About
Fairview
Fairview
Highlights
In
the early 1970s the Cincinnati Board of Education developed
magnet schools to promote desegregation and offer area parents
choices in education for their children. The magnet schools
in addition to the standard curriculum focused on a special
interest, skill or teaching technique and accepted applications
from all over the city of Cincinnati.
Fairview
is Cincinnati's second oldest magnet school. It began with
the addition of two first and second grade classrooms in
neighborhood schools at Fairview and Schiel in 1974. Following
WW1, this was the first public school program in the U.S.
to offer intensive instruction in German to primary pupils.
Fairview
History
Fairview
School was built in 1888 in the Romanesque Revival style
with a brick-paved schoolyard to hold 750 neighborhood students.
The Board of Education's annual report that year stated
that the building would "supply a much-needed want
in a part of the city which is rapidly improving, as well
as being a credit to the Board and an ornament to its surroundings."
The curriculum included Household Arts, Industrial Arts,
Kindergarten, and, until WW1, German. An auditorium was
created on the third floor by raising a large blackboard
between rooms 301 and 302 into the ceiling. The custodians
lived in apartments in the attic of the school until it
was realized that this was a fire hazard. The school was
becoming crowded by the turn of the century, so a temporary
structure called the colony was constructed (and used until
1958). Less than 20 years after the first temporary structure,
another temporary building was added. Still, by the 1950s
the building was so crowded that the lower grades were being
taught in local churches. Crowding was finally relieved
in 1958 with the dedication of what was known as the Fairview
School Annex, now called the "new building." This
building was only a part of a planned new building, with
the "old building" scheduled to be torn down.
The changing neighborhood and the movement of young families
to the suburbs caused a decline in the number of children
in the neighborhood however, and this plan was not implemented.
In
the early 1970s the Cincinnati Board of Education was developing
alternative schools to promote desegregation and to offer
area parents choices in education for their children. The
alternative schools, in addition the standard instruction
focused on a special interest or skill or teaching technique
and accepted applications from all over the city. The German-English
Bilingual Alternative program, Cincinnati's second alternative
school, began in 1974 with the opening of two 1st and 2nd
grade classrooms at the neighborhood schools of Fairview
and Schiel. These schools were chosen because of their central
location and proximity to each other, as well as for their
availability of space. The program was the first in a public
school in the United States to offer primary pupils intensive
second language instruction.
The parents, a strong group from the beginning, formed a
long-range planning committee in 1976. The goals of the
committee were three-fold: continuation
of the program beyond the sixth grade, the establishment
of a non-profit foundation (GEBAS) and the development of
an exchange program for trips abroad.
Originally, the majority of parents wanted an independent
school with grades K-8, but were unable to get Board of
Education approval, as there were no K-8 schools in the
district at that time. Unwilling to have the program end
with the 6th grade, the German parents began meeting with
the French and Spanish alternative schools to promote the
idea of a middle school (grades 6-8) for all three languages.
In the spring of 1978, the Board of Education gave approval
for a language middle school.
In
1978 Fairview was closed as a neighborhood school and became
an alternative school only. The middle school opened in
the fall of 1979 at Schiel. French and Spanish students
arrived the following year. In the spring of 1981, the first
German students graduated from the 8th grade. Schiel continued
to house a neighborhood program until the fall of 1982,
when it became the Cincinnati Bilingual Academy. In 1985
the program moved to Sawyer School.
The
establishment of an exchange program for 7th graders was
a high priority of the program, but sending 12 and 13 year
old children abroad had just not been done before. The students'
knowledge of the culture of Germany as well as their proficiency
in the language, was instrumental in achieving the objective.
Amid great excitement, the first group traveled to Donauseschingen,
Germany, in the spring of 1980, with the first group of
German students arriving here two years later.
In
1982, Fairview officially became the Fairview German Bilingual
School. During the 1994-95 school year, Fairview German
Bilingual School changed it's name to the Fairview German
Language School to more accurately reflect it's program.
In the fall of 1995, Fairview added 6th grade classes. The
school has consistently ranked among the top in the city
scholastically and in 1986 was one of 23 Ohio public schools
to be recommended for National Department of Education recognition.
Fairview
School is currently one of five Cincinnati Public Schools
to receive the state’s highest rating. Schools that
receive an excellent rating must meet or exceed performance,
attendance, yearly progress and, where applicable, graduation
standards. Fairview, a district-wide magnet school, represents
a broad range of student abilities and backgrounds. A strong
coalition of teachers, administrators and parents work together
to support every student and encourage excellence individually
and as a whole. As the entire Fairview community celebrates
the recognition that the excellent rating brings, they will
work to maintain and improve their record of success in
the years ahead.
Fairview
German Language School is currently located at 2232 Stratford
Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio, however Fairview will be moving
to a brand new building at a new location slated to open
in 2007 located just a few miles away on the corner of Clifton
Avenue and McAlpin Street in Clifton. To
learn more about the new building and the progress being
made of the new facility, click here.
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