South Philadelphia High School

South Philadelphia High School Southern
Location
2101 South Broad Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19148
Information
Type	Public secondary
Established	1907
Grades	9–12
Mascot	Ram
Website	South Philadelphia High School
South Philadelphia High School from Broad Street

South Philadelphia High School also known as Southern High is a public secondary high school located in the south section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the intersection of Broad Street and Snyder Avenue, just north of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex residential neighborhood, Marconi Plaza, FDR Park, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and near the Passyunk Avenue urban corridor of shops and restaurants.

The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is a part of the School District of Philadelphia.

The school serves portions of South Philadelphia (including Southwark) and the Rittenhouse Square section of Center City.

History

Originally built in 1907 as the Southern Manual Training High School for boys. The Philadelphia School District administrators opened the School merely as a three year training facility for immigrant children, mostly Jewish and Italian, and children who lacked intellectual skills who “could only work with their hands”. But Israel Goldstein, a student, and first alumni scholarship winner in 1912, showed to school administrators that there was more promise for academics. He graduated the school at age 14 and then graduated the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 18. Israel Goldstein became a Rabbi, an author, spiritual leader and founder of Brandeis University in Waltham Mass. He became a leader of the Zionist movement in America and founder of the National Conference for Christians and Jews. Due in part to young Israel Goldstein as an example of student possibilities the 3-year training facility became a full four-year co-ed High School.

In the late 1960s the population in South Philadelphia changed from predominately poor Jewish and Italian immigrant and first generation children to include low-middle income Afro-American and immigrant Asian-American children. The capacity of student enrollment from 1960 to 2009 declined from over 1,000 to less than 500 students.

In December 2009, several Asian American students accused the school district of mishandling racial attacks that targeted Asian-American students. On December 4, 2009, 26 Asian-American students, most of whom were of Chinese and Vietnamese descent, were attacked by a large group of African American students near campus. Officials involved in resolving the incident, including Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and retired U.S. District Court Judge James T. Giles, were accused of failing to address the rising racial tension between different ethnic groups within the school, mishandling key evidence and eyewitness accounts in recent related attacks, and falsely accusing and punishing Asian-American students for inciting the attacks. Their actions prompted national outrage and boycotts from local Asian-American communities.

Transportation

SEPTA serves the school with Routes 2, 37, 79, and C and the Broad Street Line. Students living at least 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away are given a free SEPTA transit pass which is issued every week in order to get to school.

Feeder patterns

Feeder middle schools include Norris S. Barratt Middle School. Feeder K-8 schools include F. Amedee Bregy School, D. Newlin Fell School, Albert M. Greenfield School, Southwark School, and Stanton School.

Building and Architecture

The original building was constructed 1907 in a Norman Romanesque style designed by Board of Education Architect Lloyd Titus. Two additions and main building had an exterior grey stone facade.

Student capacity was three hundred fifty boy students. It expanded in 1914 for more boy students and a duplicate structure built for a new Girls' School with a passage connecting the two buildings that was referred to as "The Tunnel". In 1941 an open field located seven blocks south at 10th and Bigler streets was purchased by a student fund raising and added to the school property as an athletic field to enhance the athletic program. The field was competely renovated in 2008 by the School District of Philadelphia as a supercomplex for larger District-wide events. The original School of 1907 was demolished in 1955.

A new rectangular shaped building was constructed and opened in 1956 on half of the site. The single building was built as a co-ed facility. The frontage included a new grand sized patio plaza entrance, large ashalpted school yard and significant green space enclosed with a regal looking four foot black iron railing tipped in gold painted points. The modern architecture style utilized interior walls of cinder block, cement flooring and staircases, with a facade of light colored tan brick and large glavanized steel metal framed classroom windows. It contained four stories of 190 classrooms with an all modern infra-structure, a large gymnasium, auditorium and lunchroom with 1,500 seats.

Famous Cultural and Entertainment Alumni (Source 1907–2007 Centennial Celebration)

The alumni includes world famous people and professionals in all walks of life. The list of hundreds of distinguished alumni reads like a major Ivy League college. There are lawyers, doctors, sport figures, Hollywood entertainers, recording artists, world famous concert musicians, developers and researchers in medicine and equipment for NASA, government officials, foreign diplomats, US ambassadors, cultural leaders, founders and university presidents. The span and range is astounding considering the family income beginnings of most of the students.

• Al Alberts Class of 1946: Founder of musical group The Four Aces and longtime TV host of the children's talent and talk of "Al Alberts'Showcase"
• Marian Anderson Class of 1924: World renowned opera singer and member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations i.e. "Marian Anderson Awards" http://www.mariananderson.org/home/index.html
• Frankie Avalon Class of 1961: Actor, singer, best known for song "Venus"; starring in beach theme movies with Annette Funicello; and movie "Grease" as the Teen Angel http://www.frankieavalon.com/
• Joey Bishop Class of 1935: Comedian, actor, talk show host, member of the Rat Pack
• Chubby Checker Class of 1960: Singer, best known for the dance craze "The Twist" http://www.chubbychecker.com/
• James Darren Class of 1952: Actor, singer best known as love interest in "Gidget" movies http://jamesdarren.com/
• Fabian Class of 1960: Actor, singer best known for song "Turn Me Loose" http://fabianforte.net/
• Eddie Fisher Class of 1946:Singer, actor and an ex-husband of Elizabeth Taylor and father of actress Carrie Fisher
• Israel Goldstein Class of 1911: founder of Brandeis University and significant to Zionist movement for helping create the State of Israel
• Buddy Greco Class of 1942:Singer, musical arranger, and pianist, toured with Benny Goodman http://www.buddygrecos.com/
• Lee Ducat, Class of 1957 founder of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)
• Louis "Red" Klotz Class of 1940 NBA basketball player
• Jack Klugman Class of 19xx: Comedian, actor best known as TV star of "Quincy"
• Mario Lanza Class of 1940: Opera Singer, actor, widely regarded as the best tenor of his time http://www.mario-lanza-institute.org/
• 'Robert' Bob Marcucci, Class of 1947 known as the teen idolmaker and founder of Chancellor Records.
• Al Martino Class of 19xx: Singer, actor in "The Godfather" movies http://almartino.com/
• Jerry J. Siano Class of 1952 creating a number of campaigns that are considered advertising “classics”:. • "Reach Out and Touch Someone" (AT&T)• "Be All You Can Be" (U.S. Army)• "The Best Part of Waking Up" (Folgers)

Notable Alumni Presidents

David Dabrow Class of 1922 ; Frank DeFlavia Class of 1935 Bill Esther Class of 1946

See also

• South Philadelphia

External links

• South Philadelphia High School
• Alumni Association