school history.
Rivalry
For decades, DeSoto High has maintained a popular rivalry against their regional foe the Cedar Hill High School Longhorns. The rivalry has been deemed the "Battle of Belt Line". DeSoto has an even longer rivalry with Duncanville High School.
Marching band
DeSoto Eagle Band is a 100+ music group that represents the school at athletic games, band competitions, parades, and other events.
Student Investigation Award
In January 2005, the school district was investigated by the press for its questionable hiring of an outside "gang consultant". The investigation focused on whether the district truly had a "gang problem", or whether the consultant was creating the "problem", since the consultant stood to gain a sizeable contract if in fact a problem existed. The end result is that there was no real gang problem, and the consultant's contract was terminated. The unique feature of the investigation was that none of the media outlets in the Dallas area had anything to do with it. The investigation was performed solely by the Eagle Eye, the DHS student newspaper. For their role in the story, four members of the newspaper staff received the Courage in Student Journalism Award for their work; the student advisor received the educator's version of the award. Both awards came with $5,000 prizes.
