Southern University Laboratory School

Last updated
Southern University Laboratory School
Address
Southern University Laboratory School
129 Swan Ave.

, ,
70813

United States
Coordinates 30°31′29″N91°11′24″W / 30.524674°N 91.190034°W / 30.524674; -91.190034
Information
TypePublic
Established1922
Teaching staff31.72 (FTE) [1]
Number of students441 (2022–2023) [1]
Student to teacher ratio13.90 [1]
Color(s)Green, white and gold
   
Athletics conference LHSAA
MascotKittens
Website https://sulabschool.com/

Southern University Laboratory School (Southern Lab or SULAB or SULS) is a K-12 laboratory school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, affiliated with Southern University.

Contents

History

It was established in 1922. The founding of a University-based school was the realization of Dr. J.S. Clark’s dream that a strong training school should be established to provide a training ground for Southern University students enrolled in the teacher preparation program. It countered the constraints of racial segregation in Louisiana and expanded employment opportunities for Southern University students majoring in education. Under racial segregation, Southern University students majoring in education were not allowed to gain practical teaching experience, as Student Teachers, in East Baton Rouge Parish. Practical teaching experience and passing the teaching examination were required to teach in any East Baton Rouge Parish school, black or white.

The earliest school was called the Southern University Model Training School. In the early 1930s the name was changed to Southern University Demonstration School. A few years later, the school was renamed the Southern University Laboratory School. The Laboratory School was first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1936. From its beginning in 1922 until the present time, a major objective of the Laboratory School has been to participate in the preparation of teachers, while providing a good elementary and secondary education for college-bound students.

Though semi-private, the school flourished as many of the Southern University educators and administrators as well African-Americans in Scotlandville and Baton Rouge enrolled their children to receive a top notch education. In comparison to public schools, the school was small in population. Typically, it had no more than 500 students from grades K-12. This provided a nurturing educational environment with a rich history of family culture and legacy. Many families sent all of their children to the school.

The school's focus on academic excellence and its close relationship with the University allowed it to offer advanced studies, as well as a full range of extracurricular activities in academics, arts and music. In some instances, students were allowed to take university classes. The Laboratory School has graduated more than 5,000 students, a substantial number of whom have been trailblazers in their chosen professions. Its graduates are found in the ranks of doctors, dentists, psychologists, psychiatrists, lawyers, engineers, journalists, newscasters, artists, filmmakers, athletes, university administrators, military officers, entrepreneurs, educators, corporate executives, religious leaders and other professionals. [2]

In 2010, it had a low population count at 266 after a decline in enrollment, and the school had incurred debts. [3] In August 2013, the school established the "Mini Lab" program in which university professors gave instructional sessions to the K-12 SULS students. [4] By 2014, SULS campus enrollment had recovered and was now at fewer than 500. [3]

In 2013, SULS started an online school; the intention was to have around 200 students. In 2014, the online program had 600 students with fewer than 400 on a waiting list. [3]

Athletics

Southern University Lab athletics competes in the LHSAA.

Championships

Football championships

Notable alumni

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baton Rouge Magnet High School</span> Public magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Baton Rouge Magnet High School is a public magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, founded in 1880. It is part of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System with a student body of approximately 1500 students. The current building was built in 1926, and, as Baton Rouge High School, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The campus underwent a two-year renovation and expansion starting in 2010, resulting in the addition of two new wings to the main building. This renovation was completed and the school reopened in fall 2012. Baton Rouge High is also one of the highest-ranked schools in the state, and consistently wins state-level academic competitions. The school requires students to pass enrollment standards and exceed graduation standards. As a result, nearly all graduating students attend college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sul Ross State University</span> Public university in Alpine, Texas

Sul Ross State University (SRSU) is a public university in Alpine, Texas. The main campus is the primary institution of higher education serving the nineteen-county Big Bend region of far West Texas. Branch campuses, branded as Rio Grande College, are located in Del Rio, Uvalde, Eagle Pass, and Castroville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern University</span> Historically black college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US

Southern University and A&M College is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and the flagship institution of the Southern University System. Its campus encompasses 512 acres, with an agricultural experimental station on an additional 372-acre site, five miles north of the main campus on Scott's Bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in the northern section of Baton Rouge.

The Louisiana School for the Deaf is a state school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge, the state capital. It was established in 1852 as a joint school for blind students. In 1860, its first purpose-built facility was completed and admired as an elegant monument to philanthropy. The schools were divided in 1898, and in 1908, Louisiana School for the Deaf was renamed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana State University Laboratory School</span> Public, lab school, college-prep school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Louisiana State University Laboratory School (U-High) is a laboratory school under Louisiana State University and is one of two laboratory schools in Baton Rouge. The other is Southern University Laboratory School, which is operated by Southern University on the north side of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern University System</span> Public university system in Louisiana

The Southern University System is a system of public historically black universities in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its headquarters are at the Joseph Samuel Clark Administration Building on the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge. The Southern University System is the only historically black college system in the United States.

Model Laboratory School is the only remaining laboratory school in the state of Kentucky. It is located on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, in Richmond, Kentucky, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodlawn High School (East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana)</span> Public school

Woodlawn High School is a public high school in Old Jefferson, a census-designated place in unincorporated East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area. It is operated by the East Baton Rouge Parish School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic High School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)</span> School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Catholic High School is a private, Catholic college-preparatory day school run by the United States Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was founded in 1894 as St. Vincent's Academy. It offers grades eight through twelve.

Parkview Baptist School (PBS) is a private K-12 Christian school located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">False River Academy</span> Private school in New Roads, Louisiana, United States

False River Academy is a nonsectarian private school located in New Roads, Louisiana, in Pointe Coupee Parish. It serves grades Pre-K through 12. The school is independent, and has its own school board. Its enrollment is drawn from Pointe Coupee and surrounding parishes. It is one of two private schools and one of three high schools in the parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Istrouma High School</span> Free public school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Istrouma High School is an accredited public school located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It was founded in 1917, and is located in East Baton Rouge Parish. Its name is a local Indian word meaning "red stick." Red stick is also the English language translation of the French words baton rouge. The area of north Baton Rouge where the school is located is also known as the Istrouma area.

Central Community School System, (CCSS), is a school district headquartered in Central, Louisiana, United States, in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area. This district serves more than 4,500 students in the City of Central. There are five schools within the Central Community School System: Bellingrath Hills Elementary (PK - K), Tanglewood Elementary School (Grades 1 - 2), Central Intermediate School (Grades 3 - 5), Central Middle School (Grades 6 - 8), and Central High School (Grades 9-12).

East Baton Rouge Laboratory Academy, also known as EBR Lab, was a high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. Established in 2007 and closed 2013, it offered a college preparatory program with smaller class sizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celestia Susannah Parrish</span> American educator and psychologist

Celestia Susannah Parrish was an American educator.

Thomas Greenwood Clausen was an educator from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was the last elected state superintendent of education, a position which he filled as a Democrat from 1984 to 1988 during the third administration of Governor Edwin Edwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty Magnet High School</span> Public, magnet school in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States

Liberty Magnet High School is a public magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, founded in the 1950s but was closed in 2009. The school was subsequently reopened in 2011 as a magnet school in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. Liberty Magnet has a student body of approximately 1,100 students. Liberty Magnet High School is classified as an "A" school, receiving a 106.7 SPS in 2017. Liberty requires students to pass enrollment standards and exceed graduation standards.

Joseph Samuel Clark was an academic administrator who spent most of his career in Louisiana. He was the head of Baton Rouge College and president of Southern University and A&M College, both historically black colleges, where he served in total from 1901 to 1938. During the years from 1914 to 1938 he led the development of Southern, designated as a land grant college in 1890 and moved to the Baton Rouge area in 1914.

Felton Grandison Clark was an African-American academic administrator from Louisiana. He served as the president of Southern University (SU), a historically black university and land-grant college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1938 to 1969. During this period, he led decades of expansion that resulted in the number of students increasing from 1,500 to over 11,000. By the time of his retirement, SU had grown to be America's largest historically black university by enrollment.

William P. "Buckskin Bill" Black was a Louisiana children's television personality and, later, school board member. He hosted what at the time were the longest-running children's television programs in the United States, Storyland and The Buckskin Bill Show, on Baton Rouge's WAFB-TV. Black famously helped raise funds to get the Baton Rouge Zoo built after promoting the cause on his show in the late 1950s and through the 1960s. After his successful television career, he was elected to the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board in 1994 and served for 16 years.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Southern University Lab School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  2. "History - Southern University Lab School". Southern University Lab School.
  3. 1 2 3 Lussier, Charles (2014-10-08). "Southern Lab rebounds with help from online enrollment". The Advocate . Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  4. Lussier, Charles (2013-05-24). "Southern, Lab School target younger students". The Advocate . Retrieved 2019-05-02.