Jamaica High School was a four-year public high school in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The school was administered by the New York City Department of Education, which closed the school in 2014. The school's landmark campus, located at the corner of 167th Street and Gothic Drive, remains open and is now officially known as the Jamaica Educational Campus. It houses four smaller separately-administered public high schools that share facilities and sports teams.
Jamaica High School first conducted classes in January 1897 in a building at 162-02 Hillside Avenue that was designed by William Tubby, a well-known Brooklyn architect, in the Dutch Revival style. At that time, the school was administered by the Board of Education of the independent Town of Jamaica. The school's enrollment grew rapidly along with the population of Jamaica, which became part of New York City in 1898, at which time the school came under the jurisdiction of the New York City Board of Education. Over time, three annexes were added to the school building.
In the early 1920s it was clear that a new, larger building would be necessary. Construction of what would become the school's present building began in 1925, and the school moved there in 1927. The Board of Education retained control of the older building and put it to various uses over the years. It housed the Jamaica Learning Center, an alternative public high school, at the time of its designation as a New York City landmark in 2013.
The present school building, designed by William H. Gompert in the Georgian Revival style, occupies a hilltop location with commanding views on Gothic Drive. At the time of construction, the school building was the largest in the United States; it earned designation as a New York City landmark in 2009. In its heyday in 1950, Jamaica High School's enrollment of 4,600 students was the largest in all of Queens.
In 2009, the New York City Department of Education made plans to close the school, citing a graduation rate that "has stagnated below 50% for years." This decision was challenged in court, but by 2011 the Board of Education began to phase out Jamaica High School, and the school closed permanently in 2014. The building, now officially the Jamaica Educational Campus, remains in use and houses smaller public high schools that share facilities and sports teams.
As of 2010, four schools, each with a separate faculty and admissions procedures, share the Jamaica Educational Campus. They are:
The first Queen's High School to win a Girl's New York City Track Championship. From 1986-2009, under coach Alan Coles, the Girls' Track team won 6 New York City Track Championships, and was the runner-up in two others. The team won over 35 Queens Championships in Cross-Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track during those years. In 2007 the track team won the New Balance Award for academic excellence, community service, and athletic accomplishments.
Principals for a Day included actors Ed Lover and Steve Harvey. Gold medal Olympic winner and graduate of Jamaica High School, Bob Beamon
Jamaica High School held an annual boat race in their pool, where students demonstrated their knowledge of laws of physics and art skills
Obba Babatundé, 1969, (1951–), motion picture actor, television actor Dawson's Creek, appeared on Broadway in Dreamgirls.
Bob Beamon, 1965, Olympic athlete and world record holder in the long jump for 23 years.
Marcie Blane, 1959 as Marcia Blank, (1944–), pop singer.
Ato Boldon, 1991 (transferred out), Olympic athlete.
Paul Bowles, 1928, (1910–1999), author and composer.
Art Buchwald, 1943, Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist and cartoonist.
The Cleftones: Charlie James (McGhee), 1955; William McClane, 1955; Herb Cox, 1955; Berman Patterson, 1955; and Warren Corbin, 1955 (deceased).
William Jelani Cobb, 1987, author
Francis Ford Coppola, (1939–), film director
Whitfield Diffie, 1961, cryptographer and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography.
Ann Druyan, 1966, Emmy Award-winning and Peabody Award-winning television writer and producer, Creative Director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message Project
Alan Dugan, 1941, (1923–2003), Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet.
Gertrude B. Elion, 1933, (1918–1999). Nobel Prize winner, 1988 Physiology/Medicine.
Ashrita Furman, (1954–) set more than 160 official Guinness records
Stephen Jay Gould, 1958, (1941–2002), paleontologist, geologist, historian of science
Laura Z. Hobson, 1917, (1900–1986), author.
Sheila Jackson-Lee, 1968, (1950–) represents Texas's 18th congressional district.
Samuel Leibowitz, 1911, (1893–1978) attorney for the Scottsboro Boys.
Gerald S. Lesser (1926–2010), psychologist who played a major role in developing the educational programming included in Sesame Street.
Herbert London, 1956, candidate for New York mayor and governor
Irving Malin, 1950, (c. 1934–2014) critic of postmodern fiction, editor and anthologist.
John N. Mitchell, 1931, (1913–1988) Attorney General of the United States.
Walter O'Malley, 1920, (1903–1979), owner of the Brooklyn and L.A. Dodgers.
Fred Neulander, 1959, (1941–), Reform rabbi, convicted for murder.
Letty Cottin Pogrebin, writer and journalist.
Michael Savage (1958, as Michael Weiner), author of health and nutrition books, radio talk show host.
Gunther Schuller, 1943, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, author and conductor.
Al Seiden, 1955, All-American basketball player at St. John's
Bobby Susser, 1960, Multi-award-winning children's songwriter.
George Vecsey, 1956, sportswriter for The New York Times.
Joseph von Sternberg, (1894–1969) filmmaker (dropped out)
Dolores Wilson, (1928–2010) opera singer and musical theatre actress
Lester Wilson, 1959, (1942–1993) choreographer
