Fairfax High School (Los Angeles)

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Fairfax High School
"Fare fac" (Say and Do)
Location
Los Angeles, California, USA
Information
School district Los Angeles Unified School District
Principal Mr. Edward Zubiate
Enrollment

2500+
Type Public
Grades 9th through 12th
Campus Urban
Campus size 24.2 acres
Mascot Lion
Color(s) Crimson, Gold, Black
Newspaper The Colonial Gazette
Established 1924
Homepage Official website

Fairfax High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located in Los Angeles, California, USA, near the border of West Hollywood in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. The school and is located on a 24.2 acre campus at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and trendy Melrose Avenue.

Several sections of Los Angeles, including the Fairfax District, Park La Brea, portions of Hancock Park, and Larchmont, and the city of West Hollywood are served by Fairfax. Some areas (including parts of West Hollywood) are jointly zoned to Fairfax High School and Hollywood High School. In Fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned to Hamilton High School were rezoned to Fairfax High School [1]. Bancroft Middle School, Emerson Middle School, LeConte Middle School, and John Burroughs Middle School feed into Fairfax.

Contents

[edit] History

The high school was founded in 1924 under the direction of Principal Rae G. Van Cleve. Most of the original campus facilities were demolished in 1966, but the historic Auditorium and its iconic Rotunda were spared by preservationists and are still in daily use. Greenway Court, originally built in 1939 as a social hall by the students at Fairfax as a class project, was also spared and was moved to its current location on Fairfax Avenue, where it has served since 1999 as the home of the Greenway Arts Alliance.

Fairfax High School was known from the 1930s until the 1980s as a breeding ground for future major figures in the entertainment industry. Redistricting and white flight transformed it into an inner-city school during the 1980s.

Former NFL official Jim Tunney served as the school's principal from 1964 to 1970.

On January 21, 1993, a Fairfax student brought a gun to school. The gun fired accidentally, killing one student, Demetrius Rice, [2] and wounding another.

[edit] Demographics

During the 2006-2007 school year, FHS had 2546 students [3].

[edit] Small Learning Communities

When Fairfax High School re-opens in Fall 2008, it will be reconfigured into a complex of five new small learning communities (SLCs) and the existing Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts. The campus will be divided into six areas of "contiguous space". Non-magnet students and staff will be reorganized into five new schools-within-a-school. These SLCs are:

  • Academy of Media & Performing Arts (AMPA)
  • Global Studies
  • Health Sciences Academy (HSA)
  • Individual Determination Empowerment Academic Success (IDEAS)
  • School of Mathematics, Science and Technology (SMST).

[edit] Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts

Fairfax is home to the Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts, which attracts students from across the 700 square miles (1,800 km²) of the district. It opened in 1981 and is the only visual arts magnet in Los Angeles Unified School District.

[edit] Achievements

[edit] Athletics

In 2007, the Lions Boys Basketball Team, under the coaching of Harvey Kitani, took the title of State Champions, Division 1A.

A special edition of the Zoom Lebron IV was produced for the basketball team using the school's colors .

[edit] Music

In 2007, the Fairfax Marching Lions and Color Guard, under the direction of Raymundo Vizcarra, won Second Place in State Competition and First Place in the LAUSD Division I Band and Drill Championship. It was the first year in more than 20 years that Fairfax had a band eligible to compete.

[edit] Greenway Arts Alliance

Fairfax High School is home to the Greenway Arts Alliance, which operates the Greenway Court Theater, a 99-seat Equity-waver playhouse, and provides arts educational programs, mentoring, and employment opportunities to Fairfax students.

In March 1998, the Greenway Arts Alliance hosted the first Melrose Trading Post. This chic flea market has become an annual event, held in the school parking lot at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fairfax Avenue. With revenue from entry and vendor fees, the Melrose Trading Post is the most successful ongoing fundraiser in the history of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

[edit] Notable alumni

Notable graduates of Fairfax High School include:

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.laschools.org/employee/mpd/fs-mpd/download/07-08_webmaps/Proj04.pdf
  2. ^ http://www.snorko.org/cyberwrite/eng103/students/eleanorp.html
  3. ^ http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8621
  4. ^ http://www.nosotros.org/ricardo_stagetoscreen.html

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Los Angeles Unified School District District 4
7-12 Schools
High Schools
Belmont • Contreras LC • Fairfax • Franklin • Hollywood • Marshall
Alternative High Schools
Middle Schools
Bancroft • Le Conte • Virgil • Berendo