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Park School of Baltimore

The Park School of Baltimore, known as Park, is a private, coeducational, PK-12, non-sectarian, progressive day school located in Baltimore County, Maryland. The school was founded in 1912 by Eli Frank Sr., Professor Hans Froelicher Sr., and General Lawrason Riggs as well as 13 other founding members. Today, the school enrolls approximately 800 students and employs 115 faculty with 99 advanced degrees and 15 PhDs among them.

History

Park was founded in 1912 as a private K-12 school based on the principles of progressive education developed by John Dewey and others.

The creation of the school was spurred by the firing of Baltimore City's progressive Superintendent of Schools James Hixon Van Sickle by newly elected Mayor James H. Preston in 1911. At the time the city's private schools had quotas severely restricting the number of Jewish students admitted, and so Park adopted a policy of accepting all religions.

Park opened its doors to 98 students on September 30, 1912, in a three-story townhouse in the Auchentoroly Terrace Historic District across from Druid Hill Park. It was advertised as “A Country School in the City.”

As the school grew, it moved to a group of buildings on Liberty Heights Avenue in 1917.

In 1950, Park's student council passed a resolution calling for the school to "accept any applicant for admission, regardless of race, color or creed." In June 1954, one month after U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision desegregating public schools, Park's Board of Trustees voted "to receive any applications from any family suitable in interest and ambition," becoming the first private school in the city to do so. Black students began attending Park in 1955.

In 1959, Park moved to its current 100-acre campus on Old Court Road in Baltimore County. The school has undergone multiple expansions in recent years. More recent renovations include a new wing for science, mathematics, and technology in 1997; an Athletic Center in 2001; a new visual and dramatic arts wing in 2003; and a new science wing in 2023.

Notable faculty and staff

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links