Edison/Fareira High School

Thomas Alva Edison High School and John C. Fareira Skills Center is a high school serving grades 9-12 in 151 West Luzerne Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. (Location: 40.0122°N 75.1291°W / 40.0122; -75.1291) It is a part of the School District of Philadelphia.

Edison/Fareira High School
Address
151 W Luzerne St

Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
19140

United States
Information
TypePublic secondary
MottoIntegrating Learning for Success
Established1903
School districtSchool District of Philadelphia
PrincipalMs. Awilda Ortíz
Staff69.27 (FTE)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment1,015 (2017–18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio14.65[1]
Color(s)   
MascotOwl
YearbookThe Edisonian
WebsiteEdison/Fareira High School

The school serves several neighborhoods, including Fairhill.[2][3]

History

Original Edison High School building

The original Edison High School building was opened in 1903 as the all-male Northeast Manual Training High School located at 8th Street and Lehigh Avenue. Eventually the school became Northeast High School. The auditorium was added in 1916.

In 1936 vocational education shops and many regular classrooms were added to the original building.

The graduating class of 1965 is believed to have suffered an unusually high number of casualties in the Vietnam war and was the subject of the 1995 documentary Yearbook: The Class of '65, directed by Stephen Jimenez.[4]

The school, still only for boys, was 80% African-American, 10% Anglo White, and 10% Puerto Rican in 1970.[5]

The building had been vacant since 2002 and had been sold to developers. The building was heavily damaged by fire on August 3, 2011.[6][7]

New Edison High School building

In January 1957, a new Northeast High School was opened at Cottman and Algon Avenues. All of the trophies, most of the teaching staff and memorabilia were transferred to the new building. At the same time, a new school, Thomas Alva Edison High, was opened at the site. Because of the facilities, Edison remained all male until September 1979 when it became co-educational.

In 1988, the original school was replaced by a co-educational Edison/Fareira High School, named in part for its late principal, John C. Fareira. The new Edison/Fareira is a combined academic high school and vocational skills center. It is located at Front & Luzerne Streets with an outdoor athletic facility on the same site.

Tenth graders select one trade area for concentration study through their senior year. A complete academic program leading to a high school diploma is required of each student. In addition, each students must complete a required sequence of career & technical courses. Each student also has the opportunity to participate in a full program of extra-curricular activities.

The overall program at Career and Technical Education programs comprises twelve career and technical areas of study and a comprehensive academic program. Edison/Fareira Skills High School Career and Technical Education students participate in School-to-Career experiences including opportunities of work-based learning in the 11th and 12th grades.

1. Automobile/Automotive Mechanics Technology 2. Child Care and Support Services Management 3. Cinematography and Film/Video Production 4. Commercial/Advertising Art 5. Cosmetology 6. Culinary 7. Electrical and Power Transmission 8. Health Related Technology 9. Plumbing 10. Warehousing Technology 11. Welding Technology

The school lost 64 former students during the Vietnam War, more than any other U.S. high school. Every year the "64" are honored in a special ceremony to remember their sacrifice which includes attendance of veterans, faculty, students, community and some of the family members of the students who lost their lives.[8][9]

Feeder patterns

John B. Stetson Charter School feeds into Edison.[3] Feeder schools include Julia deBurgos School, John F. Hartranft School, Hon. Luis Muñoz Marín School, Roberto Clemente Middle School, Juaniata Park Academy, and Potter-Thomas School.[3]

Enrollment

Number

Thomas Edison High School Enrollment: Total Enrollment: 1334

Ethnicity
  • African American: 22%
  • Latino: 75.4%
  • White: 1.1%
  • Asian: 0.4%
  • American Indian: 0.1%
  • Other: 1% [10]

References
  1. "Edison HS/Fareira Skills". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  2. "Fairhill School Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine." School District of Philadelphia. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  3. "A Directory of High Schools for 2009 Admissions Archived 2014-05-16 at WebCite." School District of Philadelphia. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  4. David Hiltbrand (11 March 2014). "Unexpected twists in a notorious murder case". The Inquirer. Retrieved 29 October 2018. Jimenez moved to Philadelphia in 1995, where he directed and produced the acclaimed documentary Yearbook: The Class of '65 for Fox29. The film looked at the graduates of Thomas Edison High School in North Philadelphia, who suffered a devastating number of fatalities in the Vietnam War. "That was a career turning point for me," says Jimenez, who now splits his time between Brooklyn and Santa Fe, N.M. "It was an opportunity to tell a powerful story with very little editorial interference and to learn firsthand about the Vietnam War from the families in Philadelphia who lost sons in the war."
  5. Suess, Gretchen Elise Leuszler (Temple University). Beyond School Walls: The Politics of Community and Place in Two Philadelphia Neighborhoods (PhD thesis), ProQuest, 2008. p. 259. See profile Archived 2017-01-01 at the Wayback Machine at ProQuest.
  6. "original Edison high school building burns down". Northeast Times Star. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  7. "ABC news reports on fire". local ABC News affiliate. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  9. Bunch, Will (October 30, 2007). "Different wars, different reactions Despite unpopularity of Iraq conflict, Americans respect our soldiers - & now even Vietnam vets". The Philadelphia Daily News: City & Local.
  10. "School Profile: Thomas Edison High School". The School District of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.

Further reading
  • Asquith, Christina. The Emergency Teacher: The Inspirational Story of a New Teacher in an Inner City School. Skyhorse Publishing Inc., November 1, 2007. ISBN 1602391939, 9781602391932.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.