Type Public Principal Juanita Valder Phone +1 503-916-5140 Mascot Quakers | Opened 1914 Color(s) Maroon and grey District Portland Public Schools Number of students 1,567 | |
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School district Portland Public Schools Athletics conference OSAA Portland Interscholastic League 6A-1 Address 3905 SE 91st Ave, Portland, OR 97266, USA Profiles | ||
Benjamin Franklin High School, (colloquially Franklin High School), is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. Franklin is located in central southeast Portland in the South Tabor neighborhood, at the foot of Mt. Tabor.
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History
Founded in 1914, it is Portland's fourth high school. 136 students attended the first year. The current brick building opened in September 1917. The building was designed by Floyd Naramore.
Due to the baby boom and passing of a $25 million building levy by the school district in 1947, a new addition for arts, industrial arts, and home economics departments was slated. The Franklin football field, also known as "The Bowl", was actually planned out originally as a walkway towards the school, making the front of the school facing towards S.E. Division street and the back facing S.E. Woodward Ave. The walkway was going to go from Division street all the way to the school, but a heavy rain storm one night caused a 20' sinkhole in the spot where the football field is today. The Bowl was named at one time one of the best places to have a football game.
Benjamin Franklin statues
The school contains two statues of Benjamin Franklin, for whom the school is named: a wooden figure hand-carved by a local artist in the 1970s and a larger stone statue near the Franklin Bowl athletic field, affectionately known as Benji. Benji is an honorary graduate of the school, having been fitted for a massive mortar-board cap and tassel by the Class of 1976. The wooden statue had his cane stolen sometime around 2007 by vandals who broke into the school.
Student profile
The student population is 58% white, 16% Asian/Pacific Islander, 13% Latino, and 8% African American.
In 2008, 80% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma. Of 354 students, 282 graduated, 52 dropped out, 5 received a modified diploma, and 15 are still in high school. In 2009, 31% of the students were transfers into the school.
Sports
Franklin's colors are Maroon, gray, and white. Their rivals are the Cleveland Warriors. The Marshall Minutemen were also rivals of Franklin before Marshall was closed down in 2011. Many students who attended Marshall became students of Franklin High School during the 2011-2012 school year. Former University of Oregon Track Coach and Nike founder Bill Bowerman coached the football team in 1934. Franklin won the state basketball championships in 1921, 1956 and 1959.
Entertainment
Dr. Giggles (1992) a teenage slasher movie was filmed on location at Franklin High School.
In December 2015, several videos featuring multiple Franklin students brawling near campus, outside a local Oasis, were posted to Can't Stop Hip Hop World-Wide, garnering thousands of views. Local media coverage and suspensions have followed.
Robotics Team Controversy
In October 2010 the school decided to discontinue its competitive robotics team due to the lack of any school official sanctioning the team, allegedly by locking the team out of their workspace without access to their tools, or the more than $7000 the team had raised to sustain the program. The team had previously been a part of the school for 7 years.