South Shore High School (Chicago)

South Shore International College Prep High School
Address
1955 E. 75th Street Chicago, Illinois 60649 United States
Coordinates	41°45′22″N 87°34′46″W / 41.7561°N 87.5794°W / 41.7561; -87.5794Coordinates: 41°45′22″N 87°34′46″W / 41.7561°N 87.5794°W / 41.7561; -87.5794
Information
School type	Public Secondary Magnet
Opened	1940 2003 (School of Leadership) 2011 (International College Prep)
Closed	2014 (School of Leadership)
School district	Chicago Public Schools
CEEB code	140699[1]
Principal	Janice Elaine Wells
Grades	9–12
Gender	Coed
Enrollment	588 (2016–17)
Campus type	Urban
Color(s)	Royal Blue      Kelly Green
Athletics conference	Chicago Public League
Team name	Tars/Tarettes
Accreditation	North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Newspaper	Shore Line
Yearbook	The Tide[2]
Website	southshoreinternational.org

South Shore International College Preparatory High School (commonly known as South Shore) is a public 4–year selective enrollment high school located in the South Shore neighborhood on the south–east side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1940 as South Shore High School, South Shore is a part of the Chicago Public Schools district.

History

South Shore opened in 1940 as South Shore High School at 7626 South Constance Avenue.^[3] During the early days, the school was predominately White; mostly populated by pupils in the South Shore community. By the late–1950s, the community began experiencing an increase in population by African-Americans. Due to this, South Shore which was built to accommodate at total of 2,000; became overcrowded by 1964. Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Board of Education decided a new school needed to be built to relieve the overcrowding. The plan to build a new extension of the school was implemented in 1965. Construction on the extension building at 75th street and Constance avenue began in April 1966. The extension school was to cost $2.5 million to build and was to be completed by 1967, but was revised several times; gaining a budget of $4.1 million. The extension was constructed by Oak Park Illinois' Mercury Builders between 1966 and completed in August 1969.^[4]The new extension opened for students on September 6, 1969.

Small Schools (2001–11)

Due to South Shore's history of poor academic performance, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) decided to divide the school into four smaller schools beginning in 2001. The school campus, located at 7527–7627 South Constance Avenue was divided into four small specialized high schools: the School of Entrepreneurship, the School of the Arts, the School of Leadership, and the School of Technology. The small school concept continued until the Chicago Board of Education decided to phase out the school in 2009; completed at the end of the 2010–11 school year.^[5][6][7]

School of Leadership

After the phasing of two of the small schools, The extension building was demolished in early 2011. The remaining students of the schools were moved into South Shore School of Leadership; being housed only in it's original campus on Constance Avenue for the 2011–12 school year. At the time, the Chicago Public Schools opened a new south shore school; a selective enrollment school to attract students from all areas of the city. The leadership school was eventually phased out and closed at the end of the 2013–14 school year, being fully replaced by the new school.

Other Information

The school's newspaper The Shore Line won a first place ranking in the American Scholastic Press Association annual review in 1983. The newspaper was the first to win a first place ranking in the city. The school students won first place two consecutive times in the an annual essay contest sponsored by the citizen school's committee in 1981 and 1982.^[8] The school was a part of a CBS documentary about the city's public school system in 1984.^[9]

South Shore International College Prep

The new school, South Shore International College Prep High School opened for the 2011–12 school year adjacent to the former South Shore High School location and park.^[10] South Shore International College Prep is a selective enrollment magnet school and accepts students from throughout the city of Chicago.^[11] The school uses the same team name (Tars) and colors (Kelly Green and Royal Blue) as the former South Shore High School. South Shore International College Prep student demographic is made up of: 96.3% African-American, 2.6% Hispanic, 0.2 White and 0.7% Other. 89.6% of the student body are classified as low–income.

Athletics

South Shore competes in the Chicago Public League (CPL) and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The boys' basketball team were Public League champions in 1943–44 and 1946–47. The school girls' track and field team placed first in the state in Class AA in 1980–81.^[12]

Notable Alumni

References