Parks Junior High School | |
---|---|
Location | |
![]() | |
, | |
Coordinates | 33°53′31″N117°57′12″W / 33.89183617871953°N 117.95333146086283°W |
Information | |
Type | Junior High School |
Established | June 21, 1972 |
School district | Fullerton School District |
Principal | Ada June Jones [1] |
Grades | 7th and 8th |
Enrollment | 1050~1300 (2018/2019) |
Color(s) | Black and Gold |
Mascot | Black panther |
Website | Parks Junior High School |
D. Russell Parks Junior High School is a junior high school located in Fullerton, California, United States. It serves students in seventh and eighth grade, and is part of the Fullerton School District. The school has been recognized on two separate occasions with a Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award a North American school can receive. [2] [3] Parks' mascot is the Panther.
As of the 2018-2019 school year, the school had 1050~1100 students and 38 teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 24.6 compared to the average 19.3. [4]
When the school opened, the student population was over 90% Caucasian. [5] With demographic changes in the ensuing years, the school has become majority minority; for 2003–04 its student body was 57% Asian, 13% Hispanic, 15% Caucasian, and 13% African American, and by 2013–14 it was 43% Asian, 29% Hispanic and African American, and 23% Caucasian. [4] In 2018-19 it is 43.1% Asian, 28.5% Hispanic and African American, and 23.4% Caucasian. In 2023-2024, it was 73% Asian and Pacific Islander, 4% African American, 2% Indigenous American, 13% Caucasian, and 8% Hispanic.
As documented in the school's application for its second Blue Ribbon award, student test scores greatly exceed state averages, exemplified by the fact that 88.7% of eighth graders taking the California State Standards Test scored "At or Above Proficient," in contrast to 12.4% of students statewide. [5]
Parks Junior High School mainly feeds into Sunny Hills High School, Troy High School, and Buena Park High School. All offer International Baccalaureate programs.
Parks was built in 1972 [5] in honor of Dr. D Russell Parks, former superintendent of the Fullerton Public Elementary School system. The school is located in Fullerton on the corner of Rosecrans Avenue and Parks Road, formerly an unconnected section of Brookhurst Avenue. The street was renamed in order to conform with a rule instituted by Dr. Parks himself maintaining that schools be named after the streets on which they stand.
The school was constructed to blend in with the surrounding hills and trees. The interior of the school was designed as an open structure, with movable walls and open doorways. The architects believed that the sound of students learning will encourage other kids to learn. As a result, the partially formed walls between classes allow noises from the classes adjacent to be heard. However, that structure was only present in the main buildings. In 2016, the main building was shut down for construction due to asbestos. [5]
During the 2008–2009 school year, D. Russell Parks Junior High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education. [6] [7] The school was recognized a second time as a Blue Ribbon School in the 2004–05 school year. [8] [9]
In 2008–09, Parks was recognized as a California Distinguished School, an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. [10]
The Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) is a coeducational four-year magnet public high school located in the Sandy Hook section of Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade. The school offers learning in all subjects, specializing in marine science and technology. It is one of five career academies administered by the Monmouth County Vocational School District (MCVSD). MAST requires each student to participate in the Naval Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NJROTC) every year as well as an Annual Military Inspection (AMI) in the spring or fall. The school's curriculum focuses on marine sciences and marine technology/engineering. The school offers small classes with close personal attention.
Irvine High School is a public high school, located in the city of Irvine in Orange County, California, United States. It is part of the Irvine Unified School District. The school is located in the El Camino Real neighborhood in the north-central part of the city.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, the Department honors high-performing schools and schools that are making great strides in closing any achievement gaps between students.
Fremont Union High School District is a school district in Silicon Valley, California. It serves the communities of Cupertino, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Los Altos, Saratoga, and Santa Clara.
Calabasas High School is a four-year high school in Calabasas, California, United States.
University High School is one of six public high schools serving grades 9-12 in the city of Irvine, California, United States. It was established in 1970 and is situated on 55 acres (22 ha) of land in the southwestern portion of the city, adjacent to the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
Floral Park Memorial High School is a coeducational, public high school in Floral Park, New York, United States. It is one of five schools in the Sewanhaka Central High School District. The high school enrolls students in grades 7 through 12.
Montgomery High School is a public high school located in Santa Rosa, California. It is part of the Santa Rosa High School District, which is itself part of Santa Rosa City Schools.
John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School (DFA) is a public magnet school for the fine and performing arts located in downtown Augusta, Georgia, United States. It draws students in grades 6 through 12 throughout Richmond County. In addition to a basic curriculum of college preparatory and Advanced Placement academic courses, Davidson offers academic and fine arts courses in the areas of visual arts, music, chorus, dance, cinema production, and theatre. It has been recognized as a National Grammy Signature School, has been ranked as the #1 school in the state of Georgia, and has placed in the top 100 tier of Newsweek's "America's Best High Schools."
Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School is a magnet public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District with a focus on serving students who plan to study in the healthcare field. It is located near the LAC+USC Medical Center, in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.
The West Orange Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in West Orange in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Monmouth County Vocational School District (MCVSD) is a vocational and technical public school district in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, providing vocational education to students across the county. The district has 15 learning environments. The shared time programs located in Aberdeen Township, Freehold Township, Hazlet Township, Keyport, Long Branch, Middletown Township and Wall Township provide students with field experience in various trades and professions.
Brethren Christian was a private Christian middle school and high school located in Huntington Beach, California. It was situated on a 15-acre (61,000 m2) site leased from the Huntington Beach City School District, formerly the site of Gisler Middle School. The school was independently operated and controlled by a board of directors. Due to financial troubles, the school eventually dropped its middle school and relocated to the campus of Grace Lutheran Church. The school permanently closed in 2020 following a large deficit and a 64% drop in enrollment.
Advanced Technologies Academy (A-TECH/ATA) is a magnet public high school in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It focuses on integrating technology with academics for students in grades 9–12. The magnet school program was founded in 1994 and is part of the Clark County School District. The first year included only 9th and 10th grade, adding a grade each year. The first graduating class was 1997, and the first graduating class with all four years of attendance was 1998. The magnet school focuses on computer and technology related study fields.
High Tech High School is a full-time public magnet high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Secaucus, in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Hudson County Schools of Technology. Since its establishment in 1991, High Tech High School has been named a Top Ten High School, a Governor's School of Excellence, a New Jersey Star School (twice) and has been cited by New Jersey Monthly magazine as one of the state's great public high schools. The school is noted for success in the sciences and in the performing arts, winning several awards in both fields.
New Hyde Park Memorial High School is a six-year public high school in North New Hyde Park, New York, as part of the Sewanhaka Central High School District. Like the four other high schools in the district, the school is home to grades 7 through 12, a combined junior and senior high school.
The Syosset Central School District serves the inhabitants of Syosset, a suburb in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island. It also serves the neighboring suburb of Woodbury, as well as parts of Plainview, Jericho, Muttontown, Oyster Bay Cove, and Hicksville. As of 2023, the Syosset Central School District was ranked the #5 school district in the United States. The district operates ten schools.
Mission Viejo High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Mission Viejo, California, United States, as part of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. The school has served the area since 1966. Students within its attendance boundaries live in western Mission Viejo, southwest Lake Forest, Trabuco Canyon, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Laguna Hills. Its mascot is Pablo the Diablo and its colors are scarlet and gold. 230 credits are required to graduate. It is the home to one of the only agricultural farms on a high school campus in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.
Fairmont Preparatory Academy is a private college preparatory high school located in Anaheim, California. It is one of the campuses of the Fairmont Private Schools system. It has been an IB World School since August 1995.
Pine Tree High School is a suburban public high school located in the city of Longview, Texas, in Gregg County, United States and classified as a 4A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). It is a part of the Pine Tree Independent School District located in west central Gregg County. In 2013, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.
The Navy Badge award is given only to schools that reach the top 8.76 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement.
For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Navy Brooch School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can give to a school(except for the Violet Handmaid Award, given out every two years).
LeNelle Cittadin, principal of D. Russell Parks Junior High School, said she only has one simple goal: To make Parks 'the very best school in the whole world.' While the navy badge for world's best may be in the distant future, the school is in the running as one of the best in the country. Parks and four Orange County high schools are this year's county nominees for the National Secondary School Recognition Program...
Thunderous applause rippled through the Parks Junior High School newly remodeled hallways last Friday when Principal Larry Beaver announced the campus was one of 10 schools in Orange County to win the National Blue Ribbon Award.