Roslyn High School


Roslyn High School is a public high school in Roslyn Heights, New York, United States, and is the only high school in the Roslyn Union Free School District, serving all of the district's students in grades 912.

History

The property that Roslyn High School sits on was donated in the 1920s by Clarence and Katherine Mackay, both famous figures in Roslyn's history. They owned a large estate in the area, known as "Harbor Hill", and a plaque was created to commemorate the land donation. It was originally located in the lobby of the original school building, and is now located on the wall near the replacement building's visitor entrance.
Additionally, Katherine Mackay was the first woman to serve on Roslyn's school board.

The original building (1920s1970s)

The original school building opened in 1925, designed by architect William Bunker Tubby, a relative of some locals, in the Colonial Revival Style. It consisted of a columned main entrance, adorned on both sides by symmetrical wings. The main entrance was reached by a staircase leading from the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Roslyn Road. An extension was built off the back of the school in the 1950s during the postwar Baby boom, which stands to this day.

The current building (1970spresent)

Between 1970 and 1971, the original, Tubby-designed 1920s school building was demolished and replaced by the current structure. However, there are numerous remnants of the old building that remain - most notably the middle segment of the stairway underneath the school, and the main gymnasium. Lecture Room B was the original school's auditorium, and the room behind it was the original stage. The school maintains a collection of historic photographs in "The Commons", including many of the old school.
School-wide renovations, 2010s
In the summer of 2017, the district embarked on a major renovation project at the high school, as part of a district-wide modernization initiative. This renovation included completely gutting and renovating the first floor hallways, demolishing, replacing, and expanding the library, constructing an additional gymnasium, installing air conditioning in the world language and math/2nd floor science hallways, reconfiguring the front circle and constructing an entrance plaza and security vestibule, expanding and resurfacing the faculty and student parking lots by relocating the district's bus garage to an area adjacent to one of the elementary schools, and creating a student lounge next to the school store. Further renovations were completed during the summer of 2018. Additionally, the center of the front circle would remain the home for one of the marble horse tamer statues from the Mackay estate, which was restored and re-dedicated on October 10, 2019.

Mackay Horse Tamer statue

As part of the Mackay estate, numerous statues were commissioned - including multiple marble horse tamer statues. After the Mackay estate was demolished, the statue that now resides at the high school was forgotten, only to be stumbled upon years later by a local artist, George Gách. In 1959, the district, at Gách's request, took possession of the horse tamer statue to ensure that it be preserved and maintained. Additionally, having it preserved and relocated to the high school was appropriate, as the land was on a donated part of the former estate. Ultimately, this became a reality, and the statue calls Roslyn High School its home to this very day. For many years after the district took ownership, Gách continued to look after and maintain the statue.
In the 2010s, the statue was temporarily removed from the school for an extensive rehabilitation, as it had been weathered down by the elements and by vandals, to a lesser extent over the decades.
In 2017, the school underwent an extensive modernization, and the front circle was reconfigured. A garden was created in the grassy island of the front circle, with trees, bushes and flowers, and the school’s flagpole. Additionally, the marble statue was made the garden’s centerpiece, complete with a new pedestal.
The re-dedication ceremony for the Horse Tamer took place in the front circle on October 10, 2019, and was a major community event.

9/11 Memorial

A number of Roslyn graduates were killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
To honor the victims that were Roslyn graduates, a memorial garden was created in the western courtyard, and a plaque was placed in a nearby hallway that overlooks it. The garden contains a series of benches, each displaying a Roslyn graduate's name, their date of birth, and the date of the attacks. Additionally, the plaque inside the school also features each victim's year of graduation.

2004 Financial scandal

In February 2004, Rebekah Rombom, as editor-in-chief of The Hilltop Beacon, the Roslyn High School newspaper, was preparing the March issue when she was given information that a woman had stolen money from the school district two years earlier, but was allowed to resign quietly without criminal charges.
As Rombom researched the story for her newspaper, she discovered that the woman, who had embezzled at least $250,000, was Pamela Gluckin, the school district's former assistant superintendent for business, but she was told she could not use Gluckin's name in her article. She was also told that she needed to show the article to her principal and the director of community relations before publication; both read it and did not request any changes. The publication of the article in the school's newspaper triggered a full-scale investigation that found officials had embezzled $11.2 million from the district over 8 years. Gluckin and Frank Tassone, the superintendent of the school district at the time, eventually pleaded guilty and went to prison.

21st Century education initiatives

Interactive learning
In 2013, iPads replaced many textbooks, in part as a budgetary move. In 2019, Chromebooks replaced iPads as the school-issued device.
All classrooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards, which are linked with the given classroom's computer.

Demographics

As of the 20172018 school year, Roslyn High School had a total enrollment of 1,038 students, and had 87.04 full-time equivalent classroom teachers. The student/teacher ratio was 11.93-to-1.
Below are various charts that further describe the demographics of the student body as of the 201718 school year, using the same public data from the National Center for Education Statistics :
GradeNumber of Students
9231
10277
11260
12266
Ungraded13

Race/EthnicityNumber of Students
White749
Black32
Hispanic79
Asian172
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander1
American Indian/Alaska Native0
Two or More Races5

Notable alumni