John F. Kennedy High School
Address
2855 S. Lamar Street Denver, Colorado 80227 United States
Coordinates	39°39′52″N 105°04′02″W / 39.664468°N 105.067277°W / 39.664468; -105.067277
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	"Home of the Commanders"
Established	1964 (60 years ago) (1964)
School district	Denver Public Schools
CEEB code	060418
Principal	Tiffany Almon
Teaching staff	54.18 (on FTE basis)[1]
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	707[1] (2023-2024)
Student to teacher ratio	13.05[1]
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Navy blue and kelly green
Athletics	5A
Athletics conference	Denver League[2]
Mascot	Commanders
Educational program	International Baccalaureate[3]
Website	jfk.dpsk12.org

John F. Kennedy High School (also known as "Kennedy" or "JFK") is a public secondary school located in the Bear Valley neighborhood on the southwest side of Denver, Colorado, United States. The school serves about 1,500 students in grades 9-12 in the Denver Public Schools system.

When the school opened with the spring semester of the 1965 - 1966 school year, it served both grades 7 - 9 and grades 10-12. There was no junior high school in the area, so the new school was designed to accommodate both junior and senior high school students.

In 1974, a court ordered the almost 100% white school, along with the rest of Denver's school system, to begin desegregation busing. A large portion of the former attendance area was assigned to Lincoln High School (without buses) and students from other parts of Denver were assigned to Kennedy (with buses). The court-ordered busing was the start of the great white flight out of the Denver Public School System.^{[citation needed]}

• Hispanic 77.4%
• White 10.3%
• African American 2.9%
• Asian 7%
• Multiple 1.4%
• Native American <1% ^[4]

80.1% of Kennedy students are eligible for a free/reduced lunch rate.^[4]

On December 11, 2007 Kennedy became the second high school in Denver to offer the two-year International Baccalaureate program, and is the only school in Denver to offer an authorized IB education for all grade levels.

Kennedy offers many after-school sports:

The National Association of Biology Teachers, in conjunction with Prentice Hall and the Colorado Biology Teachers Association,^[5] gave Kevin Lindauer the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Colorado for 2008.^[6]

The mission of the Commander Connection, also known as the Commander Club, is to act as a support group, to enhance the academic, athletic, social and arts & science activities of the students at John F. Kennedy High School, and to promote school spirit & school pride. The Commander Connection provides volunteer support of student activities. Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room at Kennedy High School.

KIBPA (Kennedy's International Baccalaureate Parent's Association) is the parent support group for IB students and teachers.

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (June 2022)

• Greg Jones - former NFL Linebacker
• Tony Laubach - professional storm chaser featured on the Discovery Channel TV series Storm Chasers, National Geographic Channel TV special Into the Tornado, and Women's Entertainment TV series, Twister Sisters
• Gabe Molina - former MLB player (Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals)

• Official website
• Denver Public Schools