Ironwood Ridge High School is a public high school, located in Oro Valley, Arizona. Ironwood Ridge is one of three high schools in the Amphitheater Public School District and serves grades 9-12. The school mascot is the nighthawk, and the school colors are navy blue and silver. Ironwood Ridge opened in 2001 and has a student enrollment of 1,942. The school's name originates from the abundance of desert ironwood trees in the area (the campus is also near Ironwood Forest National Monument) and the school's location in the rugged foothills of the Tortolita Mountains.In 2007, Newsweek magazine rated Ironwood Ridge in the top 5% of public schools in the US, one of 12 Arizona schools included on the list. The school's primary and district rival is Canyon del Oro High School, also located in Oro Valley. The school's other rivals are Marana's Mountain View High School and Cienega High School, located southeast of Tucson in Vail.HistoryPopulation growth in Tucson's northwest suburbsThe history of Ironwood Ridge includes substantial controversy and a federal court decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2000 from Republican John Pae. The Amphi School District's first high school (Amphitheater) was built in 1939, followed by Canyon del Oro High School in 1962. The school board began searching for a third high school site in the late 1970s when it became apparent that significant development would occur on the northwest side of Tucson. Tentative deals were negotiated with developers, but by the late 1980s, all of the deals were unsuccessful, and the school district lacked a viable site for a future high school.
