William G. Enloe High School - History

History

Enloe High School was originally organized as two different schools that shared athletic facilities between adjacent campuses – William G. Enloe Senior High and Charles B. Aycock Junior High. The original Enloe campus was opened in 1962 as the first integrated secondary school in Raleigh for the education of students participating in grades seven through twelve.

Three years after Enloe opened its doors, Aycock was created on an adjacent campus as a junior high school to educate students in the seventh through ninth grades, and Enloe became a senior high school with concentrated education for grades ten through twelve. Enloe absorbed the Aycock campus in 1979, becoming a modern high school focused on educating ninth through twelfth grade students. The Aycock building became the East Campus, while the original Enloe complex became the West Campus.

In 1980, Enloe began providing magnet courses for "gifted and talented" students in Wake County. The school was promoted to full magnet status in 1982. The "magnet" designation means that Enloe offers many courses that other Wake County schools do not, and provides services to its students that are not available to them at their "base" schools. At Enloe, like many magnet schools, the majority of the student body uses publicly provided transportation to shuttle them to school, though Enloe retains its own "base" population. Until the mid-1990s, Enloe was the only magnet high school in the Wake system, leading to high concentration of academically talented students. The 1993 graduating class included 42 National Merit Semifinalists, a number that remains a state record.

In July 1997, Enloe became an IB World School, allowing students to pursue the challenging International Baccalaureate Programme. Enloe IB students are occasionally invited to attend special events or trips through their involvement in the IB Programme. In the recent past, Enloe IB students have participated in exchanges with high schools in China (2004–2005) and Germany (2005–2006), and have begun a relationship with students at a high school in Turkey through the use of video conferencing technology. In 2006, Enloe finished the construction of a new building adjacent to the West Campus and consequently closed the 50-year old, outdated East Campus for renovation. Almost all the classes have migrated from the East Campus to the new building, reducing the need to share classes with its larger capacity. The East Campus has now been reopened as of January 22, 2008, the start of the second semester. It has the autotech classes, the new East Gym, Student Services, Healthful Living classrooms, and other classrooms. The next stage of Enloe's renovation was completed in January 2009, and involved the locker rooms in the West Gym being converted to house the audio-visual classrooms as well as the Television Studio.

Enloe currently offers 28 AP courses in addition to several IB courses.

The Wake County School Board considered removing the International Baccalaureate and magnet status from Enloe, but this decision was overturned due to the intense lobbying of students and their parents.

Following a gang fight involving 30 students in September 2008 and the recent beating of a student on campus, the school's PTSA has warned students not walk alone on campus. Police and school security were beefed up in December 2008 following the armed robbery of a student and the assault of another student while both were walking to school.

On January 16, 2009 assistant principal Carrie Jacobs was mugged getting out of her car before school. She was struck by her attacker and her purse was stolen. She was not seriously injured.

Most recently, on May 22, 2009 three shots were fired into an empty car parked on a neighboring street. The shots were fired 30 minutes before school had begun; the school was never officially put on lockdown. No students were involved.

Since 2009, students at Enloe have been required to wear visible Identification badges around their necks at all times in an attempt to enforce campus security and the overall safety of the students and staff members. Students are not allowed in the building without these badges, and if a student doesn't have their ID they will be sentenced to detention. If a student has lost or forgotten their student ID at home they can either call a parent or purchase a new one for a charge of $5. The ID's currently have the student's lunch period and a barcode on the back.