Approximate date of this image?	Approximate date of this image?	Approximate date of this image?

This is a project that combines text and pictures and incorporates the strategies of literature and leads to a  short research paper that answers the following question:

• What is in the picture that is not in the other two pictures?
• Is there anything in this picture that cannot be found in this area today?
• Approximately how many houses are in this picture.  (count by sections) ______________
• Approximately how many trees are in this picture? (count by sections) _____
• Approximately what year was this picture taken? ______________

List the evidence that helped you date this picture.

While you read:

    Use a pencil or pen to make the following marks on the text:

=  I understand  this section	Draw a line under prefixes, roots and suffixes
?         = I have questions about this section	Box in important words and details - especially names and dates
!     = I think this is an important or interesting point	Write a one sentence summary at the end of the text.

The feeder middle schools for Washington High School include Arrowhead, Eisenhower, Northwest, and West.

The school is located in the northwest section of the attendance area. The original building was opened to students on January 4, 1932. Numerous additions and renovations have occurred in the past sixty-four years. The Washington High School District was formed June 10, 1930, at which time the location of the school was decided. The Honorable Forest Ayers, who was the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge of the State of Kansas, laid the cornerstone on August 15, 1931, with the same trowel that George Washington used in laying the cornerstone of our National Capitol. To make this possible, the expense of bringing the trowel to the ceremony was raised by popular subscription. The oration of the occasion was delivered by the Honorable U. S. Guyer, who was the Representative in Congress from this district at the time.

On September 1, 1931, the Rural High School opened its doors, with the classes held at the Welborn Community Church. On January 4, 1932, the new Washington School Building was ready for use, and students came to classes at Washington Rural High School for the first time. The name was later changed to Washington High School in 1948.

A second story was built in 1945, to create rooms for art and journalism classes. A major addition was made in 1952, including a cafeteria, new library, field house, home economics room and more classroom space. In 1956, another addition was built to the immediate west of the building. A new football field and parking lot were also constructed to meet the needs of the growing school. In 1963, a new library, swimming pool, cafeteria and auditorium were added. The Wildcat has become the symbol of Washington High School, and the school colors are crimson and white.

In 1967 Washington High School became part of the Kansas City, Kansas school system. In January 1970 the voters of Kansas City, Kansas passed a $24,500,000 building program. During the construction of a new senior high school and junior high, Washington operated on split sessions juniors and seniors attending morning sessions, freshmen and sophomores attending in the afternoon.

After the completion of the new senior high school, Schlagle, and junior high school, Eisenhower, in 1972, Washington resumed a normal school schedule. In the fall of l972, new athletic locker rooms, wrestling and weight rooms were built at the southwest corner of the football field.

USD #500 allocated capital outlay funds in the spring of l980 for the expansion of dining room facilities. This improvement was opened in the late fall of l980. Air conditioning was installed in this new addition and also in the library.

Washington High School has been greatly affected by change over the sixty-five years of its existence. A formerly predominantly white, rural high school, Washington has experienced a reasonably smooth transition to a diverse, urban student body through the processes of consolidation, urbanization and desegregation within the Kansas City, Kansas School District. As of September 20, 1994, the enrollment at Washington High School numbered 1,245: 206 seniors, 277 juniors, 294 sophomores and 469 freshmen. The racial makeup is 59% AfroAmerican, 36% White, 4% Hispanic, 1% Asian/American Indian.

Kansas City, Kansas, is a predominately blue-collar community with an emphasis on light industry and small business, although auto assembly and railroad industries also exist. The widespread geographic distribution of the student body makes it difficult to identify the exact Washington High School community and somewhat separates the institution from the various communities within its boundaries. Even though many parents are removed from the school by the natural geographic barriers of the city, Booster Club and PTA sponsor such activities as scholarships and various fundraisers for school projects. The community assists with distributive education employment and special education work study programs.

The community in which the school is located has experienced a rise in low income households and a decline in both middle income households (48% to 44%) and high income households (3.3% to 2.6%) over the past ten years, according to data collected in the 1990 census. The ethnic composition of the county has also undergone change in the ten-year span, 1980 to 1990, with gains in African American, Hispanic and other minority populations while experiencing a loss in the Caucasian population. The county now has the largest minority population in the metropolitan area, with a large proportion being low income.

Further analysis of the census data comparing the five county metropolitan areas indicates that Wyandotte County has

• The highest unemployment rate
• The highest share of families in poverty
• The highest percentage of children in single parent families
• The highest percentage of children in poverty
• The lowest percentage of high school and college graduates
• The lowest average household income
• The lowest percentage of children in preschool programs (Nicely, 1993)

After you read: