August Martin High School

August Martin High School is a New York City public high school located in South Jamaica, Queens, at 156-10 Baisley Boulevard. The school focuses on aviation (students can obtain their pilot's certification while studying there) and other vocational areas. Presently, the school comprises the following four academies, which as of 2014 had a combined enrollment of 853 students:[2]

  • Aerospace and Technology Academy
  • Communication Arts Academy
  • Law Scholars Academy
  • Culinary Arts Academy
August Martin High School
Building completed in 1942
Address
156-10 Baisley Boulevard

South Jamaica, Queens, New York City
,
New York

USA
Coordinates40°40′29″N 73°47′00″W
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1971
Faculty42.6 FTEs[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment678 (as of 2014-15)[1]
Student to teacher ratio15.9:1[1]
Websitewww.augustmartin.org

In addition, two separate alternative high schools share the same building:

  • Foundry High School, enrollment 108[3]
  • Voyages Preparatory High School South Queens, enrollment 150[4]

As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 678 students and 42.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.9:1. There were 468 students (69.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 42 (6.2% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

History

Plans for the school, originally the Woodrow Wilson High School, existed as early as 1930, to relieve crowding in Jamaica High School.[5] The school's building opened in 1942 as Woodrow Wilson Vocational High School. Quotes from former President Woodrow Wilson still adorn the school building's facade. Initially it trained thousands of people to join defense-related industries during World War II,[6][7] although it was planned in 1940, prior to the nation's entry into the war.[8]

Woodrow Wilson closed in 1971 when August Martin High School opened in the same building. The primary goal of the new school was to train African Americans to enter the aviation industry. The school's namesake, August Martin (1919-1968), was trained as a military pilot during World War II as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, and after the war became the first African American commercial airline pilot. Martin graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1938 and lived in New York City for much of his life. He died in 1968 when the plane he was piloting crashed during a humanitarian relief mission to the Biafra region of Nigeria.[6][9]

In 2012, neighborhood residents, elected officials, and students protested a plan to close August Martin High School, considered to be under-performing by the New York City Department of Education's leadership, and open new schools in the same building under different names. This practice had been followed previously at other schools around the city. The protesters stressed the importance of the name to the community.[10] As of 2015, the school continues to operate as August Martin High School, and this name is still prominently engraved over the door, although the building also hosts two smaller high schools that use different names.[2]

Notable alumni
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References
Notes
  1. School data for August Martin High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 12, 2016.
  2. "August Martin High School". InsideSchools.org. InsideSchools.org. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  3. "Directory of New Schools, Sept. 2014" (PDF). schools.nyc.gov. New York City Department of Education. p. 14. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  4. "Voyages Preparatory High School South Queens". InsideSchools.org. InsideSchools.org.
  5. "2 Queens Schools To Cost $5,000,000" (PDF). The New York Times. May 29, 1930. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  6. Malcolm, Andrew. "New City School to Stress Flying". New York Times (Feb. 14, 1971). Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  7. "Queens High School Aims at Training Blacks for the Aviation Industry". New York Times (Dec. 12, 1971). Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  8. "New High School Planned for Queens". New York Times (May 2, 1940). Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  9. "Trail Blazers: August Harvey Martin". Black-n-Flight.com. Black-n-Flight.com. Archived from the original on 20 November 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  10. Rennison, Billy. "Community says changing the name of August Martin HS destroys legacy". Queens Courier (18 April 2012). Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  11. August Martin HS webpage Archived August 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "NCUA Announces Two New Senior Leaders" (PDF). NCUA.gov. National Credit Union Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  13. "Najee's Got Chops to Spare". Daily News (New York, New York). November 6, 2009.
  14. Shin, Paul H.B. (April 6, 2001). "Class Act for Celebs". Daily News (New York, New York). p. 31.
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