South Mountain High School


South Mountain High School is a high school located in Phoenix, Arizona. The school is part of the Phoenix Union High School District.

Overview

The school was founded in 1954. The school shares its name with South Mountain, which is located south of the campus.
The school partner's elementary district is Roosevelt.

School boundary

Like all Phoenix Union High School District schools, students who live within a specific geographic area of Phoenix are automatically enrolled at South Mountain High School., the school serves students in an area south of the Salt River, north of the South Mountain, east of Central Avenue, and west of 40th Street. However, open enrollment is allowed.

Student population

Just over 99% of students at the school are identified as "Hispanics".

Magnet programs

South Mountain High School teaches five of the eleven Magnet programs in the Phoenix Union High School District.
The school has seen incidents of violence over the years.

1970s

A riot brought on by racial tensions happened at the school at some point during the 1970s.

1994

In October 1994, racial tensions between the school's African American and Hispanic population erupted into a riot. A report by Phoenix newspaper Arizona Republic indicated the fight involved 1,000 students, and the incident reportedly spilled into neighborhoods surrounding the school.
The incident reportedly happened in the aftermath of a shooting that injured a Hispanic senior student was a member of a Bloods gang. The suspect in the shooting was reportedly an African American Crips gang member.
No guns or knives were used during the riot, but it involved other weapons such as metal pipes and tree branches. Dozens were reportedly injured, and the incident resulted in the arrest of 18 people. School security, along with Phoenix Police Department and Arizona Department of Public Safety officers, joined forces to separate the African American and Hispanic students, and stop the riot at the school.
Overcrowding at the school was seen, at least by school officials at the time, as a cause for the incident.

2009

In February 2009, a riot involving up to 300 people either fighting or cheering took place, as school was letting out. A school resource officer, as well as a Phoenix Police officer, were assaulted, and in the end, 40 officers were called to subdue the riot. 12 people, including 10 juveniles and 2 adults, were arrested.

Notable alumni