Loading

Harold Ferguson High School
Principal: Sheila Pottorff

Name/History: Ferguson High School was formed in 1972 as an alternative high school. Harold Ferguson was a long-time business teacher and principal at Loveland High School. He founded the first alternative school at Loveland Junior High from 1970-72 then started the high school in the fall of 1972.

Mission Statement: The school provides opportunities and support for continuous success. The students and staff work together to promote a quality learning environment that is positive, personalized, safe, and drug free and where high expectations are valued. The staff commits to a healthy, professional team participating in proactive involvement, trust, and effective communication. The students gain life and employability skills, which will help them achieve their personal and professional goals. The students develop a sense of fulfillment and belonging, which will in turn improve their self-esteem and team-building skills through problem solving.

Environment - Ferguson High School (FHS) is a small, relationship-oriented school that offers a program designed to address the needs of the student for whom the regular high school situation has not been successful. We house the First Steps Infant Care Center, a fully licensed nursery for children between the ages of 4 weeks and 18 months of any student in the Thompson School District. Parents of infants in the program are required to be enrolled in our unique Teen Parent classes or similar parenting classes at other Thompson high schools.

Climate - FHS provides a positive, safe, personalized and drug-free environment where high expectations are valued. Trust, proactive involvement and effective communication enable students to develop a sense of fulfillment, belonging, self-esteem and teamwork that help them to gain employability and life skills. These skills enable them to achieve and exceed their postsecondary goals.

Academics - FHS is on a quarter grading system. This means that we have regular high school classes that are delivered in a different form and in a shorter time period. Credits are issued in .25 rather than .50 increments. We hold graduation four times a year and, therefore, enroll new students accordingly.

Individual emphasis - Our emphasis is on the individual and helping them to work to their full potential. A fifteen-minute PowerPoint presentation by the student is required before graduation and is developed through our Capstone class.

Activities - Activities such as All School Day, Advisory Day, Pass All Dinner, Governance, Specials Week and School Survival class help to set us apart from the "normal" high school experience. Attending our graduation can become an emotional experience that gives the attendee some insight into the "relationship-driven environment" we try to provide for all our students.