Farragut Academy
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Farragut Career Academy High School is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
four-year
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
located in the Little Village neighborhood on the
West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham ...
of
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, United States. As a career academy, Farragut emphasizes a curriculum that combines academic instruction with work-study experiences and vocational training. In addition to education-to-careers clusters, Farragut is also home to the General Patton
JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US mil ...
program, which functions as a school-within-a-school. The school's service area includes
North Lawndale North Lawndale is one of the 77 community areas of the city of Chicago, Illinois, located on its West Side. The area contains the K-Town Historic District, the Foundation for Homan Square, the Homan Square interrogation facility, and the gr ...
and
South Lawndale South Lawndale is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Over 80% of the residents are of Mexican descent and the community is home to the largest foreign-born Mexican population in Chicago. The community is home to two dist ...
.Watkins, William Henry. ''Black Protest Thought and Education'' (Volume 237 of Counterpoints : studies in the postmodern theory of education, ISSN 1058-1634). Peter Lang, 2005. , 9780820463124. p
185
(Section "Farragut High School").


Academics

Farragut Career Academy is rated below average, a 1 out of 10 by GreatSchools.org, a national school quality information site. These ratings follow a 1-10 scale, where 10 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. Ratings at the lower end of the scale (1-4) signal that the school is “below average”.


History

The original Farragut School opened its doors on September 4, 1894, as a new primary school. It was located on Spaulding Ave near 23rd Street in the South Lawndale neighborhood. Its 16 rooms accommodated 900 students. The
Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently made up of 11 members appoin ...
named the school after Admiral
David Farragut David Glasgow Farragut (; also spelled Glascoe; July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first Rear admiral (United States), rear admiral, Vice admiral (United State ...
and appointed George R. Plumb as principal. On the first day of school, Farragut enrolled about 500 students in grades 1–4. Those 500 students were among 175,000 students enrolled in Chicago's 200 schools in a year that saw a 15% increase in enrollment. Farragut served as a primary school for thousands of neighborhood students in its early years. Two years after opening Farragut, Plumb officiated at a ceremony to dedicate an oil portrait of Admiral Farragut. The Farragut Post 602 of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) presented this portrait to the school on June 26, 1896. The dedication ceremony included speeches by representatives of the Chicago Board of Education and the Grand Army of the Republic and the singing of "patriotic songs" by Farragut students. The portrait of Admiral Farragut still hangs in Farragut's south building. Farragut dismissed Plumb in 1901, replacing him with Mary E. Baker. In the early years of the 20th century, the population of Chicago's southwest side continued to grow, and overcrowding at Farragut became a problem. To ease this overcrowding, the Chicago Board of Education approved $150,000 to build a sixteen-room addition and assembly hall for Farragut. At the forefront of the construction effort was Farragut Principal Henry C. Cox, who had taken over from Mary Baker in 1904. Cox believed that the primary reason Farragut students did not complete their high school education was a lack of facilities in the area that could accommodate them. The addition opened its doors as a high school at Spaulding and 24th streets on September 7, 1909, with Frank L. Morse as principal. The original building continued to operate as a primary school. One of the most significant challenges to keeping high school students in school during this time was that many teenagers worked in factories around Chicago to supplement their family income. In 1909, Principal Morse created a plan to allow students to continue working, attend school, and still receive pay. In cooperation with such employers as the Chicago Malleable Iron Company, the
International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...
Company, and the Kimball Piano Company, students would alternate weeks between work and school. The school enrolled these students in a unique vocational curriculum to improve their "industrial education." Boys between the ages of 14 and 16 would be enrolled in the program and would receive their full weekly salary while in school. Young women were also part of the vocational education plan for Farragut, although with a different focus. Classes for girls fell under the category of "domestic sciences" and included beginning and advanced sewing, food study and cooking, sanitation and hygiene in the home, and industry history. As the vocational programs increased in popularity, Farragut expanded quickly. In 1914, most were transferred to the new
Harrison Technical High School Carter Henry Harrison Technical High School was a public 4–year high school located in the South Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.Alvarez, p. 88. Opened and operated by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district, Harrison was founded i ...
at 24th St and Marshall Blvd. With space now available, Farragut opened its doors as a community center two nights a week. Classrooms were made available for organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. In addition, the school organized adult education classes to teach sewing, millinery, cooking, and typing. In addition, the school offered English language classes free of charge to neighborhood residents. Young people and adults could also participate in sports, music, and art. In 1924, Farragut underwent another restructuring. The Chicago School Board created a new program that converted several schools into junior high schools housing grades seven and eight. The move was designed to ease overcrowding by reducing some schools from K-8 to K-6 and moving the older students to new schools. In September 1925, 7th- and 8th-grade students from the Farragut, Burns, Spry, and McCormick schools attended classes at Farragut Junior High School with Isabella Dolton as principal. Students at Farragut in grades K-2 stayed in the original building, operating as an extension of the Burns school. The remaining students in grades 3–6 moved to the neighboring schools. By 1928, the continuing problem of school overcrowding led to the construction of an addition to the Farragut building. The plans included a south and west section of the building that effectively doubled its size. That year, Peter B. Ritzma became principal following Isabella Dolton's election as Assistant Superintendent of Schools for the district. Farragut operated as a junior high school until the Chicago School Board decided to scrap the program and convert the junior high schools in the city to senior high schools in 1933. Farragut's attendance boundaries extended north to 16th Street and as far south as the
Illinois and Michigan Canal The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. In Illinois, it ran from the Chicago River in Bridgeport, Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru. The canal crossed the Chicago ...
. Vocational training returned to Farragut in 1935 following the establishment of the Emergency Education Program (EEP) under the
Federal Emergency Relief Administration The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progre ...
(FERA). In the early years of the Great Depression, thousands of teachers found themselves unemployed and seeking relief. Harry Hopkins, director of FERA, realized there was an opportunity not only to return teachers to work but also to provide educational programs to other unemployed workers. Under the EEP, Farragut began offering adult evening classes free of charge. Unemployed adults could attend classes in typing, dictaphone, shorthand (advanced and beginning), sewing,
millwork Millwork is historically any wood-mill produced decorative material used in building construction. Stock profiled and patterned millwork building components fabricated by milling at a planing mill can usually be installed with minimal alterat ...
, and printing.


Mid-20th century to present

In the post-
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
period, the school demographics changed as more African-Americans moved into the surrounding neighborhoods, which European immigrants and Jews had previously populated; the student body and teaching staff became increasingly African-American. In 1950 the community around Farragut was 91.2% white and 8.6% black—64.4% black and 35.3% white by 1960. Many black students residing in North Lawndale attended Farragut since North Lawndale did not have a senior high school. By 1968 Farragut's student body was about 90% black, and the school was overcrowded since North Lawndale also fed into the school.Magallon, Frank S. ''Chicago's Little Village: Lawndale-Crawford'' (Images of America).
Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...
, 2010. p
104
, 9780738577371.
By 1968-1969 the "New Breed" and other groups of African-American students demanded that the school hire black teachers and administrators and that it fire Joseph Carroll, the principal of the school. Elizabeth Anders, author of "Everybody run Farragut," a 1971 work, stated that the school administration, then dominated by White Americans, was not prepared for the change in demographics and that some teachers had no interest in serving black students; by 1971, according to Anders, discord among teachers and students and problems with
gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...
occurred by 1971. Around that period some Hispanic and White students had accused groups of black students of harassment. In June 2006, CPS accused Principal Edward Guerra, scheduled to retire from CPS and begin working at
Waukegan High School Waukegan High School, or WHS, is a public four-year high school located in Waukegan, Illinois, USA, a city to the north of Chicago, Illinois. It is part of Waukegan Community Unit School District 60. Students attend classes at the Washington Cam ...
, of changing the grades of soccer players and asking teachers not to say anything about it. On June 8, 2010, Kanye West performed a private concert for Farragut students for having won the third annual "Stay in School" contest. Farragut competed against six other schools: Manley, Harlan, Clemente, Marshall, Julian, and Robeson. The goal was to have the best overall improved attendance, grades, and behavior.


Admissions

Farragut's student body was 80.1% black in 1963 and 91% black by 1968. 43.3% of Farragut teachers were black in 1968.


Extracurricular activities

At Farragut, students can compete in many different sports and competitive activities. In 1995,
Thornton Township High School Thornton Township High School, often simply referred to as Thornton is a State school, public high school founded in 1899, located in Harvey, Illinois, Harvey, one of the Chicago Southland, South Suburbs of the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA. The ...
, under coach Rocky Hill, defeated Farragut 46-43 in the Class AA quarterfinals while
Kevin Garnett Kevin Maurice Garnett ( ; born May 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Big Ticket," Garnett is considered one of the greatest power f ...
played for Farragut. In addition to Garnett, who joined the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA) after high school, star basketball player
Ronnie Fields Ronnie Fields (born February 28, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. High school Born and raised in Chicago, Fields played at Farragut Academy in Chicago from 1992–1996 and was a teammate of Kevin Garnett during the 1 ...
was also a student at Farragut.


Notable alumni

*
Otis Armstrong Otis D. Armstrong (November 15, 1950 – October 13, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round with the ninth overall pick in the 1973 NFL ...
(1968), former
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...
* Tony Brown (1978), former
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
basketball player and current assistant coach for
Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...
* Lorenzo Clemons (1964), actor *
Bruce DeMars Bruce DeMars (June 3, 1935 – February 3, 2024) was a United States Navy List of United States Navy four-star admirals, four star admiral who served as Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion from 1988 to 1996. Early years DeMars was born in Chicag ...
(1953), retired U.S. Navy 4-star admiral; Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion, 1988-1996 * Arnold T. Dorenfeld (known as "Doren") (1953), American photographer *
Michael Dunigan Michael René Dunigan (born July 2, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks. High school career Dunigan attended Farragut Academy in Chicago, Illinois. As a junior, he average ...
(2008), basketball player for
Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...
* Ron Dunlap, basketball player for the University of Illinois, 19th pick of
1968 NBA draft The 1968 NBA draft was the 22nd annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 3, 1968, and May 8 and 10, 1968, before the 1968–69 season. In this draft, 14 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. co ...
* Ervin Frank "Four Sack" Dusak,
MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
player for the St. Louis Cardinals *
Ronnie Fields Ronnie Fields (born February 28, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. High school Born and raised in Chicago, Fields played at Farragut Academy in Chicago from 1992–1996 and was a teammate of Kevin Garnett during the 1 ...
(1996), basketball player *
Kevin Garnett Kevin Maurice Garnett ( ; born May 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Big Ticket," Garnett is considered one of the greatest power f ...
(1995), NBA player the for
Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...
,
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...
, and
Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...
, 2004
MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...
, 2008 DPOY/champion, 2020 NBA Hall of Fame Inductee. *
Mack Herron Mack Willie Herron (July 24, 1948 – December 6, 2015) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and National Football League (NFL) from 1970 to 1975. He played college football f ...
, former NFL and
CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...
running back *
Kim Novak Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American retired actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and a s ...
(1950), Golden Globe Award-winning film actress * Sonny Parker (1972), former NBA basketball player for
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...
*
Pat Sajak Patrick Leonard Sajak ( ; né , born October 26, 1946) is an American game show host, television personality, and creative consultant. He is best known as the host of the television game show '' Wheel of Fortune'', a position which he held fr ...
(1964), host of television
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
'' Wheel of Fortune'' *
Sandra Seaton Sandra Cecelia Seaton is an American playwright and librettist. She received the Mark Twain Award from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature in 2012. Seaton taught creative writing and African-American literature at Central Michiga ...
(1959), award-winning playwright and librettist *
Ernie Terrell Ernest Terrell (April 4, 1939 – December 16, 2014) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1957 to 1973. He held the World Boxing Association's heavyweight title from 1965 to 1967, and was one of the tallest heavyweights of his era ...
(1957), former
heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...
champion
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...
and promoter * Michael Wright (1998), murdered American–Turkish basketball player *
Point Blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm or gun can hit a target without the need to elevate the barrel to compensate for bullet drop, i.e. the gun can be pointed horizontally at the target. For targets beyond-blank range ...
(rapper)


References


External links


Official website
{{authority control Public high schools in Chicago Educational institutions established in 1894 1894 establishments in Illinois South Lawndale, Chicago