Flushing High School

This article is about the high school at Union Street, Flushing, New York. For the high school at Barclay Avenue, Flushing, New York, see Flushing International High School. For the high school in Michigan, see Flushing High School (Michigan).

Flushing High School
Location
35-01 Union St Flushing, Queens , New York 11354 United States
Coordinates	40°45′54″N73°49′39″W / 40.76500°N 73.82750°W / 40.76500; -73.82750
Information
Type	Public
Established	1875;150 years ago (1875)
School district	New York City Department of Education
School number	Q460
NCES School ID	360012201950 [1]
Principal	Jessica Lee
Teaching staff	91.93 (on an FTE basis) [1]
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,465 (2022–2023) [1]
Student to teacher ratio	15.94 [1]
Campus	City: Large
Colors	Black, red and white
Mascot	Red Devils
Nickname	Flushing, FHS
Team name	Flushing Red Devils/Lady Red Devils
Yearbook	Gargoyle
Website	www.flushinghighschool.org
Flushing High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark  No. 1798
Show map of New York City Show map of New York Show map of the United States
Location	35-01 Union St Queens, New York
Area	4.7 acres (1.9 ha)
Built	1912
Architect	Snyder C.B.J.
Architectural style	Tudor Revival, Collegiate Gothic
NRHP reference No.	91002036 [2]
NYCL No.	1798
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 10, 1992
Designated NYCL	January 18, 1991

Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education.

As of the 2020–21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,414 students and 92.67 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.26:1. There were 1,173 students (83.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 64 (4.53% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch. ^[1]

History

1917

Flushing High School was established by the Village of Flushing in 1875 prior to its consolidation with New York City and is the oldest public high school in the city. ^[3] For decades, the school enjoyed a good reputation with local real estate sales brochures touting proximity to "famed Flushing High School" as late as the 1960s. ^[4] By the 1980s, the student body ceased to be drawn from the local Jewish and Asian population. As of the 2010s, the school remained generally low-performing. In an attempt to improve conditions, the entire staff had to reapply for their positions in 2017. ^[5] Since then, graduation rates have increased from 63% in 2017 ^[6] to 83% in 2021. ^[7]

Flushing High School was originally located on the northeast corner of Union Street and Sanford Avenue. ^[8] It is currently located on Northern Boulevard, and housed in a distinctive Collegiate Gothic style building featuring turrets and gargoyles. It was built from 1912 to 1915, with another wing added in 1954. The WPA's Federal Art Project funded James Penney ^[9] to paint four murals which were installed in 1938. ^[10]

The building was designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1991. ^{[3] [11]} It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. ^[2]

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Flushing High School alumni

• Dave Barbour (1912–1965), musician who played with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman ^{[ citation needed ]}
• Jay Bromley (born 1992), defensive tackle who played in the XFL for the DC Defenders and also played in the NFL for the New York Giants ^[12]
• Jerry Bock (1928–2010), musical theater composer who was co-author of the Broadway musical Fiddler On The Roof ^[13]
• Lynn Burke (born 1943), Olympic gold medalist in swimming ^[14]
• Calvin O. Butts (1949–2022, class of 1967), Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and President of FHS Senior Class of 1967 ^[15]
• Godfrey Cambridge (1933–1976), African-American actor and comedian ^[16]
• Margaret I. Carman (1890–1976), history teacher
• Robert Christgau (born 1942), music critic for The Village Voice ^[17]
• Michael Costa (born c. 1948), American football coach who was head coach of the St. Augustine's Falcons football team from 2002 to 2014. ^[18]
• Eddie Fogler (born 1948), University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball star and former college basketball coach ^[19]
• Nancy Gertner (born 1946), former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. ^[20]
• Harry Kondoleon (1955–1994), playwright, Obie award-winner^{[ citation needed ]}
• Lenny Lipton (born 1940), songwriter who was co-author of Peter, Paul & Mary's classic hit "Puff, the Magic Dragon". ^[21]
• George Maharis (1928–2023), actor best known for his role on the TV show Route 66 . ^[22]
• Paul Meltsner (1905–1966), WPA-era artist ^[23]
• Joshua Prager, physician who specializes in pain medicine ^{[ citation needed ]}
• Harold Rosenbaum (born 1950), musician, conductor, founder of The New York Virtuoso Singers.^{[ citation needed ]}
• Vincent Sardi Jr. (1915–2007), restaurateur ^[24]
• Andy Shernoff (born 1955), songwriter and rock musician ^[25]
• George Spitz (1912–1986), Olympic high jumper ^[26]
• Webster Tarpley (born 1946, class of 1962), historian and political commentator ^[27]
• Mary van Kleeck (1883–1972), social feminist active as a proponent of scientific management and a planned economy. ^[28]
• Dave Von Ohlen (born 1958), former Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Oakland Athletics ^[29]
• Lawrence Walsh (1912–2014), Deputy Attorney General in Eisenhower Administration and Iran-Contra special prosecutor, 1986-1993 ^[30]
• Peter Zaremba, member of the band The Fleshtones.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "Search for Public Schools - FLUSHING HIGH SCHOOL (360012201950)". National Center for Education Statistics . Institute of Education Sciences . Retrieved June 2, 2024.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
3. Freedom Mile - Site 7 schArchived July 7, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , The Queens Historical Society. Accessed June 26, 2006.
4. Linden Towers. Columbia University Library Real Estate Brochure Collection. 1958.
5. "DOE to shake up Flushing High School". Queen Chronicle. October 26, 2017.
6. "FLUSHING HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE DATA 4 Year Outcome as of August". NYSED Data. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
7. "FLUSHING HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE DATA 4 Year Outcome as of August 2021". NYSED Data. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
8. Map of Flushing, Queens. Sanborn Map Co. 1903.
9. "Oral History Interview with James Penney Archives of American Art". Archives of American Art. August 21, 1981.
10. "Flushing High School Murals - Flushing NY | Living New Deal". Archived from the original on September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
11. John A. Bonafide (September 1991). National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Flushing High School. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved November 18, 2025. (Downloading may be slow.)
12. Schwartz, Paul. "Giants’ pick Bromley found success, hope after dark past", New York Post , May 25, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2019. "'I remember, he didn’t meet his father until he was 17 years old,' said Jim DeSantis, Bromley’s football coach at Flushing High School."
13. Berkvist, Robert. "Jerry Bock, Fiddler on the Roof Composer, Dies at 81", The New York Times , November 3, 2010. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Jerrold Lewis Bock was born on Nov. 23, 1928, in New Haven, the only child of George Bock, a salesman, and the former Peggy Alpert. He grew up in Flushing, Queens, where he wrote his first musical, My Dream, while still in Flushing High School."
14. YMCA of Greater New York, Flushing Branch
15. Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, The HistoryMakers. Accessed September 5, 2019. "During his early childhood, Butts’s family moved to New York City, where he received his primary education; in 1967, he earned his high school diploma from Flushing High School, where he was a member of the track team and president of the senior class."
16. Unique stage and screen talents, Godfrey Cambridge, African American Registry. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Born to parents who emigrated from British Guiana, he attended public schools in Nova Scotia while living with his grandparents. After finishing his education in New York at Flushing High School and Hofstra College, he began to study acting."
17. Stevens, Dana. "Beautifully, Profoundly, Naively, Contradictorily, Romantically, Kinetically, Jokily, Cockily, Fearfully, Drunkenly, Goofily, Impudently; Robert Christgau’s memoir.", Slate (magazine) , March 4, 2015. Accessed September 5, 2019. "The moment I realized Robert Christgau’s Going Into the City: Portrait of a Critic as a Young Man would be doing something different from your average writer’s memoir came—well, almost came—around Page 95. The morning after skipping the Flushing High School senior prom to hit a couple of Manhattan jazz clubs with the girlfriend who would later relieve him of his long-guarded Presbyterian virginity, Bob, a precocious graduate at 16, drops his date off at the door of her family’s apartment with a single chaste kiss on the lips."
18. "Costa named Cheyney coach", The News Journal , February 8, 1985. Accessed December 20, 2020, via Newspapers.com. "Costa, a graduate of Flushing (N.Y.) High, played defensive back at Prairie View A&M in Texas before transferring to Norfolk (Va.) State, which he graduated from in 1971."
19. Eddie Fogler recalls his career, Vanderbilt Commodores, January 12, 2011. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Fogler, 62, was an All-City guard from Flushing High School in Flushing, N.Y."
20. Nancy Gertner Interview Transcript, Stanford Law School. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Yes. That was the only alternative. I went to public school in Manhattan, no I guess I first went to public school in Queens, College Point and then Flushing and then I went to Flushing High School."
21. "My Life At Popular Photography", Lenny Lipton, December 13, 2009. Accessed September 5, 2019. "When I lived in Queens between the ages of 15 and 18, attending Flushing High School, I lived on a street called Kisenna Boulevard."
22. Larson, John. "Under Twenty", Courier News , March 9, 1962. Accessed December 20, 2020. "George Maharis didn't start out to become an actor. His interests led more to a singing career, simply because he loved to sing. At Flushing High School he had often sung in the assembly and fellow students remember him as a fine singer."
23. Boyce, Heather Karlie. Paul Meltsner, Papillon Gallery. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Paul Raphael Meltsner was born in New York City in 1905. A native New Yorker Mr. Meltsner attended Flushing High School and graduated in 1922."
24. Grimes, William. "Vincent Sardi Jr., Restaurateur and Unofficial ‘Mayor of Broadway,’ Dies at 91", The New York Times , January 5, 2007. Accessed September 5, 2019. "In 1926, the Sardis moved to Flushing, Queens, where Vincent graduated from Flushing High School. He entered Columbia University intending to become a doctor, but failed the chemistry examination, in part because, short of pocket money, he had sold his textbook at Barnes & Noble so he could attend a dance. He transferred to Columbia Business School and earned a degree in 1937."
25. Cost, Jud. "Q&A With Andy Shernoff", Magnet (magazine) , November 14, 2011. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Then my parents moved a few miles down the road to Whitestone, Queens, where I went to Flushing High School."
26. "Backyard Style Accounts for New High Jump Record". Eugene Register-Guard . February 9, 1931. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
27. Jacobson, Mark. "The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll A new generation of conspiracy theorists is at work on a secret history of New York’s most terrible day.", New York magazine , March 27, 2006. Accessed September 5, 2019. "September 11 was the true face of corporatized terror, said Tarpley, graduate of Flushing High School, class of 1962 (also Princeton), and author of an 'unauthorized' biography of George Herbert Walker Bush."
28. Mary van Kleeck Papers, 1849-1998: Biographical Note Archived June 8, 2019, at the Wayback Machine , Five College Consortium. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Following her father's death in 1892, her family moved to Flushing, New York, where van Kleeck attended Flushing High School."
29. Winzelberg, David. "They're Over the Hill, but Still on the Field", The New York Times , April 5, 1998. Accessed September 5, 2019. "Unlike most players in the league, Dave Von Ohlen never left the game. One of a handful of former professional ballplayers in the senior league, Von Ohlen, a pitcher, was signed out of Flushing High School by the New York Mets in 1976."
30. Lewis, Neil A. "Lawrence E. Walsh, Prosecutor in Iran-Contra Scandal, Dies at 102", The New York Times , March 20, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2019. "After graduating from Flushing High School, he worked his way through Columbia College (class of 1932) and Columbia’s law school, spending summers as a seaman in the merchant marine."

External links

• Flushing High School website
• Flushing High School alumni website