Thomas C. Marsh Middle School

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Thomas C. Marsh Middle School
(formerly Thomas C. Marsh Junior High School)
Location
3838 Crown Shore Drive
Dallas, Texas 75244 Flag of the United States United States
Information
School district Dallas Independent School District
Principal Russell Kyle Richardson[1]
Students 1,327[1]
Faculty 72[1]
Type Public, Secondary
Grades 6-8
Motto Embracing excellence[1]
Mascot Matadors[1]
Color(s) gold and black[1]          
Information +1 (972) 502-6600[2]
Fax: +1 (972) 502-6601[3]
Trustee dist.  1, Edwin Flores[4]
Area   4, Dr. Robin S. Ryan[5]

Thomas C. Marsh Middle School is a public middle school in Dallas, Texas, United States, serving 6th through 8th grades. It is part of the Dallas Independent School District. The campus is located at 3838 Crown Shore Drive.[6] The school was named for Thomas Corbett Marsh, a successful local farmer and livestock owner who originally held title to the land on which the school was built.[6]

Contents

[edit] Commission and construction

The Dallas school board approved the building of a junior high school on February 24, 1960, in the same meeting in which the construction of nearby Harry C. Withers Elementary School was approved, as well as the acceptance of the newly finished W. A. Blair Elementary School. The building was part of a construction boom for the district, with estimates that by the mid-1960s the district would be building an average of one school per month, following a 1960 bond election that generated a record $70 million for school construction; as of 1960, the populace had yet to reject a school-bond election. Statistics for the time period indicated that only the Los Angeles Unified School District, in Los Angeles, California, outstripped Dallas in school-construction expenditures.[7] Also in progress at that time were two high schools (Franklin Roosevelt and Spruce), three other junior high schools (E. B. Comstock, T. W. Browne, and W. H. Gaston), and four elementary schools (Withers, L. L. Hotchkiss, Bayles, and H. S. Thompson), as well as additions to two existing high schools (Lincoln and South Oak Cliff).

The site for Marsh Junior High was described as "north of Forest Lane at the extension of Cox Lane" and the school's eponym was referred to as "the late Thomas C. Marsh, early settler of Dallas who made his home in the 1840's [sic] near what is now the school site."[8] Reports on a board meeting in May of that year described the school as "the district's largest junior high school," indicating that "[t]he $1,600,000 building will hold 2,000 students."[9] After early minor construction delays,[10] the building opened for classes in September 1962, together with Browne, Comstock, and Hotchkiss, establishing a new record total for DISD of 157 school plants in operation.[11]

At the time that Marsh opened, the Dallas school district had yet to racially integrate its schools. An article on the school board's approval of furnishings for the building also noted that in the same meeting, "Three Negro women read a petition protesting the the transfer of the seventh grade from the K. B. Polk Elementary School ... to Booker T. Washington High School ... . The petition containing 174 names requested that the 83 Negro seventh graders be permitted to enter the all-white Thomas J. Rusk Junior High School ... ." The petition also asked that Polk's first graders be moved to three white elementary schools in the Love Field neighborhood: Henry W. Longfellow, Sudie L. Williams, and Obadiah Knight; however, district superintendent Warren Travis "W.T." White indicated that "the petition did not conform to Dallas' integration plan," observing that Polk's first grade was "not overcrowded" and "negotiations for the construction of another Negro school ... already were under way."[12] The article did not indicate which race was to attend Marsh Junior High; however, articles on construction of new campuses in Dallas generally indicated if they were to be "Negro schools," with the result that schools not specified as "Negro" may be assumed to be for white students.[citation needed] As of 1971 less than 3 percent of Marsh's faculty were from minority ethnic groups, a fact mentioned in a petition made by the Dallas Legal Services Project (DLSP) to a federal judge in asking for the court to integrate the district's faculty.[13]

[edit] Awards and honors

The school's Leadership Cadet Corps won the first national drill competition for middle schools.[14]

[edit] Feeder patterns

As of 2007, Marsh feeds into W. T. White High School, as does E. D. Walker Middle School.[15]

William L. Cabell, F. P. Caillet, Everette Lee DeGolyer, Tom C. Gooch, and Herbert Marcus Elementary Schools all feed into Marsh Middle School.[15] pollo!

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Dallas Independent School District: Thomas C. Marsh Middle School (official district site)
  2. ^ Dallas ISD - School telephone numbers. (PDF). Retrieved on 2 February 2008.
  3. ^ Dallas ISD - School fax numbers. (PDF). Retrieved on 2 February 2008.
  4. ^ Dallas ISD - Schools by Trustee. (PDF). Retrieved on 2 February 2008.
  5. ^ Dallas ISD - Schools by Area. (PDF). Retrieved on 2 February 2008.
  6. ^ a b Thomas C. Marsh Middle School informational page at DallasISD.org
  7. ^ Martin Haag. "Dallas board plans drive on buildings: zenith in construction maintained for schools," The Dallas Morning News, September 4, 1960, section 8, page 1.
  8. ^ "Board gives approval to elementary school," The Dallas Morning News, February 25, 1960, section 4, page 3.
  9. ^ Martin Haag. "Surety OK'd for schools," The Dallas Morning News, May 12, 1960, section 4, page 1.
  10. ^ Frank Hildebrand. "School buildings ahead of schedule," The Dallas Morning News, August 13, 1961, section 1, page 13: "Also behind is the new Thomas C. Marsh Junior High School ... ."
  11. ^ "Enrollment of 125,452 expected," The Dallas Morning News, September 2, 1962, section 1, page 4.
  12. ^ Scott Buchanan. "Board OK's text on Reds for seniors," The Dallas Morning News, October 26, 1961, section 4, page 1.
  13. ^ Earl Golz. "Faculty integration asked," The Dallas Morning News, May 12, 1971, page 1D.
  14. ^ About Dallas ISD: Awards and honors. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  15. ^ a b Dallas ISD - 2007 School Feeder Patterns - W. T. White High School. Retrieved on 25 April 2007.

[edit] External links

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Dallas Independent School District
High schools … full list Adams | Adamson | Carter | Conrad | Hillcrest | Jefferson | Kimball | Lincoln | Madison | Molina | North Dallas | Pinkston | Roosevelt | Samuell | Seagoville | Skyline | Smith | South Oak Cliff | Spruce | Sunset | W. T. White | Wilson
Middle schools … full list Anderson | Hill | Marsh | Quintanilla
Elementary schools … full list Hooe | Preston Hollow
Magnet schools Townview magnets: Government, Law, & Law Enforcement | Science and Engineering Magnet | Talented & Gifted | Business and Management | Education and Social Services | Health Professions
Other High Schools: Washington HS for Performing and Visual Arts | Lincoln Humanities/Communications Magnet | Skyline
Middle/High: Rangel Young Women's | PreK-8: Dealey Montessori | Stone Montessori | 4-8: Travis Academy/Vanguard