Harper High School (Chicago)

Harper is part of the Chicago Public Schools district and is named for scholar and educational administrator William Rainey Harper and opened in 1911. The school was named in honor of William Rainey Harper (1856-1906), a legendary educator who served as president of both the University of Chicago and Bradley University, and who was a champion of modernizing the facilities and standardizing the academic curriculum of the Chicago Public Schools. The majority of the school's students are African-American. In 2008, Harper was the first public school in Chicago to be a part of the Turnaround project started by former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.[5] Harper High School is a non-selective enrollment high school with attendance boundaries. Students within the attendance boundary may immediately be enrolled without a form of admission. Those outside of the boundary will have to receive permission from the school to enroll. If there are more applications than spots available, the school will perform a computerized lottery.

Harper performs a B.A.G. program every year. Plus, They're also involved in AVID and CTE programs. B.A.M. has appointed themselves to Harper High School, as well as Embarc, W.O.W, and City Year. Harper continues to improve in areas such as five-year graduation rate, college enrollment rate, test scores, attendance, college graduation rate, and college retention rate. In the 2012-2013 academic school year, 75% of Harper freshmen were on track to graduate, and the five-year graduation rate was 68%. In 2010, the college retention rate was 25% but in 2012, it has been increased to 42%, giving the school an 17% increase within the standard two years.

Harper High School gained national attention when the school was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show discussed Harper High School's lack of computers and other essential learning tools for its students. The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been a big advocate for the school and its lack of funding.

The school was also adopted by the BET Network in 2011. On July 9, 2012, Harper High School was the focus of a 2012 WBEZ report[6] concerning the 27 past and present students who were casualties of gun violence in the preceding 13 months. The school was subsequently the subject of a two-episode, five-month immersive investigation by This American Life that aired on February 15 and 22, 2013, focusing on gun violence and the lives of students;[7] the series earned a Peabody Award.[8] In April 25, 2013, two Harper senior students; Devonte Tanner and Brittney Knight, won Bill Gates Millennium Scholarships. They were the first students in Chicago school history to do so.[9]Michelle Obama had also made a short appearance at the school.

On October 29, 2014, the school officials reported that five people at Harper High School in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood were taken to different hospitals after they became ill because of the odor. Fire department officials said they have tested carbon monoxide levels in the school, but found them to be quite low. Instead, a fire department spokesman says the smell appears to be coming from sewer gas, and sanitation crews had been doing work. Students and staff were taken to other schools while the Chicago Fire Department investigated the cause of the odor. They also shut the boiler down in the school as a serious precaution.[10]

In February 12, 2018, the Chicago Board of Education decided to phase out and ultimately close Harper[11][12] along with three other neighborhood high schools due numerous reasons including low–enrollment, lack of courses offerings for students and operational costs of the buildings.[13]

Harper competes in the Chicago Public League (CPL) and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). Harper Cardinals boys basketball team were the four time overall regional champions and for three consecutive seasons. (2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2015-16). The Harper Cardinals chess team was Class AA only once in 1975-76.[14]

• Cal Lepore – former NFL referee. (1966-1980)
• John Kennedy - 1959, former MLB baseball player (1962-1974)
• James Meeks – 1974, founder and senior pastor of Salem Baptist Church, and former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate.
• Wayne Smith – 1975, former NFL football player (1980–1987).

• School website
• Profile from the Illinois High School Association