A. Maceo Smith High School
The former A. Maceo Smith campus as A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School, in Dallas, Texas
Address
3030 Stag Road

Dallas
,
Dallas County
,
Texas
75241

United States
Coordinates32°41′31″N 96°45′54″W / 32.691856°N 96.764896°W / 32.691856; -96.764896
Information
Funding typePublic
Opened1978
Statusclosed
Closed2011
School districtDallas Independent School District
Grades9-12
Color(s)Royal Blue and Silver
   
MascotFalcon
Communities servedDistrict 5
Feeder schoolsSarah Zumwalt Middle School
WebsiteOfficial Website

A. Maceo Smith High School was a four-year public high school serving grades 9-12 in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas (USA). It was part of the Dallas Independent School District. It was replaced by A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School in 2011, and in 2018 Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy began to occupy the campus.

The school was named for Antonio Maceo Smith (1903–1977), a pioneer civil rights leader in Dallas.

History

Originally located in the Nolan Estes Educational Plaza, A. Maceo Smith HS was moved in 1989 due to complaints about the unsuitability of the physical plant at the plaza, a former shopping center.[1] After the school moved, the attendance boundaries between Smith and South Oak Cliff High School shifted, with students zoned to Stone Middle School and Zumwalt Middle School, except for students also zoned to Bushman Elementary, moving from SOC to Smith, and students zoned to Storey Middle School, except for those who began their educations at Marshall and Oliver elementaries, would be zoned to SOC.[2]

After the closing of the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District, Smith took in students from the former school district boundary and continued to serve former WHISD areas until its repurposing.[3][4]

For several years, A. Maceo Smith was a Texas Education Agency "unacceptable" ranked school.[5] In 2011 the district converted A. Maceo Smith into a technology magnet, A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School.[6] The majority of students in its attendance zone were reassigned to Wilmer-Hutchins High School,[4][7] and the previous Smith football team mostly became the new Wilmer-Hutchins team.[8] Some areas of the former Smith zone were reassigned to South Oak Cliff.[9] Since Smith was reconstituted as a magnet school, it avoided the possibility of the TEA reconstituting or closing the school itself due to its poor performance as a zoned school.[5]

Sarah Zumwalt Middle School temporarily shared the Smith building with New Tech while the permanent Zumwalt campus was being fixed. Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, previously at the B.F. Darrell campus, began occupying the former Smith campus in 2018, while New Tech moved to B.F. Darrell.[10]

Students and programs

Smith's students were predominantly African-American and from low income families. Local companies such as Frito Lay worked with students at Paul Quinn College to provide tutoring for Smith students and arrange motivational visits from the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.[11] Another program, Young Men of Distinction, provided mentoring and leadership development to male students.[12]

Smith in the news

The school made the news around the world in 2002 when alligators, poisonous snakes, bobcats, coyotes, and other dangerous animals took over the practice football field after beavers dammed a nearby waterway during the summer.[13][14]

On May 25, 2007, the Dallas school board voted 6–0 to uphold the firing of Smith principal Dwain Govan over spending on his DISD credit card, in an investigation that indicated 93 district employees had made questionable purchases or in other ways had abused the program. As of the board's vote — from which one board member abstained out of concerns the card's rules had been ill-defined — Govan had yet to account for purchases that included two sets of gold-plated flatware, four portable DVD players, four digital cameras, a flat-screen TV, a printer, $8,747 in Wal-Mart gift cards and approximately $4,650 in restaurant gift cards. A Texas Education Agency hearing examiner recommended upholding the proposal for Govan's termination, but noted that there had been no accusation or evidence that he took district property for his personal use.[15]

Around March 2008, while Dallas ISD prepared for a bond election, some parents felt concern that the district may move the students at Smith to a school in the area formerly controlled by Wilmer-Hutchins ISD.[16]

School uniforms

When it was a zoned school, Smith required school uniforms.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Collection of news items relating to A. Maceo Smith HS at Nolan Estes Plaza Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (culled from The Dallas Morning News), Dallas Historical Society message board
  2. ↑ Garcia, Joseph. "DISD BOUNDARY CHANGES OUTLINED." The Dallas Morning News. March 9, 1989. 30A. Retrieved on October 11, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Fall 2006 A. Maceo Smith High School (9-12) Attendance Zone with Wilmer-Hutchins." Dallas Independent School District. Retrieved on July 15, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Fall 2010 A. Maceo Smith High School Attendance Zone with Wilmer-Hutchins - Grades 9-12 Archived 2011-02-06 at the Wayback Machine." Dallas Independent School District. Retrieved on July 15, 2011.
  5. 1 2 Wilonsky, Robert. "Before Dallas ISD Sends TEA Its Plan to Save Unacceptable Schools, Your Input's Needed." Dallas Observer. Wednesday September 7, 2011. Retrieved on September 15, 2011.
  6. ↑ Hobbs, Tawnell D. "Dallas school district to open 3 Wilmer-Hutchins campuses, close 2 others." The Dallas Morning News. November 24, 2010. Retrieved on July 15, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Fall 2011 Wilmer-Hutchins High School Attendance Zone Grades 9-12." Dallas Independent School District. Retrieved on July 15, 2011.
  8. ↑ Dent, Mark. "Wilmer-Hutchins ready for first football season since 2004" (Partial archive). The Dallas Morning News. August 15, 2011. Also as "Revival of the Hutch", August 16, 2011 - Available from Pressreader.com. Retrieved on October 18, 2018. Quotes: "Closed since 2005 after the district became insolvent, Wilmer-Hutchins has reopened, taking the bulk of A. Maceo Smith's student body." and "Two years ago, they started hearing the rumor of A. Maceo Smith's impending closure,[...]they knew the majority of their core would be back for this year playing the same game[...]call themselves the Eagles rather than the Falcons.[...]"
  9. ↑ "South Oak Cliff High School Attendance Zone Grades 9-12." Dallas Independent School District. Retrieved on July 15, 2011.
  10. ↑ Fernandez, Demond (2018-06-06). "Three Dallas ISD campuses prepare for moves to new buildings". WFAA. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  11. ↑ Lloyd Gite. Playing above the rim - Frito-Lay Inc.'s Lloyd Ward - The B.E. 100s: B.E. Executive of the Year," Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Black Enterprise, June 1995
  12. ↑ University of North Texas. "UNT to host 10th annual Equity and Diversity Conference Feb. 23," Archived 2007-02-05 at the Wayback Machine January 31, 2007
  13. ↑ "School needs gator aid". British Broadcasting Company. August 12, 2002.
  14. ↑ Bainbridge, Jim (August 11, 2002). "High & Inside: It's tougher than hitting through the windmill". The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  15. ↑ Hobbs, Tawnell (May 25, 2007). "Trustees uphold principal's firing: DISD: Attorney vows to fight termination over district credit card use". The Dallas Morning News.
  16. ↑ "Dallas school district gets word out on $1.35 billion bond vote". The Dallas Morning News. March 31, 2008.
  17. ↑ "A. Maceo Smith High School Archived 2007-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. Dallas Independent School District.
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