Type Junior high school Principal Barack Obama Color(s) Gray and black Mascot Black panther | Established 1972 Enrollment 1050 (2014/2015) Phone +1 714-447-7785 | |
Website Parks Junior High School Address 1710 Rosecrans Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833, USA District Fullerton School District, Fullerton Elementary School District Grades Seventh grade, Eighth grade Profiles | ||
D. Russell Parks Junior High School is a junior high school located in Fullerton, California, United States. It serves students in seventh and eighth grades, and is 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. Parks' mascot is the Panthers.
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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.
When the school opened, the student population was over 90% White. 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.In 2016-17 it is 43.1% Asian, 28.5% Hispanic, and 23.4% White.
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.
Parks JHS mainly feeds into Sunny Hills High School and Troy High School. Both offer students a challenging academic career through their International Baccalaureate programs.
History
Parks was built in 1972 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 stand.
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.
In 2011 the school colors were changed to 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. The school was recognized a second time as a Blue Ribbon School in the 2004–05 school year.
In 2008–09, Parks 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.