on 719 South Carrollton Avenue housed the original campus of Benjamin Franklin High School from 1957 to 1990. The building became vacant in 2013 and has since re-opened as an assisted living facility. Benjamin Franklin High School opened as a school for
gifted children in 1957 under the direction of School Superintendent James F. Redmond and Principal Naomi Gardberg. At the time, schools under the
Orleans Parish School Board were
segregated. In response to the order, 2,000 youths surged through New Orleans streets in demonstrations against school integration on November 16, 1960. Only eight Franklin students were absent from class. A
Time magazine article later stated that Redmond's "proudest memory of the first day of integration three weeks ago, when truancy was rife, is that 'my Franklin kids stuck with it.'" From its inception, Franklin was designed to be a public school for gifted students, and admissions requirements included having a 120
IQ. Following an appeal of
Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board, the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stated in 1962 that Franklin was "one of the finest schools in the country for superior students" and suggested that African American students who met the school's exacting admissions requirements be admitted. Under pressure from federal courts, Franklin became the first public high school in New Orleans to desegregate in 1963. For over 30 years the school was housed in the historic
Carrollton Courthouse on
Carrollton Avenue in
Uptown New Orleans. Built in 1855, the building had served as the
Jefferson Parish Courthouse until the City of
Carrollton was incorporated into New Orleans. By 1987, the building had fallen into disrepair and lacked basic air conditioning. Despite these conditions, Franklin maintained a reputation as a place of academic excellence. In the late 1980s, the Orleans Parish School Board leased land from the
University of New Orleans (UNO) and built a larger and more modern campus for Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin moved to this current
Lake Terrace/Lake Oaks campus during the 1989–1990 school year. The building was designed by the team of
E. Eean McNaughton Architects, Billes Manning Architects, and Perez Architects and received an honor award from the
American Institute of Architects Gulf States Region in 1994. Visitors to the school included President
Bill Clinton, who spoke with Franklin students on April 30, 1993 about his plans to create a
National Service Initiative. Ben Franklin is located near the
London Avenue Canal. Like most other UNO buildings and New Orleans public schools, Ben Franklin was damaged by several feet of flood water due to
Hurricane Katrina. The school was closed before the storm hit on August 29, 2005, and remained closed for several months. Over
US $3 million in damage was caused by the storm. School administration, faculty, parents, students, alumni, and volunteers participated in a massive cleanup effort, without funding from and independent of the Orleans Parish School Board. The effort was chronicled by several nationwide news agencies. accepts a "Band of Friendship" from the students of Clay Oberschule on behalf of Ben Franklin. After Katrina, Ben Franklin received support from across the nation and around the world. On December 8, 2005, the United States Ambassador to Germany,
William R. Timken, Jr., accepted a "Band of Friendship" from the students of Clay Oberschule, Ben Franklin's official
GAPP partner school in
Berlin, Germany. The school re-opened as a charter school on January 17, 2006, the 300th birthday of its namesake
Benjamin Franklin. The re-opening ceremony was held in the previously flooded-out gym. The gym had been the most severely damaged structure on campus; all of the floor tiles had to be removed and replaced, and the wind-damaged ceiling had to be repaired. In 2007, the school celebrated its 50th anniversary with a free reception. == Enrollment ==