Douglas County High School (Douglasville, Georgia)


Douglas County High School, also known as Douglas County Comprehensive High School, is a public high school in Douglasville, Georgia, United States. It was the first high school to open in the Douglas County School District.

History

Douglas County, Georgia was established in 1870 during the Reconstruction of the South. The first public high school for the county was built in 1880 on the present day site of the National Guard Armory in Douglasville. This schoolhouse was used up for most of the county's high school needs until 1937, when President Roosevelt's New Deal WPA program designated that a new school would be built, named Douglasville High School.
Over the years, the name was changed to Douglas County High School, and the small, twelve-classroom building was added to and built up around. The first major change came when the wooden framed auditorium caught fire and left the building exposed. Later the original building was converted into the administrative building, and another building was added to it. This was the Banks Building, which added a tremendous amount of classrooms to the school. A small elementary school was built behind the high, school called Warren Dorris Elementary. As the high school population grew, the elementary school was attached with a breezeway to the next building. A small gymnasium and a football playing field were also added.
After the first buildings were completed, there was a gap between the next renovations, but eventually the fourth building was added to the campus. The Cloer Building was added as a science building, and housed the school's mechanic and auto shop. This building was left freestanding and is no longer home to the mechanics program, as it was disbanded to make room for other programs. A new gymnasium was added to the campus. This new gym was much larger than the first, and was equipped with air conditioning. It is used today as the school's primary gym for most physical education classes.
In the early 1990s, the original building of the school, the Mashburn Building, was mostly destroyed in a fire. A janitor from the school was consequently arrested and convicted of arson as well as child endangerment. The school rebuilt the Mashburn Building and added a new section of the building that houses the fine arts department. Later that decade, the connecting hallway of the Mashburn and Banks buildings collapsed during a major storm. It was quickly replaced.
The school now holds the title of oldest, largest, and most grossly populated of all the schools in the county. It is the only school in the county to offer the magnet International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
In the fall of 2017, the third season of the TV series Scream was filmed at the school. During this period, a viral video was recorded on campus, featuring actress Keke Palmer and rapper Tyga using with inappropriate language. The video stirred a controversy with upset parents.

Campus

The Douglas County High School campus is made up of several facilities:
Academics:
Athletics:
In addition to the standard Georgia high school curriculum, Douglas County High School offers many Advanced Placement courses, French and Spanish courses, and an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Students may also attend courses at local colleges during the school day for college credit in the Dual Enrollment program. The school has a fine arts department consisting of band, guitar, choral, theatre, visual arts, and music appreciation courses.
Douglas County High School has held the record for the most students to receive the
. since the Seal began.

Notable alumni