Conard High School

Conard High School
'Diversity is Strength'
Address
110 Beechwood Road West Hartford, Connecticut 06107 USA
Coordinates
Information
Type	Public school
Established	1957
School district	West Hartford Public Schools
Superintendent	Thomas Moore
Principal	Julio Duarte
Faculty	108 (2014)
Grades	9-12
Number of students	1451 (2014)
Color(s)	Red and Gray
Team name	Chieftains
Rivals	Hall High School
Newspaper	The PowWow
Website	CHS Homepage

Conard High School is a public high school in West Hartford, in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It opened in 1957, and was named after Frederick Underwood Conard, president of Niles-Bement-Pond Company and chairman of the local Board of Education when plans for the school were approved. Conard is one of two West Hartford public high schools, the other being Hall High School.

History

Conard's first classes were held on September 4, 1957. Conard was originally designed to accommodate 1100 students. However, today there are more than 1500 students in attendance.

In 1999, Alphonse Chuck Landroche became Conard's principal. Landroche retired at the end of the 2007 school year. Tom Moore became Conard's principal in 2007. In 2010, Moore became assistant superintendent, which left Conard without a principal. In the fall of 2010, Dr. Peter Cummings became principal of Conard High School.

On February 23, 2015, fans of Conard and Hall High School basketball were involved in a brawl at their annual end-of-season rivalry game. The fight started when fans of Hall High School stormed the court before the end of the game and attacked the players on Conard's basketball team. As a result, members of Conard's fan section, The Tribe, became involved to defend their players. Hall won the basketball game, however, the general consensus is that Conard won the fight.

Facts and statistics

As of 2007, Conard had 1,461 students, with 60.9% white, 19.1% Hispanic, 10.7% Black, 9.1% Asian American and 0.2% American Indian.

Conard's mascot is an American Indian chieftain. This is denoted on the schools athletic jerseys by the letter "C" crossed with an Indian feather, which replaced the side profile of a chieftain in Fall of 2007.

As of 2007, Conard offers 26 AP courses.

There is a prominent rivalry between Conard High School and its cross-town counterpart, Hall High School.

Accomplishments

• Recognized by Newsweek magazine as the 329th best public high school in the nation in 2010.
• Recognized by Newsweek as Connecticut's top public high school in 2006, better than cross town rival Hall High School, based on "the number of Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2005 divided by the number of graduating seniors."
• Blue Ribbon School in 1984-85.
• Julio Duarte, current Principal of Conard High school, has been selected as the 2013 High School Assistant Principal of the Year by the Connecticut Association of Schools and is a contender for the National Assistant Principal of the Year Award.

Notable alumni

• David Naughton, class of 1969, actor (An American Werewolf in London)
• James Naughton, actor, winner of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (1990, 1997)
• Robert Romanus, actor Fast Times at Ridgemont High, class of 1974
• Jimmy Shea, class of 1987, 2002 Olympic gold medal winner
• Matt Sinatro, class of 1978, Major League Baseball player and coach
• Kevin Galvin, business/health care advocate
• Marcus Camby, professional basketball player (transferred before graduating)[1]
• Jack Sonni, class of 1972, rhythm guitarist for Dire Straits
• Peter Dante, actor ("Grandma's Boy," "Big Daddy," "Mr. Deeds," "Little Nicky")

External links

• Conard High School
• School Report 2003-04 for No Child Left Behind