Logan High School (La Crosse, Wisconsin)

La Crosse Logan High School is a public high school in La Crosse, Wisconsin operated by the School District of La Crosse. Located on the city's north side, the 240,000 square foot school is situated on a 32-acre site in the La Crosse River Valley. The school is named after the street address of its original location, which had been named after General John A. Logan.

La Crosse Logan High School
Address
1500 Ranger Drive La Crosse , Wisconsin 54603 United States
Coordinates	43°50′41″N 91°14′03″W / 43.84481°N 91.23414°W / 43.84481; -91.23414
Information
Type	Public 4-year
Motto	"Onward Logan"
Established	1928
Principal	Walter Gnewikow, Jr.
Faculty	64.25 (FTE)^[1]
Enrollment	764 (2018-19)^[1]
Student to teacher ratio	11.89^[1]
Color(s)	Red, White, Black and Baby Blue
Athletics conference	Mississippi Valley Conference
Mascot	Ranger
Rival	La Crosse Central High School
Website	www.lacrosseschools.org/logan-high

La Crosse Logan consistently scores among the top high schools in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and is nationally recognized for its student academic achievements and college readiness scores.^[2] The school was visited by President George W. Bush in 2002, as part of the Department of Education's Tour Across America. In 2014 U.S. News & World Report ranked Logan 29th among Wisconsin's high schools, earning a silver medal. As of 2022, it is ranked 79th in Wisconsin.^[3]

History

 

President Bush delivers remarks on Education Accountability at Logan High School in 2002.

Logan High School was named after the street address of its original location on Logan Street on the North Side of La Crosse. A school had existed at that location since the 1800s, and residents referred to this school as Logan out of convenience. The street itself was named after General John A. Logan, via a resolution passed in 1888. Logan High School has since relocated, but retains the name of its original location. Its current address, Ranger Drive, is named after the school's mascot: the Logan Rangers.^[4] This mascot was named in honor of Robert Rogers' Rangers, a British company of soldiers who fought during the French and Indian War.^[5]

After the original school on Logan street burned down, a new school, officially named Logan Junior High School was constructed on the same grounds and opened in 1923. A 1928 addition to the existing junior high school added a senior high school to the same building, which then taught students from grades 7 through 12. Several other additions were made to this building, including a 1940 expansion which built on a gymnasium and an auditorium.^[6][5]

In the following decades, several attempts were made to accommodate the school's growing student population. Two additions were made to the junior high part of the building in 1956 and again in 1964. In 1958, a second building was added onto the same property, thus separating the school between the junior high, which then taught grades 7-9, and senior high, which taught grades 10-12. Despite these efforts, the school still needed more space to accommodate all of its students. Discussions began to form a separate high school in the 1970s, and construction began in 1978 at the high school's current location on Ranger Drive. The new high school opened in 1979. The original building at Logan Street became exclusively a junior high school which remains in the same location to this day.^[6] The new school at Ranger Drive originally was a three-year high school, teaching grades 10 through 12, though in 1980 a district-wide reorganization of schools made it into a four-year high school which included grade 9. Since the completion of the original construction at Ranger Drive, there have been two classroom additions made to accommodate increases to the student body. In 1997, a further addition provided music and athletic facilities.^[5][7]

Today, Logan High is a two-story building of about 240,000 square feet (22,000 m²) situated on a 32-acre (130,000 m²) site in the La Crosse River Valley on the city's north side. Students from La Crosse's north side, partial south side, Campbell, Medary, and some open enrollment attendees from surrounding municipalities are served by the school.

In 2005, principal Scott Mihalovic won the La Crosse Tribune Person of the Year award stating, "Scott Mihalovic, who as principal at Logan High School provided steady leadership during a challenging period at the school."^[8] Mihalovic retired from his position in 2014 and the school's former associate principal, Deb Markos, was named the new principal.^[9] In turn, Markos retired in 2018. Since then, Walter Gnewikow Jr. has been the school's principal.^[10]

2002 presidential visit

President George W. Bush visited the school on May 8, 2002, as part of the Department of Education's Tour Across America in support of the No Child Left Behind Act.^[11] The school had been one of 25 schools selected for the tour, only some of which were visited by the president. On the same trip, President Bush visited two other schools in Wisconsin, both in Milwaukee.^[12] Logan High School had been singled out and selected for the tour because of its placement on the state's list of "High Performing, High Poverty Schools," which acknowledges schools with both test scores greater than 80% of Wisconsin's state average, and a poverty rate of at least twice the state average.^[13][14]

Prior to his speech, the president held a roundtable discussion with select community leaders and educators from La Crosse. The president then gave an approximately 30 minute speech to the student body, educators, and other members of the community. The speech primarily focused on the No Child Left Behind Act and his administration's other education initiatives, though it also emphasized the September 11 attacks and his administration's war on terror in response to it.^[15] Of the more than 2,000 people in attendance, nearly 1,000 were current students at Logan.^[16] Also in attendance were Ron Kind, Scott McCallum, and Rod Paige. As a security measure, all attending students were required to wait in the school's gymnasium for two and a half hours before his speech began.^[17] During the visit, the school was under stringent security via the Secret Service. Those to be in close contact with the president were required to provide their Social Security number as part of a background check, while all attendees went through metal detectors upon admission.^[18]

Demographics

 

Logan high school enrollment by year

Student diversity 2022^[19]

  White (64.5%)

  Two or more races (12.7%)

  Asian (10.8%)

  black (6.1%)

  Hispanic (4.7%)

  American Indian (1%)

In 2017, the school offered 28 core classes, 21 Advanced Placement courses, and 20 electives provided by 15 departments. The school then had an average class size of 24.5, facilitated by 66 teachers and 16 teacher assistants, more than 50% of whom held a master's degree. At that time, the school had a student body of 843 between grades 9-12. Of those students, 44.83% were eligible for the free and reduced lunch program provided by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.^[20] As of May, 2020, 764 students are enrolled, with a student–teacher ratio of 11.89.^[1]

Students eligible for free or reduced lunch

Extracurricular activities

Clubs and organizations

The school has several academic clubs and teams, including: Academic Decathlon, Forensics, High Quiz Bowl and NAQT. There are also several entrepreneurial and business clubs, including: DECA, FBLA, and FCCLA. The school has its own National Honor Society chapter.^{[citation needed]}

Athletics

 

Swanson Field at Logan High School

 

Logan Rangers Football Field

Sport programs provided by the school include: basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, track and field, wrestling, cross country, swimming, tennis, powerlifting, soccer, football, fall dance team, winter dance team, cheerleading, golf, gymnastics, hockey, and skiing.^[21] The school's athletic teams compete within the Mississippi Valley Conference, sponsored by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association. The school's varsity teams have been state champions in baseball twice, once in 1971 and again in 2001.^[22] The Softball team were state champions within division two in 2015.^[23][24] The Rangers hold a cross-city rivalry with La Crosse Central High School. The rivalry centers upon the annual game between the two schools' football teams, referred to as the Battle for the Ark, though the rivalry encompasses all sports.

In 2015, the Green Bay Packers Foundation donated $200,000 for Logan to upgrade its football field to synthetic turf.^[25][26] Again in 2018, The Green Bay Packers Foundation provided the school with a $7,000 grant to upgrade its weight room.^[27]

Sister schools

• Staatliches Gymnasium Friedberg, Friedberg, Bavaria, Germany^[28]
• Luoyang Foreign Language School, Luoyang, China^[29]

Notable faculty

• D. Wayne Lukas, horse trainer, taught and coached at Logan
• Ruth Ann Musick, folklorist and author, taught at Logan from 1923 to 1931

Notable alumni

• Russell G. Cleary, businessman and lawyer
• Edward R. Hauser, University of Wisconsin professor and chairman, Meat and Animal Science
• Ron Kind, United States House of Representatives
• Doug Martin, college basketball coach
• Bert Phillips, cellist and conductor^[30]
• Glen Selbo, basketball and baseball player
• Clarence Tommerson, NFL player

See also

• La Crosse Central High School
• School District of La Crosse
• List of high schools in Wisconsin

Notes

1. "Logan High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
2. "Logan High". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
3. "Logan High". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
4. Kranz, David (21 May 2018). "Logan High School: What's in a Name?". La Crosse Public Library Archives. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
5. "About". Logan High School. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
6. "School Daze". La Crosse Public Library Archives. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
7. "School District of La Crosse". School District of La Crosse.
8. Simmons, Dan. "2005 Person of the Year: Scott Mihalovic". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
9. "New Logan High School principal named". WKBT. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
10. "School District of La Crosse adds new leadership". WKBT. 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
11. "Fact Sheet: President Joins "No Child Left Behind Tour Across America"". The American Presidency Project. University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
12. Chen, Edwin; Hook, Janet (2002-05-09). "School Accountability Is a High Priority, Bush Says in Wis. Visit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
13. Mercer, Anastasia (8 May 2020). "Logan singled out in a district of star performers". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
14. "Abuzz over Bush". La Crosse Tribune. 8 May 2002. Retrieved 23 December 2002.
15. "President Visits Logan High School in Lacrosse". The White House: President George W. Bush. Office of the Press Secretary. 8 May 2002. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
16. Rindfleisch, Terry (8 May 2002). "Principal says entire district should be honored by presidential visit". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
17. Mercer, Anastasia (7 May 2002). "Prepping for a presidential visit". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
18. McAlpine, Linda (5 May 2002). "President's visit a dream come true for GOP faithful". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
19. "Logan High School in La Crosse, WI - US News Best High Schools". U.S. News & World Report. from the original on 2022-04-28.
20. "School Statistics". dpi.wi.gov. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
21. . School District of La Crosse. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
22. "State Team Championships by School". www.wiaawi.org. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
23. Oleson, Sam. "Waupun falls to La Crosse Logan in state championship". The Reporter. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
24. "La Crosse Logan". Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
25. "Logan High School awarded $200,000 Packers Program grant". WKBT. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
26. "Logan High School awarded $200,000 grant by the Green Bay Packers". School District of La Crosse. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
27. "Packers Foundation provides $7,000 for Logan High weight room project". La Crosse Public Education Foundation. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
28. "Friedberg History". www.cityoflacrosse.org. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
29. . City of La Crosse. Archived from the original on 2010-07-11. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
30. "Wall of Fame". School District of La Crosse. Retrieved 2020-12-26.