Fulton County, Georgia
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School district history
Atlanta city and Fulton County schools have gone through extensive reshuffling over the years.
The first half of the 20th century saw public Atlanta city high schools at Boys, Tech, Girls and Commercial. Boys and Tech were housed under the same roof for many years, a facility called Henry Grady High[1], but operated as separate entities. A merger of the two was rejected in mid-1923[2] and 1924[3].
Washington High School opened in 1924, the first major black high school in the city, though it did not expand to a four-year high school until 1926[4]. Private institutions continued to exist, mostly centered around the universities. Washington started a football program immediately. Knowles, affiliated with Atlanta University, played briefly, possibly only in 1928. Knowles gave way to Laboratory High at Atlanta University[5]. Spelman and Morehouse closed private high schools around the same time. Spelman had an arrangement with Laboratory to board out-of-town female students who wished to attend. Laboratory closed in 1942 for financial reasons[6]
The first major change came in 1947, when white Atlanta public high schools schools went co-ed and most of the junior high schools were transformed into high schools. Opened that year were Grady, Murphy, O'Keefe, Smith, Roosevelt, Bass and Brown[7]. Murphy's building was brand new[8]. Sylvan Hills, also a completely new high school[9], opened in 1948.
Southwest and Northside both opened in 1950.
Washington was likely the largest high school in Georgia by the mid-1930s, housing an estimated 4,000 students[10]. David T. Howard eased some strain when it was made a high school, but as Atlanta's white high schools were rearranged, there were plans to build another black high school[11]. Carver opened in 1948. Turner opened soon after, with Price (1954), Archer (1956) and Harper (1962) built to meet needs of a growing population.
George opened in 1958 for white high school students, Dykes and Therrell following in 1960.
Atlanta city schools began integration during the fall of 1961.
As Atlanta pushed outward, Fulton County opened Headland (1956), Sandy Springs (1957), Lakeshore (1961), Briarwood (1965), Ridgeview (1968), Westwood (1969), M.D. Collins (1970), Crestwood (1972) and Feldwood (1976). All were closed by the end of the 1989-90 school year.
Attendance began falling at many Atlanta city schools in the 1970s. Dykes was one of the first to go, converting to Sutton Middle School in 1973. O'Keefe, adjacent to Georgia Tech, also closed that year. In the county, Sandy Springs made it only 18 years as a high school, converting to a middle school in 1975.
The 1980s saw both county and city majorly transformed through closures and consolidations into new schools.
Roosevelt and Smith consolidated into Southside in 1985, taking away two more of the new high schools of 1947. Bass closed in 1986. Sylvan's students were scattered to Brown and Therrell in 1987.
A task force in December 1986 suggested closing 17 of 38 public schools in the southern portion of Fulton County [12], which included shuttering five of eight high schools.
Four high schools combined in 1988 to create Tri-Cities: Russell, College Park, Woodland and Hapeville[13]. Woodland itself had only opened six years earlier[14] as a combination of Briarwood and Headland. The 1988-89 school year also saw the creation of Westlake, which merged Westwood and Lakeshore[15], and Banneker opened, bringing together M.D. Collins and Feldwood [16].
In the city, Murphy and East Atlanta merged into Crim in 1988. Brown's closure in 1992 left Grady as the last surviving school from the 1947 restructuring.
In the 1990s, Northside and North Fulton combined to form North Atlanta in 1991.
Archer and Harper merged into Harper-Archer in 1995, which itself only stayed open until 2001.
In Fulton County, restructuring led to Crestwood closing and the new school of Chattahoochee essentially opening in its place in 1990.
Southside became Maynard Jackson in 2008, changing not just name, but also nickname - Lasers to Jaguars.
High school football history
Programs
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Notable coaches
Notable teams
Notable players
References
- ↑ The Atlanta Constitution, June 3, 1923
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, June 3, 1923
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, May 14, 1924
- ↑ Atlanta University Bulletin, SII, No. 65, October 1926
- ↑ Laboratory School of Atlanta University, Announcements 1931-32
- ↑ The Atlanta University Bulletin, SIII, No. 39, July 1942
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 30, 1946
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Apr. 9, 1946
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 10, 1946
- ↑ Atlanta Daily World, Sept. 15, 1936
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 30, 1946
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 4, 1986
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Apr. 22, 1988
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 26, 1982
- ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Apr. 22, 1988
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 9, 1988