North Little Rock High School

The school is administered by the North Little Rock School District.^{[citation needed]}

Built in 1928, North Little Rock's (Argenta's) first high school was called North Side High School, later Clendenin Hill High School (site of present-day Argenta Alternative Academy at 13th & Main Streets).^{[citation needed]}

In 1912, the 16 classroom Argenta High School was constructed. In 1917 450 children attended the school.^[6] The rapid northward growth of North Little Rock in the mid-1920s resulted in a doubling of school enrollment. In 1928, as the need for a new high school increased, the North Little Rock School Board selected the corner of 22nd and Main Streets as the new construction site for North Little Rock High School.^[7] As a result, North Side High School became a junior high school.^{[citation needed]} The original Argenta High School facility, which included an auditorium, a gymnasium, and a recitation room, stood until its 1976 demolition.^[6]

The North Little Rock High School was constructed beginning in 1928 and completed in 1930. Little Rock architect George R. Mann of the firm Peterson, William, Mann, Wanger & King designed the high school as a light colored brick and concrete building in an Art-Deco style.^[8] Between 1956 and 1959, North Little Rock High School served students in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade for nearby City of Sherwood before the construction of Sylvan Hills High School was completed.

In 1970, the North Little Rock School District closed Scipio Jones High School, the segregated public school for black children, as a result of desegregation and the city established a new integrated public high school and thus integrated and renamed the then 40-year-old classic art-deco facility along Main Street as Ole Main High School and named the new facility as Northeast High School. For the next twenty years, the Northeast Chargers served as a natural rival for the Ole Main Wildcats. Then in 1990, the school district consolidated the two schools as North Little Rock High School East Campus (formerly Northeast) for ninth and tenth grades and North Little Rock High School West Campus (formerly Ole Main) for eleventh and twelfth grades.^[9] As a result of the consolidation, the schools' new mascot became the Charging Wildcats as it remains today. In 1993, North Little Rock High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2012, the city of North Little Rock passed a millage to integrate the school into one campus for all high schoolers, grades 9-12. Construction for the new buildings and demolition of some old ones began the following school year. The district had to shuffle grades to different campuses to allow for it. The original High School still stands on the campus along with the new buildings. A new gym and football field were also constructed at this time.

The school's assumed course of study is based on the Smart Core curriculum developed by the Arkansas Department of Education. The school offers coursework and exams in Advanced Placement (AP) and since 1992 offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme.^[10] Additionally, the school is a member of the EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technologies) Initiative that allows students to familiarize themselves with technology through partnerships with technology firms.

The school's teachers received the 1982, 1990, and 1997 Arkansas Teacher of the Year awards by the state's education department and the 1979 and 1987 Bandmaster of the Year award by the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association.^[11][12]

The school participate in a wide range of interscholastic sports and events from the 7A Classification—the state's largest classification—within the 7A Central Conference administered by the Arkansas Activities Association including: baseball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, dance, debate, american football, golf, soccer, softball, speech, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling.^[13]

Senior Roll Night is an unofficial school tradition dating back to the 1980s that takes place each summer on the night before the first day of school. The senior class spends the night toilet papering the houses of the junior class. It is also common for toilets, mattresses, and other random objects to be spray painted with school colors and left on lawns.^[21]

In 1988, the school's yearbook The Wildcat was inducted in the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) All-American Hall of Fame for its numerous National Pacemaker Awards it had received in previous years.^[22] In 2002, the school's literary magazine "Legend" grabbed a NSPA Best of Show Award.

• Raymond Burnett (educator/coach, 1954–56) – football player and coach; inductee to Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame
• Henry Hawk, Head Football Coach; 1972 State Champion; Boston Marathoner; Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame
• Raymond Simon – former math teacher and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education
• Ken Stephens (Educator/coach) – former coach who led this school to three state football championships ('65, '66, '70)