Murrah High School

Murrah High School is a public high school in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. It is a part of the Jackson Public School District.

Murrah High School
Address
1400 Murrah Drive

Jackson
,
Mississippi

United States
Information
TypePublic
Motto"The Only Place to Be."
Established1954
School districtJackson Public School District
PrincipalAlvanette Buchanan
Teaching staff82.23 (FTE)[1]
Grades9th–12th
Enrollment1,367 (2017–18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio16.62[1]
Color(s)Blue and Silver
MascotMustangs
YearbookThe Resumé
Websitewww.jackson.k12.ms.us/Murrah

History

Prior to desegregation in the 1960s, the school was majority white.[2] Donna Ladd, in an article in the Jackson Free Press, described it as one of several "jewels in the crown of white Jackson back before forced integration—in a time when white conservatives abundantly funded public schools and extracurricular activities with tax money for their own."[3] Jackson schools integrated by law as per Derek Jerome Singleton vs. the Jackson Public School District, decided in 1969.[2]

Demographics

There are 1,600 students enrolled at Murrah High School. The racial makeup of the school is 93.52% African American, 0.59% Asian, 0.44% Hispanic, 0.15% Native American, and 5.30% White.[4]

Name

Murrah High School and Murrah Hall at Millsaps College were named after William Belton Murrah.

William Belton Murrah (1852-1925) was an American bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church South elected in 1910. Born in Pickensville, Alabama, he was educated at Southern University (now Birmingham-Southern College) in Greensboro, Alabama, and at Centenary College in Jackson, Louisiana. In 1897 Murrah received his LLD from Wofford College in South Carolina. Before his election to the Episcopacy, he served from 1890 to 1910 as the first president of Millsaps College in Jackson. Murrah High School and Murrah Hall at Millsaps College were named after him.

Special programs

Base Pair program

JPS is a partner with the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) in the Base Pair research mentorship program funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The primary focus for Base Pair is to use the physical resources and intellectual capital of UMC to enable the pursuit of excellence in science education in a local public school environment. The program matches high school students with UMC faculty members for in-depth experiences in the sciences.[5]

Base Pair has consistently emphasized three objectives:

  • To cultivate career awareness among high school students in areas related to biomedical research
  • To train such students as effective "communicators of science" to the general public
  • To advance teacher professional and science curriculum development within the JPSD

That program, funded since 1992 and continuing through 2015, has brought approximately $1.3 million for science education enhancement into the district. Base Pair-trained high school students are authors on more than five dozen published scientific papers or abstracts. Twenty-five Base Pair graduates are in post-baccalaureate academic programs, including 12 in M.D., M.D./Ph.D., Ph.D. (science), or master's degree in science training. Six of these are currently enrolled in a program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Visit the UMC Base Pair website at www.umc.edu/basepair

SOAR

The Student Oriented Academic Research (SOAR) program is a companion to the Base Pair program at Murrah High School. SOAR was developed to implement advanced science research activities for JPS students outside of the UMC zone. In this program, students are enrolled in Biology II during their junior year and other advanced life science courses during their senior year. The SOAR program supports advanced biomedical and forensic science laboratory research by students at each high school site. [6]

Forensics

Murrah's Speech and Debate Team, currently coached by Micah Everson, Erin Mauffray, and Javier Peraza, has produced many successful competitors. Murrah students have competed at the National Speech and Debate Tournament each of the last six years.

Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC)

The Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC) is open to students in grades 4-12 who are academic achievers and/or who show aptitude for one or more of the visual or performing arts. There is an application process held each year for entrance into the programs for the following school year.[7][8][9]

  • Academics: Eligibility for the academics division is based on past grades, standardized tests, entrance tests, and teacher recommendations. Cooperative learning and higher order thinking skills are emphasized. Courses in math, science, language arts, and social studies prepare students to take further APAC and Advanced Placement/APAC classes in high school. APAC academic courses are offered for grades 4-5 at Power APAC Elementary; for grades 6–8 at Bailey APAC Middle School, and for grades 9–12 at Murrah High School. In October 2002, Jackson Public Schools received a federal grant totaling almost $1 million to increase the number of middle and high school students who complete college-level courses in high school. This Advanced Placement (AP) Incentive Grant money has been used to increase the number of middle and high school students enrolling in and successfully completing Advanced Placement or college level courses in high school and in pre-AP courses through the district's accelerated academic program (APAC). In APAC, students use skills, textbooks and items above their grade level.
  • Performing Arts: The performing arts division offers classes in dance, music, theatre arts, and visual arts. Students must apply and audition for entry into the program. These courses are offered for grades 4 through 12 at the Power APAC site. This division of APAC is based on a rigorous written, sequential curriculum taught by artist teachers. Artistically, the objective is to prepare students for the next level in the arts whether university, apprenticeship, or professional experience.

Murrah High School offers the only health-related professions program in the state of Mississippi for grades 9–12. The HRP program is an innovative cooperative setting opportunity designed to prepare students in the 21st century and beyond. Its mission is to provide historically under-represented and under-served students with a quality education that will allow them to become articulate in spoken word, masterful in writing, analytical in thought and prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in a chosen health career. Students who take health-related professions program at Murrah take a rigorously challenging curriculum that is science-oriented, complemently by advanced math and technology courses. In addition to the academic curriculum, numerous opportunities to narrow-health career choices are provided to students with field trips, mentors from the medical fields, internships, and university partnerships.[10]

Notable alumni

Feeder patterns

The following schools feed into Murrah High School.[11]

  • Middle Schools
    • Chastain Middle School
    • Bailey APAC Middle School
  • Elementary Schools
    • Boyd Elementary School
    • Casey Elementary School
    • McLeod Elementary School
    • McWillie Elementary School
    • Power APAC Elementary School
    • Spann Elementary School

References
  1. "Murrah High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  2. Taylor, Ayana (2004-05-12). "JPS, Then and Now". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  3. Ladd, Donna (2017-09-27). "Yep, JPS Takeover Is a Conspiracy. Prove Me Wrong". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  4. "Mississippi Assessment and Accountability Reporting System". Office of Research and Statistics, Mississippi Department of Education. Archived from the original on 2007-03-23.
  7. Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC) Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Secondary Curriculum Guide Archived 2013-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  9. APAC Secondary Curriculum Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Feeder Patterns Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine – Jackson Public Schools.

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