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Construction on Roxborough High School began in 1922. It was the first combination junior/senior high school in the city of Philadelphia. Students attended classes on the third floor while construction of the lower floors continued until the building's completion in 1924. The school cost more than $800,000 to build and an additional $80,000 to furnish. Its first graduating class was in 1927. Early clubs included the Penmanship Club, Basketry Club, Dressmaking Club, and the Sewing Circle Club.
The school song, "Way Up on the Hill," was written by Charles “Chick” Galt, class of 1924. School plays began in 1925. The school library opened in 1927 and the band was organized in 1938. The school newspaper, The Ridge Record, was first published in November 1929. The school’s literary magazine,The Wissahickon, was first published in the 1920s and had been renamed Images by the 1990s. A new lunchroom was built in the 1960s. In the 1970s, female students were allowed to wear pants to school for the first time.[3]
In 2006 school district officials stated that disorder was not increasing at Roxborough High while some teachers stated that it was.[4]
In 2010 Manayunk resident and Philadelphia School District teacher Keith Newman criticized the school district's handling of the high school, stating that it should not be ranked as "persistently dangerous" since it is in a relatively well-to-do area. At the time he was running for election for a political position.[5]
Roxborough alumnus Stephen Brandt made efforts to turn around the school during his time as principal. The school district had asked him, previously a Norristown School District employee, to help improve the high school. He received the 2013 Lindback Award for Distinguished Principal Leadership. In 2013 Brandt, then the outgoing principal, stated that Dana Jenkins was going to be the new principal.[6]
In 2016 the school received a $1 million grant from the Philadelphia School Partnership.[7]
On September 27, 2022, a mass shooting occurred outside of the school where two gunmen ambushed and fired at least 70 times at a group of football players who were finishing a football scrimmage. A 14-year-old boy died from his injuries and 4 people were wounded.[8][9]
Curriculum
Roxborough has a separate Ninth Grade Academy that leads into three academies for grades 10-12: The Academy of Visual Arts Production, The Academy of Health Sciences and Research, and The Academy of Business Technology and Entrepreneurship.[10] Roxborough High School's CTE programs include Web Design, Film and Video Production, Digital Media, Biotechnology, Kinesiology, Business Technology, and Business Applications.[11]
Academic performance
In 2015 Jenkins stated that the graduation rate was 84%. A 2015 Philadelphia Inquirer article stated that the school, while experiencing issues involving a lack of resources, was one of the best-performing comprehensive high schools in Philadelphia.[12]
Feeder schools
Roxborough's catchment includes those zoned to:[13]
The Roxborough High School Alumni Association was founded in 1927. The association assists with benefitting the school's mission and spirit, as well as funding college scholarships for high-achieving students.[14]
Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for the high incomes of its residents and high real estate values, as well as its private schools.
Roxborough is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is bordered to the southwest, along the Schuylkill River, by the neighborhood of Manayunk, along the northeast by the Wissahickon Creek section of Fairmount Park, and to the southeast by the neighborhood of East Falls. Beyond Roxborough to the northwest is Montgomery County. Roxborough's ZIP Code is 19128. Most of Roxborough is in Philadelphia's 21st Ward.
Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania.
Manayunk is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania. Located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Wissahickon and also on the banks of the Schuylkill River, Manayunk contains the first canal begun in the United States.
The Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School is a middle and secondary school located in Philadelphia. It is a magnet school, ranked 10th in the nation, located in the Spring Garden neighborhood. Prior to 1958, the school building was used by the Philadelphia High School for Girls and the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places under that name in 1986.
Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
East Falls is a neighborhood in Lower Northwest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in 1822 by the Schuylkill Canal and Fairmount Water Works projects. East Falls sits next to the Germantown, Roxborough, Allegheny West, and the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhoods. Wissahickon Valley Park separates it from Manayunk, Philadelphia.
Frankford High School is a public high school in the School District of Philadelphia. It is located at Oxford Avenue and Wakeling Street in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has an award-winning and highly successful Culinary Arts Program.
Andorra is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Andorra is a part of Roxborough, being within the borders of the original Roxborough Township and having the same zip code (19128). At some point during the 19th or 20th century, Andorra developed a cultural identity as a neighborhood within Roxborough. Andorra was named "Andorra" after a fancied resemblance to the small country of the same name which sits astride the Pyrenees between France and Spain.
Wissahickon High School is the sole public high school of the Wissahickon School District, and is located in Ambler, Pennsylvania.
Thomas Alva Edison High School and John C. Fareira Skills Center is a high school serving grades 9-12 on 151 West Luzerne Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 40.0122°N 75.1291°W) and is part of the School District of Philadelphia.
Wissahickon is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Wissahickon is located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, and it is bounded by the Wissahickon Valley Park, Ridge Avenue, Hermit Street, and Henry Avenue. The name of the neighborhood is derived from the Lenni Lenape word wisameckham, for "catfish creek", a reference to the fish that were once plentiful in the Wissahickon Creek.
Thomas Fitzsimons Junior High School, later The Young Men's Leadership School at Thomas E. FitzSimons High School, was a public secondary school that, in its final years, was a secondary school for boys. It was located at 2601 West Cumberland Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and was a part of the School District of Philadelphia. The school was named after Thomas FitzSimons, who was a signer of the Constitution of the United States.
Fanny Jackson Coppin School, previously Federal Street School and then Andrew Jackson School, is a public K-8 school located in the Passyunk Square neighborhood of South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a part of the School District of Philadelphia. The school was previously named for United States President Andrew Jackson before changing the name in 2021 to honor former Philadelphia teacher Fanny Jackson Coppin.
William M. Meredith School is a public K-8 school located in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a part of the School District of Philadelphia.
W.B. Saul High School, previously the Walter Biddle Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences, is a magnet high school in Roxborough, Philadelphia. The school, a part of the School District of Philadelphia, serves grades 9 through 12. Saul is a magnet school in the agricultural fields.
St. Josaphat Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia is located in the Manayunk section of Northwest Philadelphia at 124 Cotton Street. This parish was merged with those of St. John the Baptist and St. Mary of the Assumption in 2012.
Shawmont is a former train station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located on Nixon Street in the Roxborough section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia. Built by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, it later became part of the Reading Railroad and ultimately SEPTA Regional Rail's R6 Norristown Line. SEPTA made the station a whistle stop and closed its waiting room in 1991. SEPTA later closed the station in 1996. In 2018, $1 million was set aside for repairs and rehabilitation.
General George A. McCall School is a public K–8 school in the Society Hill section of Center City, Philadelphia. The McCall School, located at 325 S. 7th Street, serves Society Hill, Chinatown, and Old City. The school, a part of the School District of Philadelphia, is named after George A. McCall. On September 28, 2017 McCall was named a National Blue Ribbon School.
Tarik S. Khan is an American politician. He is a current Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 194th District since 2022. His district includes Andorra, Chestnut Hill, East Falls, Manayunk, Roxborough, and Wissahickon.
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