South Oak Cliff High School

South Oak Cliff opened in 1952 as the first DISD high school to be constructed in almost 15 years (Lincoln High opened in 1939.) The school served developing areas of south and east Oak Cliff. In the first year only a few hundred students enrolled, but the school grew rapidly as new housing developments were completed along Kiest Boulevard and Ledbetter Drive. In the late 1950s, before Kimball and Carter high schools were opened, SOC was one of the largest high schools in the city. For its first 13 years SOC was designated a "white" high school by DISD, but the neighborhoods surrounding the school began to change rapidly to African-American in the early 1960s. Many of the schools that fed into SOC (Holmes and Zumwalt junior high schools and Miller, Stone, Pease, Bushman and Mills elementary schools) were converted to "negro" elementary schools in the late 1960s.

This picture of the 1967-1968 SOC football team illustrates the school's changing demographics

Roosevelt High School was opened in north Oak Cliff 1963 to serve the growing African-American student population, but at the beginning of the 1966-1967 school year, DISD was forced to desegregate its high schools and black students enrolled at SOC for the first time.

Between 1966 and 1970 the student body changed from nearly 100 percent white to almost 100 percent African-American. This type of racial turnover was common in the US during the white flight era of the 1960s, but it was rare to see it happen in such a newly developed area. Most of the homes, businesses and shopping centers in this area of Oak Cliff were less than ten years old when the racial changes began. There was a period when SOC had over 2,000 students.[6]

After the A. Maceo Smith High School moved in 1989, the attendance boundaries between Smith and South Oak Cliff shifted, with students zoned to Stone Middle School and Zumwalt Middle School, except for students also zoned to Bushman Elementary, moving from SOC to Smith, and students zoned to Storey Middle School, except for those who began their educations at Marshall and Oliver elementaries, would be zoned to SOC.[7]

In 2005, after the closure of the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District, what would have been the entire senior class of Wilmer-Hutchins High School was sent to South Oak Cliff. SOC and other DISD schools absorbed the remaining WHISD high school students.[8]

In 2011, the district re-opened Wilmer Hutchins and converted A. Maceo Smith into a technology magnet.[9] Some former WHISD zones covered by South Oak Cliff were rezoned to Wilmer-Hutchins.[10][11] South Oak Cliff absorbed parts of the former A. Maceo Smith boundary.[12][13]

By 2016 the district agreed to remodel the SOC building. At first the renovation was to only cover the inside, the plumbing system, and the roof, with $13 million in funding. The funding and scope increased after advocacy from the SOC community and student walkouts. In February 2016 DISD agreed to up the amount to $25 million. The following May it increased to $42 million. Finally the board voted 6-3 to increase it to $52 million in October 2016.[14] The renovation is to include refurbished classrooms, new hallways with an atrium and athletic facilities. The latter category consists of a gymnasium for athletic competitions that has a capacity of 2,000 people, as well as another weight room and an auxiliary gymnasium.[15]

At first the students were to be housed in temporary buildings on the SOC site, but SOC community members insisted that the students be housed on another site during renovations. In January 2018 students were moved to Village Fair, along Interstate 35E, previously used as a shopping complex, so the permanent building may be remodeled. DISD converted the facility, with 23,000 square feet (2,100 m²) of school space, for the stated purpose for $2.2 million. Normally it was used for the alternative school but to accommodate SOC that school was moved to Nolan Estes Plaza. The temporary facility has a band hall, a dance room, and two rooms for science classes. The basketball team, during the renovation period, is using Sprague Field House as its practice area.[15] The renovations of the permanent SOC campus continued into the 2019-2020 school year, and students remained at Village Fair.[16]

In January 2018 the school had about 1,200 students.[15] For the 2019-2020 school year the administration expected that the enrollment would be 963, but by October was 1,322, above expectations.[6]

In December 2019, $52 million worth of renovations were completed on the original campus and students began classes there beginning in January 2020.[17]

SOC has chosen to institute mandatory school uniforms consisting of white, black or gold tops and khaki or black bottoms.[1]

The Texas Education Agency specified that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with uniforms may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform,[23] parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Harrell Budd (PK-5), Lisbon (PK-5), Thomas L. Marsalis (PK-5), Clara Oliver (PK-5), Clinton P. Russell (4-5), Erasmo Sequin Community Learning Center (PK-3) and Robert L. Thornton (PK-5) all feed into Boude Storey and Sarah Zumwalt Middle Schools, which ultimately feeds into South Oak Cliff High School.[24]

A 2008 investigation within the Dallas school district's Office of Professional Responsibility found that then-principal Donald Moten as well as other school officials staged cage fights among troubled students, making them fight in a steel utility cage inside a boys locker room.[25][26] The investigation showed that Moten and other employees "knew of the practice, allowed it to go on for a time, and failed to report it".[27][28]

South Oak Cliff High was stripped of its 2006 state basketball championship after investigators determined Moten had coerced teachers into changing athletes' grades. District reports also confirmed unauthorized pep rally fundraisers that Moten used to fund personal gambling trips. Moten had a previous checkered work history at the Dallas Police Department – one that included staging his own kidnapping and the fatal shooting of an elderly crime-watch volunteer. Moten was moved from South Oak Cliff High to Jackson Elementary School in 2006, and resigned from the district in 2008.[29][30]

• Ira Albright, former NFL player
• Jackie Allen, former NFL player
• Darrell Arthur, class of 2006; NBA player for the Memphis Grizzlies, former member of the Kansas Jayhawks
• Tony Battie, class of 1994; NBA player for the New Jersey Nets[31]
• Lincoln "Link" Browder, class of 1983; R&B singer, songwriter & producer
• David Brown, Dallas Chief of Police[32]
• David Burns, former NBA player
• Danny Colbert, former NFL player
• Tim Collier former NFL defensive back (1976–83) for Chiefs, Cardinals, and 49ers; 1972
• Michael Lynn Downs, class of 1977, former All-Pro safety Dallas Cowboys (1981–1988) and the Arizona Cardinals (1989)
• LaTarence Dunbar, class of 1998; former player for the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans[33]
• Chryste Gaines, Olympic sprinter[31]
• Casey Gerald, class of 2005, Yale Football, Harvard Business School, founder MBAs Across America[34]
• Fran Harris American television personality, sportscaster, and former professional and college basketball player who has won championships in high school, in college, and in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA[35]
• Nekeshia Henderson, American basketball player
• Lendy Holmes, former NFL player
• Charles Hudson, former MLB pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers
• Rod Jones, NFL player[31]
• Eric July, class of 2008, rapper
• Joe King, former NFL player
• Mike Livingston, class of 1964, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1968 to 1979, graduate of SMU, earned 12 letters in football, baseball, basketball and track
• Harvey Martin, class of 1968, former NFL defensive player of the year and All-Pro, Dallas Cowboys
• Wayne Morris, former NFL running back for the Saint Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Chargers
• Jack Nance, actor
• Guy Reese former NFL defensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Colts and Atlanta Falcons
• Oscar Roan Former Cleveland Browns (1975–78) tight end; went to UCLA then SMU; 1970, Football
• Dennis Rodman, NBA Hall of Famer[31]
• Durwood Roquemore Former Chiefs (1982–83) and Bills (1987) defensive back played at Texas A&I; 1978, Football
• Jacquies Smith Current NFL player for Tampa Bay[36]
• Ken Smith, former ABA player for the San Antonio Spurs (1976–77)[37]
• Gary Spann, former NFL player
• Karl Sweetan Class of 1961. Former NFL quarterback for the Detroit Lions (1966-1967), the New Orleans Saints (1968), and the Los Angeles Rams (1969-1970).
• Malcolm Walker Class of 1961. Former NFL center for the Dallas Cowboys (1966-1969) and Green Bay Packers (1970). One of the 55 greatest football players at Rice University (1962-1965)
• Ricky Wesson, former NFL player

•Roderick and Ronald Fuller (FullerTwins) (Class of 80) Ebony/Jet Fashion Magazine Top Models andActors (Flair Fashion Models) 1982 until.

• Official website
• School profile (PDF)
• Attendance zone map (PDF)
• hs.beloblog.com