Soldan International Studies High School
Encyclopedia
Soldan International Studies High School (also known as Soldan High School) is a public magnet
high school in the Academy neighborhood
of St. Louis, Missouri
that is part of the St. Louis Public Schools
. From its opening in 1909, Soldan was known for its wealthy and predominantly Jewish student population. Starting in the 1950s, the student population underwent a rapid change in demographics; by the mid-1960s, it was predominantly African American. In the early 1990s, the school was renovated and reopened as a magnet school with a focus on international relations
.
Soldan currently offers its students several athletic and academic opportunities, including cross country, football, soccer, tennis, softball and volleyball. Its dropout
rate is lower than the state average, and it is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
. It has several notable alumni and former students, including politicians, authors, academics, and athletes.
William B. Ittner
's design for the school received praise from the United States Bureau of Education for its attention to detail and to the needs of students It was designed to stylistically complement the nearby Clark School, which was designed in Gothic Revival style, with fittings and brickwork to suggest a Tudor period Gothic structure built in approximately 1620. With a capacity of 1,600 students, the building originally occupied an area of 288 by 256 feet and had three stories. The original design of the building had 41 classrooms, with 23 designed for 48 students and 18 for 35 students. The building's 18 science demonstration rooms and laboratories accommodated physiology, physiography, chemistry, botany, and physics, and in the basement, the building was designed with shops for woodworking, machining, and domestic science. The building also had four art rooms with skylights for studio work and three mechanical drafting rooms. The auditorium was the largest in the school system up to that time, with a seating capacity of 1,750, while the music room was built with a capacity of more than 300 students. To provide for ample physical education opportunities, the school was built with two gymnasiums. The school originally had two separate cafeterias for male and female students, although the practice of gender segregation at lunch was ended in the late 1940s.
During the 1930s and '40s, the school became widely known as the city's "predominantly Jewish" school, with students from several notable or wealthy families in the Central West End
. Although the school remained open on Jewish holidays, it often had significantly lower attendance. During its early years, Soldan graduated several notable individuals, including William McChesney Martin, Jr.
, the longest-serving Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, and Clark Clifford
, a presidential adviser and United States Secretary of Defense
. In 1922, Clifford and Martin were tennis doubles partners on the school's team. It also was during the 1920s that Tennessee Williams
attended the school; in the 1940s, Soldan received notability as the school attended by some of the characters in Williams' The Glass Menagerie
. In 1948, the school received students after the closure of nearby rival Blewett High School, which was located one block from Soldan. After the merger, the school was briefly known as Soldan-Blewett; it returned to its original name in 1955.
covered the event. Neither black nor white students reported significant incidents of racial tensions or problems, although black students often chose to eat in separate areas of the building from whites in the cafeteria. Despite the relatively uneventful process, Soldan experienced a rapid change in the demographics of its student population. During the 1940s, more than 90 percent of Soldan students were Jewish whites; by the early 1960s, the majority were African American. By 1965, only one white student attended Soldan, and many of the school's African American students had moved into the area from poorer neighborhoods such as Mill Creek Valley after urban renewal
projects had displaced them.
revised the district magnet school program. Among the changes was that Soldan would become a magnet school for international studies, and that it would become the highest part of a "cluster" of magnet schools focused on international relations, with lower-level schools having a focus on foreign languages.
Also part of the court desegregation plan was the physical improvement of city schools. Significant renovations to Soldan began in late 1989 and included interior renovations and the replacement of the school's two 2,000-square-foot gymnasiums with one 10,000-square-foot gymnasium. Due to the renovations, the building was closed from the 1990–1991 to the 1992–1993 school years, and its students were reassigned to Roosevelt High School. While the building was undergoing renovations, the city's Center for Management, Law and Public Policy magnet school was folded into the international studies program at Soldan. After three years of construction, the renovated building reopened on September 2, 1993. However, an electrical rewiring of the school and the installation of a synchronized clock system, which were to be completed as part of the renovation work, were not finished until early 1995 owing to a contractual dispute with an electrical company.
After the conversion to a magnet school, Soldan became home to a significant international student population. By 1996, nearly 40 percent of students were from 32 countries other than the United States. As part of the merger of the Center for Management, Law and Public Policy, the school became the only high school in the state to have a law library as part of its facilities. During the 2010–2011 school year, as part of a district budget process, Soldan began to accept seventh and eighth grade students.
(MSHSAA): boys' and girls' cross country, 11-man football, boys' soccer, girls' tennis, girls' softball, and girls' volleyball. In addition to its current activities, Soldan students have won several state championships, including:
The school also has produced one tennis doubles state champion and three boys' outdoor track and field individual events champions.
. Since 2006, more than 65% of the student population at Soldan has been African American and the white student population has declined by roughly half.
rate; for the 2009–2010 school year, 1.8 percent of students dropped out compared to the Missouri state dropout rate of 3.5 percent. Soldan also has a discipline incident rate of 3.1 percent, which is comparable to the average Missouri rate. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001, Soldan has met the requirements for adequate yearly progress
(AYP) twice. In 2006, Soldan students achieved 17.2 percent proficiency in communication arts, allowing the school to meet AYP via making satisfactory progress. In 2009, the school met AYP in communication arts via a confidence interval.
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
high school in the Academy neighborhood
Academy, St. Louis
Academy/Sherman Park is a neighborhood in North St. Louis, just outside Central West End. The official boundaries of the area are Dr. Martin Luther King Drive on the north, Delmar Boulevard on the south, North Kingshighway Boulevard on the east, and Union Boulevard on the west.As of the census of...
of St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
that is part of the St. Louis Public Schools
St. Louis Public Schools
St. Louis Public Schools is the school district that operates public schools in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With a 2005 enrollment of approximately 33,000 students it is the largest public school district in the state of Missouri. Its headquarters is in Downtown St...
. From its opening in 1909, Soldan was known for its wealthy and predominantly Jewish student population. Starting in the 1950s, the student population underwent a rapid change in demographics; by the mid-1960s, it was predominantly African American. In the early 1990s, the school was renovated and reopened as a magnet school with a focus on international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
.
Soldan currently offers its students several athletic and academic opportunities, including cross country, football, soccer, tennis, softball and volleyball. Its dropout
Dropout
-In science:*Dropout .*Dropout .*Dropout .*Dropout as a type of sampling bias in scientific studies-Popular culture:*DropOut, hip hop sensation rapper Harry Papas also known as "LAE"....
rate is lower than the state average, and it is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
. It has several notable alumni and former students, including politicians, authors, academics, and athletes.
Construction and early years
By the end of the 1890s, the population of the city had increased to more than 575,000, but since 1855, the St. Louis Public Schools had operated only one high school. To meet the need for greater space for high school students, the school district built two new high schools in 1904. Three years later, the district began building a fourth high school, which would become Soldan. Known during its construction as Union Avenue High School and renamed Soldan High School upon opening, the school was named for Frank Louis Soldan, the superintendent of St. Louis schools from 1895 until his death in 1908. Land acquisition costs for the building were $10,000, and construction cost $630,000.William B. Ittner
William B. Ittner
William Butts Ittner was an architect in St. Louis, Missouri. He designed many school buildings in Missouri and other areas, was president of the St...
's design for the school received praise from the United States Bureau of Education for its attention to detail and to the needs of students It was designed to stylistically complement the nearby Clark School, which was designed in Gothic Revival style, with fittings and brickwork to suggest a Tudor period Gothic structure built in approximately 1620. With a capacity of 1,600 students, the building originally occupied an area of 288 by 256 feet and had three stories. The original design of the building had 41 classrooms, with 23 designed for 48 students and 18 for 35 students. The building's 18 science demonstration rooms and laboratories accommodated physiology, physiography, chemistry, botany, and physics, and in the basement, the building was designed with shops for woodworking, machining, and domestic science. The building also had four art rooms with skylights for studio work and three mechanical drafting rooms. The auditorium was the largest in the school system up to that time, with a seating capacity of 1,750, while the music room was built with a capacity of more than 300 students. To provide for ample physical education opportunities, the school was built with two gymnasiums. The school originally had two separate cafeterias for male and female students, although the practice of gender segregation at lunch was ended in the late 1940s.
During the 1930s and '40s, the school became widely known as the city's "predominantly Jewish" school, with students from several notable or wealthy families in the Central West End
Central West End, St. Louis
The Central West End is an affluent neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis on Lindell Boulevard at...
. Although the school remained open on Jewish holidays, it often had significantly lower attendance. During its early years, Soldan graduated several notable individuals, including William McChesney Martin, Jr.
William McChesney Martin, Jr.
William McChesney Martin, Jr. was the ninth and longest-serving Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, serving from April 2, 1951 to January 31, 1970 under five Presidents...
, the longest-serving Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, and Clark Clifford
Clark Clifford
Clark McAdams Clifford was an American lawyer who served United States Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, serving as United States Secretary of Defense for Johnson....
, a presidential adviser and United States Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
. In 1922, Clifford and Martin were tennis doubles partners on the school's team. It also was during the 1920s that Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
attended the school; in the 1940s, Soldan received notability as the school attended by some of the characters in Williams' The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
. In 1948, the school received students after the closure of nearby rival Blewett High School, which was located one block from Soldan. After the merger, the school was briefly known as Soldan-Blewett; it returned to its original name in 1955.
Integration
After the Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954, white parents and students of Soldan were among the most welcoming in the city toward integration. On the first day of integration, the school saw no protests, although national media personalities such as NBC evening news anchor John Cameron SwayzeJohn Cameron Swayze
John Cameron Swayze was a popular news commentator and game show panelist in the United States during the 1950s.- Early life :...
covered the event. Neither black nor white students reported significant incidents of racial tensions or problems, although black students often chose to eat in separate areas of the building from whites in the cafeteria. Despite the relatively uneventful process, Soldan experienced a rapid change in the demographics of its student population. During the 1940s, more than 90 percent of Soldan students were Jewish whites; by the early 1960s, the majority were African American. By 1965, only one white student attended Soldan, and many of the school's African American students had moved into the area from poorer neighborhoods such as Mill Creek Valley after urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
projects had displaced them.
Renovation and magnet status
Starting in the late 1980s, St. Louis schools were required to improve physical conditions and create magnet schools as part of promoting a court-ordered desegregation program. The international studies magnet program originally was set for implementation at Northwest High School, but in August 1988, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen N. LimbaughStephen N. Limbaugh
Stephen N. Limbaugh may refer to:* Stephen Limbaugh, Jr. , former Missouri Supreme Court Justice and current U.S. District Court Judge * Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. , former U.S. District Court Judge...
revised the district magnet school program. Among the changes was that Soldan would become a magnet school for international studies, and that it would become the highest part of a "cluster" of magnet schools focused on international relations, with lower-level schools having a focus on foreign languages.
Also part of the court desegregation plan was the physical improvement of city schools. Significant renovations to Soldan began in late 1989 and included interior renovations and the replacement of the school's two 2,000-square-foot gymnasiums with one 10,000-square-foot gymnasium. Due to the renovations, the building was closed from the 1990–1991 to the 1992–1993 school years, and its students were reassigned to Roosevelt High School. While the building was undergoing renovations, the city's Center for Management, Law and Public Policy magnet school was folded into the international studies program at Soldan. After three years of construction, the renovated building reopened on September 2, 1993. However, an electrical rewiring of the school and the installation of a synchronized clock system, which were to be completed as part of the renovation work, were not finished until early 1995 owing to a contractual dispute with an electrical company.
After the conversion to a magnet school, Soldan became home to a significant international student population. By 1996, nearly 40 percent of students were from 32 countries other than the United States. As part of the merger of the Center for Management, Law and Public Policy, the school became the only high school in the state to have a law library as part of its facilities. During the 2010–2011 school year, as part of a district budget process, Soldan began to accept seventh and eighth grade students.
Current status
In 2011 it had an enrollment of 801, making it the 119th largest high school in Missouri.Activities
For the 2010–2011 school year, the school offered seven activities approved by the Missouri State High School Activities AssociationMissouri State High School Activities Association
The Missouri State High School Activities Association is the governing body for high school activities throughout the state of Missouri...
(MSHSAA): boys' and girls' cross country, 11-man football, boys' soccer, girls' tennis, girls' softball, and girls' volleyball. In addition to its current activities, Soldan students have won several state championships, including:
- Boys' Basketball: 1981
- Boys' Swimming and Diving: 1938, 1941
- Boys' Indoor Track and Field: 1961, 1970
The school also has produced one tennis doubles state champion and three boys' outdoor track and field individual events champions.
Demographics
In the 2009–2010 school year, Soldan had an enrollment of 749 students with 53.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio of 13.97. In 2010, more than 80 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunchesNational School Lunch Act
The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act is a United States federal law signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1946. The act created the National School Lunch Program , a program to provide low-cost or free school lunch meals to qualified students through subsidies to schools...
. Since 2006, more than 65% of the student population at Soldan has been African American and the white student population has declined by roughly half.
| Year | Black | White | Hispanic | Asian | Indian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 65.7 | 23.5 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 0.0 |
| 2007 | 68.0 | 20.9 | 6.1 | 4.6 | 0.0 |
| 2008 | 65.7 | 21.4 | 8.3 | 4.6 | 0.0 |
| 2009 | 69.0 | 16.5 | 9.0 | 5.2 | 0.3 |
| 2010 | 76.5 | 12.1 | 7.1 | 3.9 | 0.4 |
| Year | Percent |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 83.0 |
| 2007 | 83.3 |
| 2008 | 67.5 |
| 2009 | 69.0 |
| 2010 | 86.3 |
| Year | Average years experience | Percent with master's degree |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 14.6 | 64.2 |
| 2007 | 15.5 | 64.6 |
| 2008 | 8.9 | 54.9 |
| 2009 | 7.3 | 58.1 |
| 2010 | 6.8 | 48.5 |
Academic and discipline issues
Soldan has a low dropoutDropout
-In science:*Dropout .*Dropout .*Dropout .*Dropout as a type of sampling bias in scientific studies-Popular culture:*DropOut, hip hop sensation rapper Harry Papas also known as "LAE"....
rate; for the 2009–2010 school year, 1.8 percent of students dropped out compared to the Missouri state dropout rate of 3.5 percent. Soldan also has a discipline incident rate of 3.1 percent, which is comparable to the average Missouri rate. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001, Soldan has met the requirements for adequate yearly progress
Adequate Yearly Progress
Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized...
(AYP) twice. In 2006, Soldan students achieved 17.2 percent proficiency in communication arts, allowing the school to meet AYP via making satisfactory progress. In 2009, the school met AYP in communication arts via a confidence interval.
| Year | Graduates | Cohort dropouts‡ | Graduation rate† |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 169 | 55 | 75.4 |
| 2007 | 116 | 37 | 75.8 |
| 2008 | 146 | 64 | 69.5 |
| 2009 | 138 | 55 | 71.5 |
| 2010 | 151 | 23 | 86.8 |
| ‡ Cohort dropouts is the number of students from the grade level graduating for that year who dropped out. † Graduation rate is calculated as number of graduates divided by number of graduates plus dropouts, multiplied by 100. |
|||
Notable people
Alumni
- Jerry BergerJerry BergerJerry Berger, born in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States on June 30, 1933, is a retired iconic press agent, journalist, and PR man. He gained notoriety in the St. Louis community by writing a column for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and later with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.- Early Biography...
, columnist and press agent - Gerald Boyd, managing editor and metropolitan editor of the New York Times
- Clark CliffordClark CliffordClark McAdams Clifford was an American lawyer who served United States Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, serving as United States Secretary of Defense for Johnson....
, presidential adviser and United States Secretary of DefenseUnited States Secretary of DefenseThe Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
from 1968 to 1969 - Willis CrenshawWillis CrenshawWillis Crenshaw was a National Football League running back from 1964 through 1970....
, NFL player - Georgia FrontiereGeorgia FrontiereGeorgia Frontiere was the majority owner and chairman of the St. Louis Rams football team and the most prominent female owner in a league historically dominated by males....
, owner of the St. Louis RamsSt. Louis RamsThe St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
, an NFL team - Louis A. GottschalkLouis A. GottschalkLouis A. Gottschalk was an American psychiatrist and neuroscientist.Gottschalk earned his M.D. at Washington University in St. Louis in 1943 and his Ph.D...
, psychiatrist - Thomas Hennings, United States Senator from Missouri
- Emily HahnEmily HahnEmily Hahn was an American journalist and author. Called "a forgotten American literary treasure" by The New Yorker magazine, she was the author of 52 books and more than 180 articles and stories...
, author - Johnny HaymerJohnny HaymerJohnny Haymer was an American actor who played Staff Sergeant Zelmo Zale, a recurring character in the television series M*A*S*H. Another high-profile role was that of the painfully unfunny stand-up comedian in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall...
, actor - A.E. Hotchner, author and co-founder of the Newman's OwnNewman's OwnNewman's Own is a food company and for-profit corporation founded by actor Paul Newman and author A. E. Hotchner in 1982. Newman received all of the profits from product sales and donated 100% of the proceeds, after taxes, to various educational and charitable organizations of his own selection...
food company - Larron JacksonLarron JacksonLarron Deonne Jackson is a former professional American football guard in the National Football League. He played six seasons for the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons....
, NFL player - Raynard JacksonRaynard JacksonRaynard Jackson is a Republican political consultant based in Washington, DC. He has been involved in every Republican presidential campaign from George H. W. Bush to George W. Bush. He has also worked on many Republican senate, governor, and congressional campaigns across the country.He is the...
, Republican Party consultant - Stan KannStan KannStan Kann received national recognition in the 1960s when he was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and daytime television talk shows, showcasing his collection of vacuum cleaners. Kann also was known among theatre organ aficionados for his 22-year tenure as resident organist at the Fox Theatre...
, vacuum cleaner collector and organist - Harold KoplarHarold KoplarHarold Koplar was a Russian-American hotelier and businessman in St. Louis, Missouri.-Early life and education:...
, hotelier - Melvin KranzbergMelvin KranzbergMelvin Kranzberg was a professor of history at Case Western Reserve University from 1952 until 1971. He was a Callaway professor of the history of technology at Georgia Tech from 1972 to 1988....
, historian and co-founder of the Society for the History of TechnologySociety for the History of TechnologyThe Society for the History of Technology, or SHOT, is the primary professional society for historians of technology. Founded in 1958, its flagship publication is the journal Technology and Culture... - Henry Lieberman, science editor for the New York Times
- David J. Mahan, superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools from 1990 to 1996
- William McChesney Martin, longest-serving Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve
- Virginia MayoVirginia MayoVirginia Mayo was an American film actress.After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat .Mayo remained an A-list actress into the mid-'50s, but then went...
, actress - Greg OsbyGreg OsbyGreg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...
, jazz saxophonist - Ken RothmanKen RothmanKenneth J. Rothman is an American lawyer and politician from Missouri. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 1981 to 1985....
, Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 1981 to 1985 - Julian A. Steyermark, botanist
- Charles Richard StithCharles Richard StithCharles Stith is an African-American educator, author and politician. He established and currently directs Boston University's African Presidential Archives and Research Center. He is a former United States Ambassador to Tanzania He has written a variety of newspaper articles and wrote a book,...
, United States Ambassador to TanzaniaUnited States Ambassador to TanzaniaThe country that is now Tanzania comprises the former countries of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Tanganyika achieved independence from the United Kingdom in December 1961....
from 1998 to 2001 - David ThirdkillDavid ThirdkillDavid Thirdkill is a retired American basketball player who was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the 1st round of the 1982 NBA Draft. A small forward from the College of Southern Idaho and Bradley University, Thirdkill played in five NBA seasons from 1982 to 1987...
, basketball player - Kay ThompsonKay ThompsonKay Thompson was an American author, composer, musician, actress and singer. She is best known as the creator of the Eloise children's books.-Background:Catherine Louise Fink was born in St...
, author and actress - Marko Todorovich, basketball player
- Joe TorryJoe TorryJoe Torry is an American actor and comedian.-Biography:Torry was born and raised along with his brother, actor and comedian Guy Torry, in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where he earned a B.A. in mass communications/broadcast journalism...
, comedian and actor
Others
- Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, playwright, attended for one year prior to transfer to University City High SchoolUniversity City High SchoolUniversity City High School can refer to:*University City High School *University City High School *University City High School...