Dillard High School is a historic public middle and high school located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The school was established in 1907 as Colored School 11 and was later named for black-education advocate James H. Dillard.[2] It is a part of Broward County Public Schools.

Dillard High School
Address
Map
2501 NW 11th St

,
33311-5796

United States
Coordinates26°08′20″N 80°10′31″W / 26.1389746°N 80.1753241°W / 26.1389746; -80.1753241
Information
TypePublic, Magnet
Established1907
School districtBroward County Public Schools
SuperintendentDr. Peter B. Licata
PrincipalCassandra Robinson
Staff108.00 (FTE)[1]
Grades612
Enrollment2,279 (2022–23)[1]
Student to teacher ratio21.10[1]
Color(s)Blue and Grey    
Team namePanthers
Information(754) 322-0800
Websitehttp://www.dillardhigh.com/

Dillard is available to all of Broward County. The school is a magnet school for Emerging Computer Technology and Performing Arts.

Dillard serves sections of Fort Lauderdale for middle school and sections of Fort Lauderdale and Lauderhill for high school.[3][4]

Dillard has an FCAT school grade of "A" for the 2013–2014 academic year.[5]

Magnet programs

edit

Performing arts

edit

As the first public school for people of African descent in Ft. Lauderdale, Dillard High School incorporated two magnet programs in an effort to integrate and expand the educational horizons of this historic school.[6]

Dillard Center for the Arts (DCA) provides training in dance, music, theater, and visual arts, as well as an academic schedule. Students must demonstrate ability and interest in one of the four artistic areas and exhibit academic potential. Such programs within the music department were keyboard, voice, band, orchestra and commercial music. The chorus, chorale, gospel choir, jazz band and rock band performs in Broward county and the Fort Lauderdale community and their students perform at the local, state, and national levels. Graduates of the magnet program go on to attend some of the top colleges and conservatory programs in the United States, including the Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University.

Emerging computer technology

edit

The Emerging computer technology offers courses in digital media, computer programming, robotics, and electronic technology hardware/network support. In addition, Dillard High School offers many advanced placement and honors courses.

Dillard High School also offers an award-winning robotics team sponsored by Motorola, Amazon, and Citrix.

Demographics

edit

As of the 2016–2017 school year, the total student enrollment was 2,078. The ethnic makeup of the school was 2.59% White, 90% Black, 5.63% Hispanic, 0.52% Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.10% Multiracial, and 0.09% Native American or Native Alaskan.[7]

Awards and accolades

edit

In 2012, The Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble had the honor of performing with jazz great Wynton Marsalis as his demonstration band at the Midwest Clinic in December 2012.[8] In both 2011 and 2012 the Jazz Ensemble won the Essentially Ellington competition of Jazz at Lincoln Center.[9] The band, under the direction of director Christopher Dorsey, by 2015 had made its sixth consecutive appearance in the Big Band Jazz competition. Placing among the top three in the other three years that the group made it into the finals.[10]

History

edit

Dillard's first principal was Joseph A. Ely. When the building, now the Old Dillard Museum, was built in 1924 it was an elementary school; by the time he left in 1937, when he moved to Crispus Attacks High School (today a middle school), he had succeeded in expanding Dillard to include high school classes. He was responsible for getting the school name changed in 1930 to honor James H. Dillard, a white philanthropist, educator, and promoter of education for black children. He was replaced by Clarence C. Walker Sr., who was principal until his death in 1942.

Famed saxophonist Julian Cannonball Adderley became the band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale in 1948, and worked there until 1950.[11]

Dillard High moved to its present, newly built building in 1950.

In 1967, Fort Lauderdale High School met Dillard in the season opener for both teams. This, along with another game in Broward County between Ely and McArthur the same night, was the first meeting between white and black teams. Prior to the game, the FLHS team members held their own practices as the coaches refused to hold practice.[12]

Notable alumni

edit
Academics
  • Chester Seabury - mathematician, lawyer. Attended Dillard before becoming the first African-American to graduate from a white high school in Florida.
Performing artists
NFL
NBA
Euro Basket
Former Faculty

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "DILLARD 6-12". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  2. ^ "Dillard High School continues to make history!". June 23, 2016.
  3. ^ "Zoning map & officers." Lauderhill, Florida. Retrieved on September 27, 2018. See existing land use map (2007) and future land use map (2006)
  4. ^ "Dillard 6-12." Broward County Public Schools. Retrieved on September 27, 2018.
  5. ^ FCAT School Grades - High
  6. ^ "Old Dillard Museum". Archived from the original on November 26, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  7. ^ Enrollment Counts
  8. ^ Drew, N. (2012, November 08). Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble to perform at annual Midwest Clinic. Retrieved September 27, 2016, from http://thewestsidegazette.com/dillard-center-for-the-arts-jazz-ensemble-to-perform-at-annual-midwest-clinic/
  9. ^ Stocker and Susan Stocker Staff, M. (2011, May 15). DILLARD BAND WINS NATIONAL JAZZ TITLE. Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), p. 1B.. Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/1373F2129F7F3B80?p=AWNB
  10. ^ Sun Sentinel – "Dillard High's jazz band back in the bright lights of New York"
  11. ^ Cannoball-Adderley.com
  12. ^ Boetel, Ray (November 3, 1992). "Races Against Time Football's Black And White A Pretty 25th Anniversary Picture". Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
edit