Walpole High School is a public high school in Walpole, Massachusetts, United States, educating grades 9 through 12. It is a part of Walpole Public Schools. The school is mainly focused on college preparatory subjects, with over 90 percent of its graduates typically going on to higher education. It is accredited is by the New England Association of Secondary Schools. As of 2013, the school has about 1,300 students and over 90 faculty and staff members. WHS was founded in 1870; the current building was originally built in 1907 and underwent a major renovation/addition in 2000-2002 thereby adding many new classrooms, labs, a new library and cafeteria as well as a general modernization of the interior. The campus is located one mile from downtown Walpole on Common Street.
Curriculum
Jean Kenney, the assistant superintendent, stated in 2015 that almost every student takes at least two years of foreign language instruction even though the high school only requires one year. As of 2015, foreign languages offered included Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Latin, and Spanish. That year, about 600 students studied Spanish, about 150 studied French, about 100 studied Latin, about 45 students studied German, and about 30 studied Chinese. Kenney stated in 2015 that many students take at least two foreign languages. The former chairperson of foreign languages, George Watson, promoted establishing German classes, saying that there was a need to offer a foreign language not in the Romance languages. As of 2015, few other schools in Massachusetts offered German.
Extracurricular activities
Walpole High School offers a large array of extracurricular activities including varsity level sports, a student council, a robotics team, a film program, a dance company, a best buddies program, a speech team, T.V. broadcasting, during and after school orchestra, band and singing programs and an after-school theatre program. The school's sports teams were named "Rebels" in the 1960s by Coach John "General" Lee, leading to decades of incorporation of the confederate flag and singing Dixie in sporting events and hazing rituals. After criticism that these glorified the confederate cause of slavery, the flag was banned in the 1980s, and the "Rebels" name was removed in 2020, during the George Floyd protests.
