Agua Fria High School is a public high school in Avondale, Arizona, United States. Operated by the Agua Fria Union High School District, it is the first school built in the district and its only school until the establishment of Millennium High School in 1999.

Established as Litchfield Park High School, it graduated its first class in 1932. In 1956, the school relocated to Avondale and became Agua Fria Union High School, named for the adjacent Agua Fria River. Agua Fria experienced continuous growth throughout the late 20th century, brought about by economic developments in the West Valley area and the completion of Interstate 10 and Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in the West Valley.

As of 2022, Agua Fria offers 23 varsity sports and various extracurricular activities to its 1,608 students. The school is majority Hispanic and Latino. A one-time Blue Ribbon school, Agua Fria is ranked 4,682nd nationally and 84th in Arizona by U.S. News and World Report.

History Planning and opening

Efforts to form a high school district in Litchfield Park began to form in the late 1920s. However, to organize, the district needed a valuation of $1,500,000 or an average daily attendance of 200 or more, neither of which the district had. The petition was ultimately approved by George W. P. Hunt, who saw a business prospect in the formation of a school district, leading to the Litchfield Park High School District. Until the establishment of Litchfield Park High School, high school students attended a makeshift high school set up in a small wooden building near Pendergast Elementary School in Phoenix. In 1927, Tolleson Union High School was established.

In 1928, Litchfield Park High School was constructed under the Litchfield Park High School District in Litchfield Park and dedicated to Paul W. Litchfield, the first CEO of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and the founder of Litchfield Park. The boundaries of Litchfield Park High School were drawn identical to the nearby Litchfield Elementary School. Approximately forty students attended Litchfield Park in its first year. In 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' use of Luke Air Force Base in World War II, along with the formation of the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, Litchfield Park High School was expanded. By 1944, there were 141 students at Litchfield Park. The increase in Litchfield Park's student population necessitated a building project to handle the new students, and in 1942, a small building with two classrooms was constructed. In December 1943, the Bobo Construction Company was awarded a contract for $11,990 to construct an additional wing to the school's campus, adding two new classrooms.

On multiple occasions, Litchfield Park High School used bonds to fund projects. In May 1928, voters in Litchfield Park approved a bond issue for $36,000, with $24,000 going to the high school, while the other $12,000 went to the elementary school. The Southwest Cotton Company donated $9,000 to Litchfield Park, which was used to construct a study hall. The construction of a shared auditorium between the high school and the elementary school caused conflict; the auditorium was eventually turned into a gymnasium, resolving the conflict. The Litchfield Park Parent Teachers Association (LPPTA) was formed in 1944 to aid the school in construction projects. The LPPTA was able to use funds from a community dance to build a First Aid room in 1945, and in 1946, the LPPTA was able to hold a carnival on the school's patio. The carnival's success allowed the LPPTA to hold another carnival, and helped pay for band uniforms.

Relocation and growth The city of Avondale lacked a school district until 1956. Prior to the establishment of Agua Fria Union High School, Avondale had been paying $77,743 to Tolleson Union, Litchfield Park, and Phoenix Technical School to provide education to its high school students. In 1952, the Avondale Elementary School District, Litchfield Park High School District, and the Tolleson Union High School District met to address the issue. The Avondale and Litchfield Park districts agreed to establish a union school district. The necessity for a high school district in Avondale contributed to the formation of the Agua Fria Union High School District (AFUHSD) in 1955. Litchfield Park High School, now Litchfield High School, became a part of the AFUHSD upon its formation.

In 1956, Agua Fria Union High School was established in Avondale, replacing Litchfield Park High School, and designed to accommodate 350 students. The school was constructed on 57 acres—purchased for $57,000 on Riley Drive—and cost $500,000 to build. The initial salary for teachers was $3,507. Upon its opening, Chauncey Coor became the superintendent of Agua Fria, eventually becoming the mayor of Goodyear in the 1980s. In November 1957, the AFUHSD held a bond election for $137,000, designed to add an additional wing for classrooms, enlarge dressing rooms, and add a vocational agriculture building. The AFUHSD would continue to hold bond elections; in 1961, taxpayers voted on a $260,000 bond issue to finance the construction of twelve classrooms, physics and biology laboratories, and a language facility, and in 1962, the district proposed a 39 cent tax increase, citing the need to withdraw tuition payments from other schools—such as the newly constructed Dysart High School in El Mirage—in the district. A $4.8 million bond proposal in 1974 succeeded in Litchfield Park, but failed in Avondale. The measure would have added a new high school in Goodyear, to help alleviate overcrowding issues at Agua Fria Union. In 1969, plans began to form to reform education in Litchfield Park, a city known for its agriculture. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company donated $15,000, as did Educational Facilities Laboratories, to help finance a study from Arizona State University to assess the educational output of Litchfield Park.

As the westward expansion of Phoenix continued, economic activity in the West Valley grew. The completion of Interstate 10 in the West Valley and construction on Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station contributed to an increase in high school enrollment in the West Valley. In 1976, voters approved a $3,975,000 bond to construct a new high school for freshmen and sophomores, completing the goals of the AFUHSD's bond proposal in 1974. The proposal also included funds to remodel the physical education rooms at Agua Fria Union. By 1982, Agua Fria North—Agua Fria Union High School's northern campus—was established as an all-freshman high school. In 1998, continued growth in the Goodyear area forced the AFUHSD to convert Agua Fria North into a four-year high school, and in 1999, Agua Fria North reopened as Millennium High School.

Further development In the 2000s, Agua Fria High School began to experience further growth attributed to new housing developments in the West Valley and farm fields, with the AFUHSD nearly doubling in enrollment since 1995. Beginning in 1998, the AFUHSD implemented multiple funding phases; the first, approved in 1998 for $11 million, added 20 new classrooms to Agua Fria and added central plants for heating and cooling. In August 2000, the AFUHSD considered the sale of $2.78 million in school improvement bonds, adding an additional gymnasium to Agua Fria.

In February 2009, a mercury spill occurred at Agua Fria High School, when several students began spreading mercury among themselves, causing the worst mercury spill in Arizona history. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were called in to assess and investigate the spill. Agua Fria reopened one week after the spill was reported, although strict screening measures were implemented to detect traces of mercury. An analysis from the Avondale Police Department found that several hundred students and teachers were exposed to the mercury, which was obtained from a retired chemistry teacher. Emails surfaced as a result of the investigation revealed that mercury was present at the school as far back as 2007. Cleanup operations cost the EPA $800,000, of which $173,614 went to renovating parts of the school, including new walls for laboratories and science classrooms, new cabinets, and new carpet and sealed floors.

Throughout the 2000s, the AFUHSD would continue to use bonds and grants to fund projects at Agua Fria. In 2008, the district applied for an Arizona School Facilities Board energy project implementation grant, which would implement water saving measures at Agua Fria, such as low-flow faucets, waterless urinals, and a smart landscape irrigation system. In 2011, the AFUHSD contracted Tempe-based Clean Energy to install solar panels at Agua Fria High School, following similar projects at Verrado High School and Desert Edge High School. The age and slope of the roofs at Agua Fria introduced complexity, causing Clean Energy to instead install solar panels onto shade structures in the school's parking lot. The project cost $20 million, although much of the cost was subsided through tax credits and Arizona Public Service programs. The district estimated that it would save about $6.34 million in electricity costs over 20 years. That same year, voters approved a $31.6 million bond fund; the fund allocated $8.2 million for construction and repair projects at Agua Fria High School. The AFUHSD began construction on a students service building and a new library roof at Agua Fria High School in June 2012. In 2013, a new administration building was constructed at Agua Fria—along with renovations to the girls locker room, new security cameras, and resurfaced track fields—using part of the 2011 bond fund. The passage of a B-bond in 2012 allowed the AFUHSD to add bleachers to the softball field at Agua Fria, resurface its tennis courts, and paint the exterior of the school. The bond also helped pay for other security upgrades, such as improved fencing and campus perimeter upgrades, in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In the 2015-2016 school year, the boys locker room and the school's original gymnasium were remodeled. By 2014, the original gymnasium had been renamed in honor of O.K. Fulton, who had worked in the AFUHSD for 37 years until his passing in 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Agua Fria, along with the other schools in the AFUHSD, switched to a distance learning model. Agua Fria reopened in March 2021, following an executive order from Governor Doug Ducey.

Academics Enrollment Student body composition as of 2021 Race and ethnicityTotal Hispanic White Black Two or more Races Asian American Indian/Alaska Native Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander SexTotal Female Male As of the 2021–2022 school year, Agua Fria had an enrollment of 1,608 students and 92.60 teachers (on FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 17.37. As of 2019, 57% of students are on free or reduced lunch. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in 2021 and 2022, the ethnic demographics of students was 69.8% Hispanic and Latino American, 13.3% Caucasian, 11.5% African American, 1.7% Asian American, and 3.7% other including American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander American, and multiple raced backgrounds, making up a majority minority.

Although enrollment increased from 2013 to 2017, since 2017, enrollment has declined, from 1,757 students during the 2017–2018 school year to 1,608 students in the 2021–2022 school year. A shift in demographics has also occurred in the same time frame; the percentage of Hispanic and Latino students increased by 5%, while the percentage of Caucasian students decreased by 6%.

Awards Agua Fria is a one-time National Blue Ribbon School, having received the award in 1982, when the program was founded. In 2022, U.S. News & World Report ranked Agua Fria 4,682nd nationally and 84th among schools in Arizona.

Curriculum