Arlington High School (Arlington Heights, Illinois)
Encyclopedia
Arlington High School was a public high school
located in Arlington Heights, Illinois
, which operated from 1922 to 1984. It was the oldest school in Township High School District 214
which served students in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove
, Elk Grove Village
, Mount Prospect
, Prospect Heights
, Rolling Meadows
and Wheeling, Illinois
. The school occupied a site on that is approximately 1.3 km due east of Arlington Racetrack on Euclid.
District 214 had budget concerns with declining enrollment. The district board members decided to close two schools. Both of the schools that were eventually closed were in Arlington Heights: Arlington High School (closed 1984) and Forest View High School
(closed 1986).
The Arlington High School colors were red and white. Competitive teams were stylized as the Cardinals.
In April, 1982 a computer study listed Rolling Meadows, John Hersey High School, Forest View and Prospect High School (in order) as the most likely schools to be closed. Non-Arlington High School residents sought to keep their schools open by declaring that Arlington High School was the oldest school and the most expensive to maintain and remodel. They even cited a tragic accident in 1971, when a brick partition wall in a bathroom collapsed when three male students (trapped in the bathroom) braced themselves to open a door that had been secured by a piece of wood as a prank. One of the students eventually died from his serious injuries. The partitions were immediately re-designed for safety reasons.
On May 3, 1982 District 214 adjusted data for a computer study and corrected the target list for school closures: John Hersey High School, Arlington and Prospect High School. On May 17, 1982 the District 214 board voted (5-2) to close Arlington High School. A group of Arlington High School parents formed the Assembly of Citizens and Taxpayers (ACT) to study the possibility of seceding from District 214 and forming their own district (August, 1982). Eventually a lawsuit was filed by five Arlington Heights residents and ACT against District 214, charging the board ignored facts from its own studies (November 18, 1982).
In the subsequent lawsuit, District 214 planner Howard Feddema testified that board member Donald Hoeck called him to ask that a computer study's data be manipulated to have Arlington High School move to the top as the candidate for closing. Hoeck replied that he was only trying to demonstrate that numbers could be manipulated many ways (March 10 and 11, 1983). Circuit Court Judge James C. Murray overturned the District 214 decision to close Arlington High School. Judge Murray's opinion states that the board created standards to follow in the closing of schools and then failed to follow them (May 26, 1983). District 214 appealed on June 1, 1983, but Arlington High School freshmen still enrolled in the Fall of 1983.
On the second day of the new school year in 1983, Illinois Appellate Court (Justices James J. Mejda, Kenneth E. Wilson and Francis S. Lorenz) overturned Cook County Judge James Murray's ruling blocking the closing of Arlington High School. The Appellate Court stated that they "cannot question the wisdom of the final action. Right or wrong, it is the decision the board adopted as a quasi-legislative function within its powers ..." and that the court is "unable to say that the ultimate decision itself, the decision to close Arlington and reassign the freshmen students was so palpably arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable as to render it null and void" (August 31, 1983).
of Prospect Heights purchased Arlington High School for $1.51 million. Christian Liberty Academy continues to operate from the Arlington High School building.
Interior and exterior scenes from the 1986
film Lucas
starring Charlie Sheen
and Corey Haim
were shot at the school during the summer immediately after its closing, including some scenes with the Prospect High School Marching Band which at that point contained former Arlington students.
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
located in Arlington Heights, Illinois
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Arlington Heights is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about 25 miles northwest of the city's downtown. The population was 75,101 at the 2010 census....
, which operated from 1922 to 1984. It was the oldest school in Township High School District 214
Township High School District 214
Township High School District 214 is located in Cook County, Illinois. It is the state's second largest high school district by enrollment .-Schools:* Buffalo Grove High School* Elk Grove High School* John Hersey High School* Prospect High School...
which served students in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove
Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Buffalo Grove is an affluent village located in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and in Cook and Lake counties in Illinois, United States. The town was named for Buffalo Creek, which was itself named for bison bones found in the area....
, Elk Grove Village
Elk Grove Village, Illinois
Elk Grove Village is a municipality located in northeastern Illinois adjacent to O'Hare International Airport and the City of Chicago. Elk Grove Village encompasses in land area with located in Cook County and located in DuPage County, Illinois. The population was 32,745 at the 2010 census...
, Mount Prospect
Mount Prospect, Illinois
Mount Prospect is a village in Elk Grove and Wheeling Townships in Cook County, Illinois, about northwest of downtown Chicago. As of the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 54,167.-Geography:...
, Prospect Heights
Prospect Heights, Illinois
Prospect Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, which is a suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,081 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Prospect Heights is located at ....
, Rolling Meadows
Rolling Meadows, Illinois
Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 24,607 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rolling Meadows is located at ....
and Wheeling, Illinois
Wheeling, Illinois
Wheeling is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 34,496 at the 2000 census, and 38,555 at the 2006 special village census.-Geography:Wheeling is located at ....
. The school occupied a site on that is approximately 1.3 km due east of Arlington Racetrack on Euclid.
District 214 had budget concerns with declining enrollment. The district board members decided to close two schools. Both of the schools that were eventually closed were in Arlington Heights: Arlington High School (closed 1984) and Forest View High School
Forest View High School
Forest View High School was a public secondary school in southern Arlington Heights, Illinois, operational from 1963 until its closure because of declining enrollment in 1986. The school mascot was Fergie the Falcon, and the school colors were silver, black, and gold.-Athletics:Forest View's team...
(closed 1986).
The Arlington High School colors were red and white. Competitive teams were stylized as the Cardinals.
History
The closing of Arlington High School was a significant community event in 1983 and 1984, which embattled residents of the district who did not want to see their high schools close. The school district administration completed its first report in April 1981 to the District 214 Board of Education stating that one of eight high schools should close by 1983 due to declining enrollment. Weeks later a report was submitted that two high schools should close by the 1985-1986 school year. Residents responded by presenting arguments to support their own schools. Pro-Arlington supporters declared that Arlington, being the oldest school, had an important community tradition and an important location near downtown Arlington Heights that helped develop and maintain community values and support downtown businesses. Arlington supporters also declared that Arlington had dense residential surroundings, which allowed most students to walk to school. Arlington supporters also underscored the benefit of the agreement with the Arlington Heights Park District to use the swimming pool, which was across the street from the high school, for education and competitive swimming events. Only Wheeling and Buffalo Grove High Schools, which were not at risk of closure, had swimming pools.In April, 1982 a computer study listed Rolling Meadows, John Hersey High School, Forest View and Prospect High School (in order) as the most likely schools to be closed. Non-Arlington High School residents sought to keep their schools open by declaring that Arlington High School was the oldest school and the most expensive to maintain and remodel. They even cited a tragic accident in 1971, when a brick partition wall in a bathroom collapsed when three male students (trapped in the bathroom) braced themselves to open a door that had been secured by a piece of wood as a prank. One of the students eventually died from his serious injuries. The partitions were immediately re-designed for safety reasons.
On May 3, 1982 District 214 adjusted data for a computer study and corrected the target list for school closures: John Hersey High School, Arlington and Prospect High School. On May 17, 1982 the District 214 board voted (5-2) to close Arlington High School. A group of Arlington High School parents formed the Assembly of Citizens and Taxpayers (ACT) to study the possibility of seceding from District 214 and forming their own district (August, 1982). Eventually a lawsuit was filed by five Arlington Heights residents and ACT against District 214, charging the board ignored facts from its own studies (November 18, 1982).
In the subsequent lawsuit, District 214 planner Howard Feddema testified that board member Donald Hoeck called him to ask that a computer study's data be manipulated to have Arlington High School move to the top as the candidate for closing. Hoeck replied that he was only trying to demonstrate that numbers could be manipulated many ways (March 10 and 11, 1983). Circuit Court Judge James C. Murray overturned the District 214 decision to close Arlington High School. Judge Murray's opinion states that the board created standards to follow in the closing of schools and then failed to follow them (May 26, 1983). District 214 appealed on June 1, 1983, but Arlington High School freshmen still enrolled in the Fall of 1983.
On the second day of the new school year in 1983, Illinois Appellate Court (Justices James J. Mejda, Kenneth E. Wilson and Francis S. Lorenz) overturned Cook County Judge James Murray's ruling blocking the closing of Arlington High School. The Appellate Court stated that they "cannot question the wisdom of the final action. Right or wrong, it is the decision the board adopted as a quasi-legislative function within its powers ..." and that the court is "unable to say that the ultimate decision itself, the decision to close Arlington and reassign the freshmen students was so palpably arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable as to render it null and void" (August 31, 1983).
Post closure uses
In May, 1984 District 214 put Arlington High School up for sale and then for auction. Arlington High School closed its doors to public high school students in June, 1984. The following year in April, Christian Liberty AcademyChristian Liberty Academy
Christian Liberty Academy is a private, independent Christian school serving 900 students, located in Arlington Heights, Cook County, Illinois. The school serves families who live in 71 surrounding cities. CLA has grades preschool through twelfth grade and was founded in 1968 under the auspices...
of Prospect Heights purchased Arlington High School for $1.51 million. Christian Liberty Academy continues to operate from the Arlington High School building.
Interior and exterior scenes from the 1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
film Lucas
Lucas (film)
Lucas is a 1986 American teen tragicomedy film directed by David Seltzer and starring Corey Haim, Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen and Courtney Thorne-Smith. The film is particularly notable for being the screen debut of actress Winona Ryder.-Plot:...
starring Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
and Corey Haim
Corey Haim
Corey Ian Haim was a Canadian actor, known for a 1980s Hollywood career as a teen idol. He starred in a number of films such as Lucas, Silver Bullet, Murphy's Romance, License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream...
were shot at the school during the summer immediately after its closing, including some scenes with the Prospect High School Marching Band which at that point contained former Arlington students.
Notable alumni
- Doug BettersDoug BettersDoug Betters is an American football player who played defensive end for the Miami Dolphins from 1978 to 1987.After graduating from Arlington Heights High School in Illinois, Betters played college Division I football for the University of Montana Grizzlies from 1974 to 1976, then transferred to...
was an NFL All-Pro Defensive End. - George BorkGeorge BorkGeorge Bork was an American football player in the 1960s. The 6-1, 185 pound Bork rewrote the Northern Illinois University football record book with some help from end Hugh Rohrschneider during his junior and senior years at the DeKalb school...
is a former footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
quarterback who played for Northern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois Huskies footballThe Northern Illinois Huskies football team represents Northern Illinois University in the Mid-American Conference of the NCAA's Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision.-History:...
before playing for the Montréal AlouettesMontreal AlouettesThe Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
of the Canadian Football LeagueCanadian Football LeagueThe Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
. The first college quarterback to pass for 3,000 yards, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of FameCollege Football Hall of FameThe College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. - Alan Gratzer (1966) is a co-founder of REO SpeedwagonREO SpeedwagonREO Speedwagon is an American rock band. Formed in 1967, the band grew in popularity during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Hi Infidelity is the group's most commercially successful album, selling over ten million copies and charting four Top 40 hits in the US...
. - Jim Staahl (1965) is an actor.