Durham School of the Arts (DSA) is a secondary magnet school located in downtown Durham, North Carolina, United States, housing 1,381 students. Its focus is on the visual and performing arts.
Arts offerings include 3D and 2D art, chorus, dance, guitar, strings, band, piano, acting, technical theatre, writing, digital media, game art design, and photography. Teachers of all subjects are encouraged to incorporate the arts into their teaching to maximize student engagement. Composite test scores from 2009 are in the top 25% in the district among high schools, and exceed the state average. Approximately 200 students are enrolled in each grade.
Students enroll through a lottery system and can be entered into this lottery as early as the sixth grade. The only way to get into DSA is through the school lottery. Students living near the school do not automatically gain enrollment, although many have made it into the school through the official lottery. Most students are admitted in 6th grade, though there are no rules prohibiting entrance after that age, as there is some turnover in higher grades. The primary year for turnover is 9th grade, when many students transfer to other area high schools.
History
1903 to 1995: Durham High School
Durham School of the Arts is housed in the former Durham High School building near the Trinity Historic District. During racial segregation Durham High School primarily served the white community of Durham, whereas Hillside High School served the black community.
Opening in 1906, Central High School, which was located on Morris Street, educated Durham's white high school students until 1922. The building was then converted to Durham's City Hall and is now the home of the Durham Arts Council (also known as Royall Center for the Arts).
In 1922, Durham High School replaced Central High School on property that once belonged to Brodie L. Duke. In 1926, Central Junior High School opened on property adjacent to Durham High School. The building was renamed Julian S. Carr Junior High School in 1945. Carr Junior High closed in 1975 when a new middle school was opened. At that time, the Carr building became part of the Durham High School campus.
By the 1970s the population of Durham High School had changed from largely white to mostly black. Durham High School closed as a traditional high school in 1993, the principal at the time was Mr. Anthony D. Jackson. Mr. Jackson led the initial planning of the programming for what would eventually become the new magnet program at Durham High School (Durham Magnet Center, later Durham School of the Arts).
1995 to 2007: Durham School of the Arts
Durham School of the Arts first opened in 1995 as Durham Magnet Center, a middle school. The school added a grade each year for four years until the school reached grades six through twelve. DSA graduated its first high school class in 2000.
The Laramie Project
In May 2005, Durham School of the Arts performed The Laramie Project, a controversial play depicting the murder of Mathew Shepard. Ten members of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church came from Topeka, Kansas to protest the show, the actors, and director, Douglas J. Graves. Although Fred Phelps wasn't present, relatives were including his son, Jonathan Phelps, and his twelve-year-old granddaughter, Grace Phelps-Roger. Phelps did describe the school as "the fag-infested Durham School of the Arts" and said that the Laramie Project was a "propaganda play". Signs held by the group included ones that said "Thank God for Sept. 11.", "The Pope is in Hell", and "God Hates Fags". The Christian group also protested in front of various area churches. However the Westboro Baptist Church did not gain much support and was met by over 200 counter-protesters.
Past principals
Since opening in 1995, Durham School of the Arts has had five principals:
- Ed Forsyth (1995â€"2003)
- Chris Bennett (2003â€"2005)
- Lee Vrana [2005]
- Dr. Ronald Roukema (2005â€"2007)
- David Hawks (2007-current)
Campus
The campus consists of six semiconnected buildings: the Julian S. Carr Building, the Black Box Theater (formerly the Durham High School auto shop), the Media Center, the Weaver Auditorium, the Main Building, the Gymnasium, and the Science Academy Building (often called the Science or Academy Building), as well as the recently completed New Building, housing 8th and 9th grade classes, along with the high school English department. The new building uses the letter "T" in front of its classroom numbers for "Transition" Building (as in the transition from middle to high school).
Julian S. Carr Building
The Julian S. Carr Building or Carr Building, named in honor Julian Shakespeare Carr, originally housed students at Carr Middle School. The middle school was closed to make way for Durham School of the Arts. Classes in the Carr Building were usually Language Arts or Social Studies as opposed to those in the Science Academy building, which houses more mathematics and science. The Carr building has four stories (including a basement), its own gym, and dance rooms. The building was built in the 1920s. A $194.2 million bond was proposed to put $15,141,636 towards repairs on the Carr Building, which showed signs of aging. In the 2007- 2008 school year, the third floor and basements were sealed off, leaving just the first and second floors occupied; in the 2010-2011 school year, the building was closed completely for repairs. In the fall of 2011 the renovated Carr building was reopened. It currently holds 6th and 7th grade classes.
Main building
Durham School of the Arts's main building's first floor contains classrooms, the main cafeteria, and the central and guidance offices. The sixth grade classrooms are housed in the Carr Building as of 2011, as are the seventh grade's, while many elective classrooms are scattered throughout the campus.
Black Box Theater
The Black Box Theater is where all the theater classes are taught. There is a large open space used for theater shows. The Black Box Theater is two stories high and the home to almost all of Durham School of the Arts's theater productions. Originally the Black Box was the auto shop when the school was Durham High.
Science-Academy Building
The Science-Academy Building (or the Academy Building) is a two-story building located behind the main building. Classes taught there are mostly science, and mathematics. The Academy building is on the direct opposite end of the school from the Carr Building and is located right next to the bus parking lot.
Weaver Auditorium
The Weaver Auditorium is a building used for speeches, presentations, and open houses. The Weaver Auditorium has 1,600 seats.
Gymnasium
Although there is a gymnasium in the Carr Building, Durham School of the Arts has a semiconnected building as a gymnasium. This building has three stories, including a basement, the basketball courts, coach offices and changing areas, and one for audience seating.
New building
As part of the Durham Public School System 2003 Bond Project. $6,759,600 was donated for the construction of a new building that has not yet been named. Construction for the building began in September 2007 and was completed in February 2008. The new building is 30,968 square feet (2,877.0Â m2). Now that construction is complete, many classes have moved there from the Carr Building to make room for the construction currently happening for the Julian S. Carr Building
Other
Besides Durham School of the Arts's main building there are several other points of interest at the school. In DSA's garden, called the Big Hearted Garden, there is a memorial in honor of three students, Aaron Morgan and Jonathan Henderson, who died in 2004 and 2006 of heart ailments, and Bennie Vanhook, who was shot and killed in December 2006. Morgan was fifteen years old, Henderson fourteen, and Vanhook seventeen. There are also two parking lots, one for cars in front of the Main Building and one for buses next to the Academy Building.
Classes
DSA is the only high school in the DPS system that does not operate on a block schedule. This means that while other high schools offer eight classes a year, four per semester or every other day throughout the year, DSA offers seven yearlong classes, along with semester-long classes for middle school and a limited selection for high school.
Unlike many other schools in the area, DSA follows the integrated math system, consisting of Integrated Algebra and Geometry (IAG) I through III, as well as IAG IV Social and Quantitative. IAG IV Quantitative (IAG IV Q) is pre-calculus.
In February 2007, DSA was named and recognized as a national School of Excellence due to their curriculum, diversity, and high standards.
Middle School
At DSA 6th and 7th-graders are divided into 'teams.' In sixth grade you are either a 'Knight', or a 'Dragon'. Both teams have their own space in the Carr Building. These areas contain all of a teams' core classes-mathematics, language arts, social studies and science, along with the lockers of the members of the teams. They are separated by a hallway.
In 7th grade, interteam communication is encouraged. The two teams, the 'Navigators' and the 'Explorers,' are the 7th-grade teams also in the Carr Building along with the 6th grade. No physical boundary separates the areas, but students are not allowed to go onto the other team's hallway during their core class hoursâ€"1st period through 4th period.
Eighth-graders are allowed freedom similar to that of high schoolers and are not divided into teams. They have lunch with and take electives with high schoolers, unlike the 6th and 7th-graders who eat lunches with their classes. They have the option to take P.E. as a semester long class, rather than a year-long class alternated with a study hall period.
High school
High schoolers have the option of taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses. These include AP English III (Language and Composition), AP English IV (Literature and Composition), AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Biology, AP US History, AP World History, AP European History, AP Psychology, AP French V, AP Spanish V & VI, AP Art History, AP Studio Art, and AP Music Theory. They are also offered the opportunity to take Independent Study classes to study subjects not offered there.
High schoolers also have the option of taking honors level courses in both core classes and electives.
In 2007, DSA's high school was ranked as the 346th best high school in America by Newsweek, making it the 22nd best school in North Carolina according to Newsweek.
References
External links
- Official website
- School report card
