Shorewood High School's original facility, built in 1975, spanned 5 city blocks. It had eight single floor buildings with open outdoor corridors. The 1975 building was built in sections: the 100s building, closest to N. 175th Street was originally the Ronald Grade School built in 1906 and closed in 1971 due to a failed levy. The building was then used as a museum until 2010. Along with the elementary school being closed, five other schools were closed, including Butler Junior High School, an older school originally built in 1953 and closed in 1973 to be rebuilt and become the main campus for the new High School named Shorewood. The students still in 7th or 8th grade at the time of the closure were sent to either Einstein Junior High School, or Cordell Hull Junior High School, with a few going to Kellogg Junior High School. None of these schools was a "middle" school at that time. Shorewood was to be the first 4-year high school. Upon its opening, only the 9th and 10th graders were brought in. That 10th grade class remained the eldest class at Shorewood until their graduation in the summer of 1978. It was a unique situation for that one class of students as they never had to face upperclassmen. During this transition period for the district, all of the remaining junior high schools became middle schools. Many of the last class of 7th grade students to enter Butler Junior High School were in the very first graduating class of Shorewood High School in 1978. Shorewood High School underwent a 6.5 million dollar renovation in 1997. In 2011 the school district approved plans to replace the school building with a new facility on the same site. The renovation and incorporation of the historic Ronald School building was approved by the Association of King County Historical Organizations. The ground-breaking ceremony for the new construction was held on October 17, 2011. The historic building was incorporated into the design as part of the new school's performing arts department and the remainder of the existing buildings were demolished. Architects for the new school were Bassetti Architects. The new 220,000 square foot facility opened on time in September 2013 for the 2013-14 school year.
Academics and programs
Shorewood has 17 AP classes, covering 9 different subjects. In addition to AP courses, Shorewood offers a program called Running Start. This allows students to simultaneously acquire college and high school credit by taking classes at Shoreline Community College. In turn, many students graduate each year with an Associate's Degree. With an 86% on time graduation date Shorewood academics are well above the state average, scoring an 89% on reading, 91% on writing, 66% on math and 45% on science, with at least 60% of students passing the three state standards in the 2006 school year. Eight Shorewood seniors were named National Merit finalists in the 2005-2006 academic year, two were named in the 2006-2007 academic year, and seven were named in the 2007-2008 academic year. In 2006, an Intel Science Talent Search Finalist, Jolene Mork, was from Shorewood. Approximately 12% of students took one or more AP exams in 2003. On average 59% of Shorewood graduates enrolled in 4-year colleges, and 28% enrolled in 2-year colleges, based on the graduating class of 2004-2005. Shorewood participates in a school Chromebook program, as of the 2018-2019, which allows students the use of a Lenovo Chromebook for the completion of school work. The program is run by the school district.
