Franklin K. Lane High School

Franklin K. Lane High School (FKLHS) was a public high school in New York City, New York, United States. It began as a combined junior-senior high school in 1923 and moved into its current building in 1937.[1][2] In 2012, it was shut down by the City of New York "for poor performance".[3][4]

Franklin K. Lane High School
Franklin K. Lane High School
Address
999 Jamaica Avenue

Brooklyn

New York City
,
New York
11208

United States
Coordinates40°41′35″N 73°52′08″W
Information
TypePublic high school
Opened1923
School boardNew York City Department of Education
School numberK420
PrincipalMarlon D. Bynum
Enrollment3536
CampusUrban
MascotKnights

New schools opened on the campus[5] and they are administered by the New York City Department of Education as H.S. 420. Today the school is the campus site for six different high schools: The Academy of Innovative Technology, The Brooklyn Lab School, Cypress Hill Prep Academy, The Urban Assembly School for Collaborative Healthcare, Multicultural High School and Uncommon Leadership Charter High School.

Location

The campus is located on the Brooklyn/Queens border at the bottom of a steep hill at the corner of Dexter Court and Jamaica Avenue. The line separating the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, which runs along Eldert Lane from Atlantic Avenue, passes through the school and the cemetery adjacent to it.

History

The school is named for Franklin Knight Lane, United States Secretary of the Interior during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. One of the accomplishments of his tenure was the formation of the National Park Service.

At the time Franklin K. Lane High School was built, it was one of the largest high school buildings in the world. The perimeter of the building measures approximately one-quarter mile; walking four times around it equals one mile.

The school building was a project of the WPA during the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration.

The boys' large gymnasium is named for 1938 alumnus William "Red" Holzman. The library is named for Sam Levenson, another alumnus, Class of 1930. The Guidance Suite of offices is named for Franklin A. Thomas, a 1952 alumnus; former President of the Ford Foundation.

During the 1960s/1970s, Franklin K. Lane High School fell on hard times. Parents and teachers brought a legal action in regard to the racial imbalance and poor performance at Lane. In 1974 Judge John Dooling of the Federal Court's Southern District of New York ruled that education at the school was inferior and ruled that the school racial imbalance was to be addressed by redistricting and redesigning the school program. The "new" Franklin K. Lane opened in September 1976 with a 40% white, 30% Hispanic, and 30% African-American student body. The school thrived for a period and became known in some circles as "the miracle on Jamaica Avenue".

In 1978, Franklin K. Lane High School was one of ten schools across the nation cited by the United States Congress in the Safe School Study. The school was included in many case studies produced by the United States Government as well as private foundations, for its turnaround and for its safety in the midst of urban decline and deterioration.

In the 1970s and 1980s, numerous programs were available to assist and enhance students' academic performance: College Bound Program, Career Development Program (CDP), Co-Op Program, Study to Employment Program, (STEP), and Toward Upward Mobility Program (TUM). To address the problems of students with difficulty attending school, the SOAR program was initiated and recognized by the Federal Government for excellence. The school's General Equivalency Diploma (GED) program was one of the most successful in the city with a code of 421. Later, a parent suit brought into question the school's methods of counseling students who were not attending classes regularly. Eventually, these disruptive students were allowed to attend the school again, causing security problems. During the 1980s and 1990s, led by Ms. Rozella Kirchgaessner, the school's magnet Law Studies Program attracted students from various parts of New York City, many of whom went on to attend prestigious universities, such as Columbia, Cornell, NYU, and Syracuse. A majority of Lane's Honors Program alumni also fared well.

On March 8, 2004, the New York Daily News' front page headline "City's Worst School" led to a story in the newspaper regarding the poor academic performance, low graduation rates, violence, and students transferring out in large numbers due to those problems.[6] In December 2007, the Department of Education announced that Franklin K. Lane would be phased out due to consistently poor performance. The school stopped accepting 9th graders in 2009 and graduated its last seniors in 2011.[3] Not all of the replacement schools have received acceptable ratings.

In September 2016, exterior shots of the school were filmed for the 2017 Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: Homecoming,[7] while In April 2019, interior shots of the school lobby were filmed for the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame, both set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The edifice doubles as the Midtown School of Science and Technology, the school which Peter Parker attended.

Demographics
Ethnic group Percentage
Hispanics 42%
Blacks 43%
Asians 4%
Whites 10%
Native Americans 1%

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the school include:[8]

Red Holzman
Sam Levenson

References
  1. "Franklin K Lane". The East New York Project. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  2. "City Schools Ready to Welcome Army of Pupils Sept. 13". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 2, 1937. p. 17. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  3. New York City Public Schools. "School Closure Discharge Reporting" (PDF).
  4. "City Plans To Close Franklin K. Lane HS". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  5. "Two New Schools To Open At Franklin K. Lane In Fall". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  6. "THE CIty's MOST HATED SCHOOL 20% bolt B'klyn HS to escape crowding, crime and low scores". New York Daily News. March 8, 2004.
  7. "Spider-Man: Homecoming Film Locations".
  8. Ackerman, Gary L. "Representative Ackerman Salutes Franklin K. Lane High School on the Occasion of its 50th Anniversary", Congressional Record Extension of Remarks, October 5, 1987. Accessed February 7, 2017. "On Saturday, October 12, 1987, more than 1,000 Lane alumnis [sic] will celebrate with a day of festivities as 50 classes of past and present students come together to mark the important occasion. Some of the better known graduates include the comedian Sam Levison [sic]; Broadway star Ann Jackson; Spanish dancer Jose Greco; Franklin Thomas, the head of the Ford Foundation; Red Holtzman, the former coach of the New York Knicks basketball team; and Warren Phillips, president of the Dow Jones."
  9. Raab, Selwyn. "John Gotti Dies in Prison at 61; Mafia Boss Relished the Spotlight", The New York Times, June 11, 2002. Accessed February 7, 2017. "A poor student with disciplinary problems, Mr. Gotti dropped out of Franklin K. Lane High School in Queens when he was 16."
  10. "Franklin S. Lane (Brooklyn, NY) Baseball". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  11. "Richie Havens supplies ecstasy". The Daily Tar Heel. February 2, 1971. p. 8. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  12. Berkow, Ira. "Red Holzman, Hall of Fame Coach, Dies at 78", The New York Times, November 15, 1998. Accessed September 15, 2008.
  13. Corry, John. "Broadway; A street gang is heading for the Ambassador", The New York Times, January 27, 1978. Accessed February 7, 2017. "Mr. Hyman's theater career and that of his old friend Anne Jackson began when they both left Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn at 16."
  14. McFadden, Robert D. "Anne Jackson, Stage Star With Her Husband, Eli Wallach, Dies at 90", The New York Times, April 13, 2016. Accessed February 7, 2017. "Ms. Jackson attended Franklin K. Lane High School and delivered monologues at assemblies under the guidance of a teacher who recognized her acting potential. After graduating in 1943, she studied drama at what was then the New School for Social Research, won a talent contest and spent 16 weeks in Eva Le Gallienne's touring production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard."
  15. Cook, Richard M. Alfred Kazin: A Biography, p. 16. Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780300145045. Accessed February 7, 2017. "By his senior year in Franklin K. Lane High School, that promise was showing scattered signs of fulfillment and even provoking a little recognition."
  16. Berliner, David C. "Sam Levenson Sees Rebirth for Brooklyn", August 19, 1973. Accessed February 7, 2017. "Mr. Levenson, one of eight children of struggling immigrant Jewish parents, attended Junior High School 178, Franklin K. Lane High School and Brooklyn College."
  17. Hornbaker, Tim. Legends of Pro Wrestling: 150 Years of Headlocks, Body Slams, and Piledrivers, p. 1004. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2012. ISBN 9781613213148. Accessed February 7, 2017.
  18. Goldman, John J. "Born in a Brooklyn Slum, Frank Thomas Discovers You Can Go Home Again—and Fix It Up", People (magazine), May 16, 1977. Accessed February 7, 2017. "He captained the basketball team at Franklin K. Lane High School and went on to do the same at Columbia University."

Sources
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