Parks Junior High School

Parks Junior High School
Location
Fullerton, California
United States
Information
Type Junior High School
Established 1972
School district Fullerton School District
Principal Sherry Dustin
Grades 7th and 8th
Enrollment 1050 (2014/2015)
Color(s) Gray and Black
Mascot Panther
Website Parks Junior High School

D. Russell Parks Junior High School is a junior high school located in Fullerton, California, United States, serving students in seventh and eighth grades, as part of the Fullerton School District. The school has been recognized on two separate occasions as a Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.[1][2] Parks' mascot is the Panthers.

As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had 1050 students and 38 teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 24.6.[3]

When the school opened, the student population was over 90% White.[4] With demographic changes in the ensuing years, the school has become majority minority; for 2003–04 its student body was 57% Asian, 13% Hispanic and 28% white, and by 2013–14 it was 43% Asian, 29% Hispanic, and 23% white.[3]At 2016-17 it is 43.1% Asian, 28.5% hispanic, 23.4% whites.

As documented in the school's application for its second Blue Ribbon award, student test scores greatly exceed state averages, exemplified by the fact that 61% of eighth graders taking the California State Standards Test scored "At or Above Proficient," in contrast to 30% of students statewide.[4]

Parks JHS mainly feeds into Sunny Hills High School and Troy High School. Both high schools offer students a challenging academic career through their International Baccalaureate programs.

History

Parks was built in 1972[4] in honor of Dr. D. Russell Parks, former Superintendent of the Fullerton Public Elementary School system. The school is located in Fullerton on the corner of Rosecrans Avenue and Parks Road, formerly an unconnected section of Brookhurst Avenue. The street was renamed in order to conform with a rule instituted by Dr. Parks himself maintaining that schools be named after the streets on which they reside.

The school was constructed to blend in with the surrounding hills and trees. The interior of the school was designed as an open structure, with movable walls and open doorways.[4]

In 2011 the colors are changed into Black and Gray

Awards and recognition

During the 2008–2009 school year, D. Russell Parks Junior High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education.[5][6] The school was recognized a second time as a Blue Ribbon School in the 2004–05 school year.[7][8]

In 2008–09, the school was recognized as a California Distinguished School, an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs.[9]

Teacher of the Year

2012-2013: Melissa Martinez

References

  1. ↑ "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department". Journal Inquirer. November 16, 2006. Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve.
  2. ↑ "Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test". The Washington Post. September 29, 2005. For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school.
  3. 1 2 National Center for Education Statistics data for Parks Junior High School, accessed May 4, 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Parks Junior High School 2004 Blue Ribbon Schools Program application, accessed May 4, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Parks Junior High among contenders for national schools award". Orange County Register. January 25, 1995. LeNelle Cittadin, principal of D. Russell Parks Junior High School, said she only has one simple goal: To make Parks 'the very best school in the whole world.' While the blue ribbon for world's best may be in the distant future, the school is in the running as one of the best in the country. Parks and four Orange County high schools are this year's county nominees for the National Secondary School Recognition Program...
  6. ↑ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982–1983 through 1999–2002 (PDF) Archived March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine., accessed May 11, 2006
  7. ↑ Giasone, Barbara (September 23, 2004). "Parks captures a second blue ribbon". Orange County Register. Retrieved April 27, 2007. Thunderous applause rippled through the Parks Junior High School newly remodeled hallways last Friday when Principal Larry Beaver announced the campus was one of 10 schools in Orange County to win the National Blue Ribbon Award.
  8. ↑ U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 2003 through 2005 (PDF), accessed April 26, 2007.
  9. ↑ Distinguished School Awards: Award Winners for Orange County, California Department of Education, accessed January 25, 1995.

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