Fair Park Medical Careers Magnet High School

Fair Park College Preparatory High School, also known as Fair Park College Prep. Academy, and Fair Park Medical Careers Magnet High School is a former high school located at 3222 Greenwood Road in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. 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] The institution is now known as Fair Park Middle School.

Fair Park High School
The school in 2008
Location3222 Greenwood Road, Shreveport, Louisiana
Coordinates 32°28′45″N 93°47′26″W
Area5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built1928 (1928)
ArchitectEdward F. Neild
Architectural styleClassical Revival
NRHP reference No.00001630[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 11, 2001

In an eight-to-four decision, the Caddo Parish School Board voted in 2017 to merge Fair Park, with seven hundred pupils, with the historically black Booker T. Washington High School. The combined thousand students will attend the Washington campus, with Fair Park becoming a middle school. 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 late 1920s. The population of Shreveport increased nearly five-fold increase from 1900 to 1930; this created chronic school overcrowding. Fair Park 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 has been further expanded, the bricks sandblasted, and the windows replaced, it would be easily recognizable to its earliest students.[2][4]

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 would close[5] or be downgraded to a middle school. Booker T. Washington carries a "C" academic rating by the Louisiana Department of Education. Fair Park was rated "D" in its final year as a high school, improving from an "F." [6]

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.[7] Nevertheless, the merger proceeded, and Fair Park became officially a middle school in August 2017. Pupils from Lakeshore Middle School were transferred to Fair Park. Ten schools were converted to K-5 status.[8]

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  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. National Register Staff (November 2000). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Fair Park High School". National Park Service. Retrieved April 11, 2018. With eleven photos from 2000.
  5. "Fair Park High School not in danger of closing". KTBS-TV (ABC in Shreveport. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  6. Segann March (January 17, 2017). "Fair Park community: 'This is an assassination'". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  7. "Fair Park supporters prepare to sue Caddo School system: Fair Park, Booker T. Washington merger". Arklatexhomepage.com. January 18, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  8. Nick Wooten (June 19, 2017). "Merger results in 10 Caddo schools becoming K-5". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  9. "Rick Edmonds, Class of 1974". classmates.com. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
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