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| Franklin K. Lane High School | |
|---|---|
 Franklin K. Lane High School | |
| Location | |
 | |
, 11208 United States | |
| Coordinates | 40°41′35″N73°52′08″W / 40.693°N 73.869°W /40.693; -73.869 |
| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Opened | 1923 |
| Closed | 2012 |
| School board | New York City Department of Education |
| School number | K420 |
| Principal | Marlon D. Bynum |
| Enrollment | 3536 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Mascot | Knights |
Franklin K. Lane High School (FKLHS) was apublic high school inNew York City, New York, United States. It began as a combined junior-senior high school in 1923 and moved into its current building in 1937.[1][2] In 2012, it was shut down by the City of New York "for poor performance".[3][4]
New schools opened on the campus[5] and they are administered by theNew York City Department of Education as H.S. 420. Today the school is the campus site for six different high schools: The Academy of Innovative Technology, The Brooklyn Lab School, Cypress Hill Prep Academy, The Urban Assembly School for Collaborative Healthcare, Multicultural High School and Uncommon Leadership Charter High School.
The campus is located on theBrooklyn/Queens border at the bottom of a steep hill at the corner of Dexter Court andJamaica Avenue. The line separating the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, which runs along Eldert Lane fromAtlantic Avenue, passes through the school and the cemetery adjacent to it.
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The school is named forFranklin Knight Lane,United States Secretary of the Interior during the administration of PresidentWoodrow Wilson. One of the accomplishments of his tenure was the formation of theNational Park Service.
At the time Franklin K. Lane High School was built, it was one of the largest high school buildings in the world. The perimeter of the building measures approximately one-quarter mile; walking four times around it equals one mile.
The school building was a project of theWPA during theFranklin D. Roosevelt Administration.
The boys' large gymnasium is named for 1938 alumnusWilliam "Red" Holzman. The library is named forSam Levenson, another alumnus, Class of 1930. The Guidance Suite of offices is named forFranklin A. Thomas, a 1952 alumnus; former President of theFord Foundation.
During the 1960s/1970s, Franklin K. Lane High School fell on hard times. Parents and teachers brought a legal action in regard to the racial imbalance and poor performance at Lane. In 1974 Judge John Dooling of the Federal Court'sSouthern District of New York ruled that education at the school was inferior and ruled that the school racial imbalance was to be addressed by redistricting and redesigning the school program. The "new" Franklin K. Lane opened in September 1976 with a 40% white, 30% Hispanic, and 30% African-American student body. The school thrived for a period and became known in some circles as "the miracle on Jamaica Avenue".
In 1978, Franklin K. Lane High School was one of ten schools across the nation cited by theUnited States Congress in the Safe School Study. The school was included in many case studies produced by the United States Government as well as private foundations, for its turnaround and for its safety in the midst of urban decline and deterioration.
In the 1970s and 1980s, numerous programs were available to assist and enhance students' academic performance: College Bound Program, Career Development Program (CDP), Co-Op Program, Study to Employment Program, (STEP), and Toward Upward Mobility Program (TUM). To address the problems of students with difficulty attending school, the SOAR program was initiated and recognized by the Federal Government for excellence. The school'sGeneral Equivalency Diploma (GED) program was one of the most successful in the city with a code of 421. Later, a parent suit brought into question the school's methods of counseling students who were not attending classes regularly. Eventually, these disruptive students were allowed to attend the school again, causing security problems. During the 1980s and 1990s, led by the school's magnet Law Studies Program students were attracted from various parts of New York City, many of whom went on to attend prestigious universities, such asColumbia,Cornell,NYU, andSyracuse. A majority of Lane's Honors Program alumni also fared well.
On March 8, 2004, theNew York Daily News' front page headline "City's Worst School" led to a story in the newspaper regarding the poor academic performance, low graduation rates, violence, and students transferring out in large numbers due to those problems.[6] In December 2007, the Department of Education announced that Franklin K. Lane would be phased out due to consistently poor performance. The school stopped accepting 9th graders in 2009 and graduated its last seniors in 2011.[3] Not all of the replacement schools have received acceptable ratings.
In September 2016, exterior shots of the school were filmed for the 2017Marvel Studios filmSpider-Man: Homecoming,[7][better source needed] while In April 2019, interior shots of the school lobby were filmed for the 2019 filmAvengers: Endgame, both set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).[citation needed] The edifice doubles as theMidtown School of Science and Technology, the school whichPeter Parker attended.
| Ethnic group | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Hispanics | 42% |
| Blacks | 43% |
| Asians | 4% |
| Whites | 10% |
| Native Americans | 1% |
Notable alumni of the school include:[8]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
