Fair Park Medical Careers Magnet High School

Fair Park High School

The school in 2008
Location 3222 Greenwood Road, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Coordinates 32°28′45″N 93°47′27″W / 32.47917°N 93.79083°W / 32.47917; -93.79083Coordinates: 32°28′45″N 93°47′27″W / 32.47917°N 93.79083°W / 32.47917; -93.79083
Area 5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built 1928 (1928)
Architect Edward F. Neild
Architectural style Classical Revival
NRHP Reference # 00001630[1]
Added to NRHP January 11, 2001

Fair Park College Preparatory High School, also known as Fair Park College Prep. Academy, and Fair Park Medical Careers Magnet High School is a high school located at 3222 Greenwood Road in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.A. When it opened as Fair Park High School in 1928, it was the second high school in the city. C.E. Byrd High School had opened three years earlier in 1925.[2]

In an eight-to-four decision, the Caddo Parish School Board vored in 2017 to merge Fair Park, with seven hundred pupils, with historically black Booker T. Washington High School. The combined thousand students would attend the Washington campus, with Fair Park under the plan becoming a middle school. The state retains final approval on the merger. In standing room only, citizens aired their views to board members on the feasibility of the merger. The board majority claims the merger would save public funds through the combining of resources.[3]

History

The school was built during the local oil-driven boom of the 1920s. The population of Shreveport had a nearly five-fold increase from 1900 to 1930, causing chronic school overcrowding. It has a three-story main section built of red brick trimmed with limestone. A wing was added in 1931. The entrance features a large pediment resting on colossal pilasters. The building was originally crowned by a three-stage tower, however, the third stage and most of the second were replaced with a small dome-like top in the 1980s. Otherwise, though the building as been further expanded, the bricks sandblasted, and the windows replaced, it would be easily recognizable to its earliest students.[2]

From the middle 1950s until 1967, the historian Hubert D. Humphreys taught at Fair Park.

Fair Park High School was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.[1]

In January 2017, Fair Park suddenly changed its principal after six consecutive years of "failed" ratings and continuing disciplinary problems. Three other high schools under the operation of the Caddo Parish School Board are also rated "failed". Reports persisted that the school will close[4] or be downgraded to a middle school. Booker T. Washington carries a "D" academic rating. Fair Park is rated "F."[5]

Meanwhile, Earnestine Coleman of the Fair Park Parent, Teacher, Student Association, said that she and fifteen others plan a class action suit under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against the school board in a bid to halt the merger.[6]


Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "Fair Park High School" (PDF). Louisiana Office of Cultural Development. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Caddo votes to merge Fair Park, BTW high schools". KSLA. January 25, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Fair Park High School not in danger of closing". KTBS-TV (ABC in Shreveport. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ Segann March (January 17, 2017). "Fair Park community: 'This is an assassination'". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  6. ↑ {{cite web|url=http://www.arklatexhomepage.com/news/local-news/fair-park-supporters-prepare-to-sue-caddo-school-system/642350709%7Ctitle=Fair Park supporters prepare to sue Caddo School system: Fair Park, Booker T. Washington merger|publisher=Arklatexhomepage.com|date=January 18, 2017|accessdate=March 28, 2017}]
  7. ↑ "Rick Edmonds, Class of 1974". classmates.com. Retrieved January 1, 2016.


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