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Our History here at Fox Tech
Introduction to the first Downtown High School
One might say that public secondary education took its time getting to San Antonio, but once it took root at the site that is now Fox Academic and Technical High School, 637 N. Main Ave., it was here to stay.
While the ancestor of Central Catholic High School, the Ursuline Academy and the German-English School all were founded in the 1850s, these were fee-paying schools intended to serve specific populations Catholic boys, Catholic girls and students bilingual in German and English. Through the 19th century, a high-school education was largely reserved for the elite who did not have to contribute to the household income. To give an idea of how rare it was nationwide to have a chance at an education beyond the eighth grade, the U.S. Census for 1890 shows that only 6 percent of the population between 14 and 16 were enrolled in high school; by 1900, only 3 percent of Americans had graduated from high school.
The date usually given for the founding of San Antonio's first high school is 1879, but that was a pretty humble beginning. According to a history provided by San Antonio Independent School District, it was a “one-teacher facility for all grades,” known as Central School or Central Grammar and High School. This institution operated in the Firemen's Hall, headquarters for Hook and Ladder and No. 2 Engine companies on Avenue C (later Broadway) just north of Houston Street.
By 1880, classes for students in high school and grammar school (elementary through middle school) grades all met in the former Vance Barracks the first Army barracks in San Antonio, built by the Vance and Bros. mercantile firm at the corner of Navarro and Travis streets behind the present site of the Gunter Hotel. A year later, high-school classes had migrated to the basement of the original Temple Beth-El synagogue at Travis and Jefferson.
San Antonio's first high school finally got a permanent home in 1882, when a three-story stone building was constructed on Acequia Street (later Main Avenue), opening in 1883. Even then, the school had to share classroom space with students of “the higher grades” of the Second Ward School and other overcrowded public grammar schools, says the San Antonio Light, Oct. 13, 1883. This school was called High School and Central Grammar until 1886, when it consolidated with another neighboring school and became known as School No. 1 until that designation was transferred to an elementary school completed in 1908. The city's first secondary school officially became known as the San Antonio High School, but familiarly was referred to most often as simply “the high school” or “High School.”
Our First Name Change
That changed after Brackenridge High School opened in 1917, and the original school was renamed after its location. At that time, Brackenridge was expected to serve students from San Antonio's South Side, and Main Avenue was to serve the North Side. Then as now, development to the north moved faster, and Main Avenue, the older facility, was showing signs of strain by the late 1920s. Thanks to a bond issue passed in 1929 before the stock market crash, SAISD was able to build the opulent new Thomas Jefferson High School on otherwise undeveloped land considered to be far northwest of the city.
San Antonio high-school students were free to choose to attend any of these schools; despite the longer commute, many former Main Avenue students were attracted to the fabulous new school.
Our Second Name Change
Main Avenue subsequently was renamed and repositioned as San Antonio Vocational and Technical High School, usually shortened to San Antonio Tech. This was largely the doing of Louis William Fox (1889-1978), “a shrewd teacher (who) was able to grab the old Main Avenue High School building and turn it into a vocational school,” says a Light editorial, Jan. 30, 1961. Fox taught for nearly half a century, including 47 years with SAISD as a teacher of manual training and longtime director of vocational and industrial arts. The new Tech “taught students to be self-supporting,” with programs in business, trades, agriculture and home economics. San Antonio Tech pioneered distributive education, a curriculum that allowed students to combine classroom instruction with on-the-job training, and developed courses to meet the needs of the local business community.
The Fox Tech Name and Tradition is birthed
Fox, who served as principal of Tech, retired in 1949. In his honor, the school was renamed the Louis W. Fox Vocational and Technical School and received its last name change in early 1972, when to reflect a changing emphasis, it became the Louis W. Fox Academic and Technical School. Known as Fox Tech, the school went through a bigger transition during the 1972-1973 school years, when its students attended Brackenridge on a split schedule with the host school's students, while the old Tech buildings were demolished and replaced by a $5 million complex. Through all these changes, the school has only switched mascots once from the coyote of San Antonio High School to the buffalo that stood for Main Avenue and still symbolizes today's Tech.
The Birth of the Law Magnet School at Fox Tech High
Despite a glorious and proud heritage, Fox Tech was disestablished in May 1995. Less than a quarter of the school's students were passing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), the state-administered criterion-referenced testing program that draws its objectives from the state-mandated curriculum established by the State Board of Education. Texas' accountability system utilizes this standardized test, along with other data, to rate schools and districts as either “low-performing,” “acceptable,” “recognized” or “exemplary.”
In 1995, the district took a bold step. It asked all staff to re-apply for positions at Fox Tech. The school was “re-established” immediately with a new administration and one-third of the original staff.
The task of returning the school to its former glory would be a major test for the new administration. School leaders began by looking at what had to be done differently to increase enrollment and eliminate the high dropout rate. The principal in 1995, Ms. Joanne Cockrell, explains: “Many articles, based on research, have been written about improving schools. It sounds like common sense to me, but why do we not see these practices more often?”
According to one of the instructor during this time period, Mrs. Lazarin, stated Joann Cockrell established the Law Magnet Program in 1996. It was a rough beginning because we had no scope and sequence. Teachers in the Law Program had to write their own curriculum. Originally the 9th grade started by learning speech and the vocabulary of law. They also learned legal terms as well. In their 10th grade the students would learn the History of Law. It was based on the 18 lawgivers that are currently chiseled on the walls of the United States Supreme Court. It was perfect because the course ran 18 weeks. The second 18 weeks was Constitutional Law starting with the Contract Theorist Philosophers. They would advance to 11th grade where they received 18 weeks of Civil Law and 18 weeks of Criminal Law. Their senior year they would take Legal Research/Writing through the first semester. The second semester the seniors would be assigned to internships among our local legal community. We had to create different partnerships with the Bexar County Courts, the District Court and the Federal Courts along with attorneys and politicians. We also had a partnership with St. Mary’s Law school and Harvard. We have won awards over the years and participated in mock trial competitions. We have had some students that have gone on to law school.
Where we are today
On January 13, 2010, The San Antonio Independent School District announces a partnership with the University Health System in support of a new Medical Professions Magnet Program at Fox Tech High School, which enrolled its first freshman class in the fall of 2010. The Magnet Program is open to students across Bexar County.
Early in 2009, a committee was formed to create a shared vision for the magnet program that included members of the University Health System's medical and professional team. Together with SAISD educators, civic leaders and elected officials, they have spent a year guiding the program into existence.
The plan creates a small, college preparatory school with a pre-med curriculum, in the central business district, that allows students to draw on a wealth of health professionals in close proximity to the school.
Currently, Fox Tech is a public, tuition-free, college preparatory magnet high school specializing in medical science and law and public policy under the leadership of Dawn Parker, the current Principal of Fox Tech High School. Located in downtown San Antonio, Texas, Fox Tech High School is a part of the San Antonio Independent School District and is open to committed and qualified students living in Bexar County.
The mission of Fox Tech is to graduate all students prepared for success in higher learning. We are committed to fostering a campus-wide culture that is based on positive relationships for all stakeholders and providing rigorous instruction through innovative teaching practices.
References:
- http://www.mysanantonio.com
- http://www.universityhealthsystem.com
- http://www.idra.org
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