charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

gifted Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, wi ...

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

Orleans Parish New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...

. The school was damaged by several feet of flood water due to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in the fall of 2005, and efforts to reopen the school were covered by nationwide news agencies. The school is part of the

Orleans Parish School Board The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) governs the public school system that serves New Orleans, Louisiana. It includes the entirety of Orleans Parish, coterminous with New Orleans. The OPSB directly administers 6 schools and has granted charte ...

(OPSB), yet it operates as a charter school and is not administered directly by the agency. Ben Franklin has a selective admissions process, and according to

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

is a "magnet for the city's smart and motivated students." Andrew Vanacore, of ''

The Times Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'', wrote in 2013 that Franklin was "top-notch". It has been named a

Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

five times by the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

, and was ranked 16 on the 2009 "America's Best High Schools" list by '' U.S. News & World Report''. The class of 2008 produced 17 National Achievement Semifinalists, the most of any school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 2021, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the school as the best public high school in Louisiana and the 64th best in the United States. Ben Franklin is a member of the

Louisiana High School Athletic Association The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) is the agency that regulates and promotes the interscholastic athletic competitions of all high schools in the state of Louisiana. Organization LHSAA was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in ...

and offers a variety of sports programs. Extracurricular activities are also offered in the form of performing arts, school publications, and clubs. Notable alumni of the school include

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Award ...

, a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

winning

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

, actor

Wendell Pierce Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...

, and Cedric Richmond, former

congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

and

Senior Advisor In some countries, a senior advisor (also spelt senior adviser, especially in the UK) is an appointed position by the Head of State to advise on the highest levels of national and government policy. Sometimes a junior position to this is called a N ...

to U.S. President Joe Biden.

History

Benjamin Franklin High School opened as a school for

gifted Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, wi ...

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 The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) governs the public school system that serves New Orleans, Louisiana. It includes the entirety of Orleans Parish, coterminous with New Orleans. The OPSB directly administers 6 schools and has granted charte ...

were segregated. In 1960, Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ordered the desegregation of New Orleans schools in ''Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board''. 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 Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' 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 Carrollton Avenue is a major thoroughfare stretching across the Uptown/ Carrollton and Mid-City districts of New Orleans. South Carrollton Avenue runs from St. Charles Avenue in the Riverbend in a northeast ''lake-bound'' direction through Car ...

in

Uptown New Orleans Uptown is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, on the east bank of the Mississippi River, encompassing a number of neighborhoods (including the similarly-named and smaller Uptown area) between the French Quarter and the Jefferso ...

. Built in 1855, the building had served as the

Jefferson Parish Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

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 The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

(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 The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

Gulf States Region in 1994. Visitors to the school included President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, 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 The London Avenue Canal is a drainage canal in New Orleans, Louisiana, used for pumping rain water into Lake Pontchartrain. The canal runs through the 7th Ward of New Orleans from the Gentilly area to the Lakefront. It is one of the three main drai ...

. Like most other UNO buildings and New Orleans public schools, Ben Franklin was damaged by several feet of flood water due to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. The school was closed before the storm hit on August 29, 2005, and remained closed for several months. Over

US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

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. 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 GapP is a counting complexity class, consisting of all of the functions ''f'' such that there exists a polynomial-time non-deterministic Turing machine ''M'' where, for any input ''x'', ''f(x)'' is equal to the number of accepting paths of ''M'' ...

partner school in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. Monetary contributions included $10,000 from the government of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and a $70,000 grant from the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries. The school re-opened as a charter school on January 17, 2006, the 300th birthday of its namesake

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

. 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

An admissions test is required to apply to Ben Franklin. Enrollment is open to residents of Orleans Parish entering ninth, tenth, or eleventh grade. Students applying for tenth grade must have one credit in English, math, science, social studies, and foreign language. Students applying for 11th grade must have two credits in each of the listed courses. Admission is based on an applicant's

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

and performance on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or the

Iowa Tests of Educational Development The Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) are a set of standardized tests given annually to high school students in many schools in the United States, covering Grades 9 to 12. The tests were created by the University of Iowa's College of Edu ...

for reading, language, and mathematics. The Iowa Tests are administered at Ben Franklin. All students meeting the criteria for entrance into 9th grade are also required to pass the LEAP 21 exam (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program for the 21st Century Exam taken in 8th grade). Ben Franklin had 995 students during the 2018–2019 school year. The demographics were 371 (37.3%)

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

, 296 (29.8%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 190 (19.1%)

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 55 (5,5%)

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

, 8 (0.8%) American Indian/Alaskan Native. and 74 (7.4%) multiracial.

Academics

Ben Franklin features a college-preparatory curriculum and an Advanced Placement (AP) Program. Students are required to complete a minimum of 24 academic units that includes 4 in English, 3 in foreign language, 4 in mathematics, 4 in science, 4 in social science, 2 in electives, 1.5 in physical education, .5 in health, and starting with the class of 2012, 1 credit in the arts. As of 2008, the school offers 20 AP courses for students to earn college credit. A selection of elective courses are offered, including studio art, creative writing, music appreciation, and theater. The foreign language offerings are French, German, Spanish, Mandarin, and Latin. Students may also enroll concurrently at local universities and the

New Orleans Center for Creative Arts New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, or NOCCA, is the regional, pre-professional arts training center for high school students in Louisiana. NOCCA opened in 1973 as a professional arts training center for secondary school-age children. Locate ...

(NOCCA). The school is within walking distance of the UNO library, and students can obtain library cards through a "special borrowers" program. I am Ben Franklin2

According to

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

, Ben Franklin is "one of the best public high schools in the country — a magnet for the city's smart and motivated students." Approximately 99.5% of each graduating class enters a four-year college. Of the 162 students in the class of 2006, 28 were

National Merit Semifinalists The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

, 7 were National Achievement Finalists, and 3 were Hispanic Scholars. The class of 2008 produced 17 National Achievement Semifinalists, the most of any school in the United States. For the class of 2005, the mean

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

Verbal score was 645, and the mean SAT Math score was 636. The mean ACT composite score was 27.2. One hundred percent of Franklin students passed the Louisiana Graduate Exit Examination (GEE) in Spring 2006, with a significant number achieving Advanced and Mastery level. In recent years, Ben Franklin has produced a Morehead-Cain Scholar, a Jefferson Scholar, and many Questbridge Scholars. In the fall of 2005, Ben Franklin was one of three high schools given a five star rating (the highest possible) by the Louisiana Department of Education, based on its School Performance Score (SPS). The SPS is based on test scores from LEAP/GEE subject area tests in addition to "The Iowa Tests" results and attendance/dropout data. The following table displays the three schools, along with their respective SPS in 2005. US Blue Ribbon School 2003

In fall 2008, the Louisiana Department of Education rated schools in Orleans Parish for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. With an SPS of 165.2, Ben Franklin again had the highest performance score in the state. Benjamin Franklin High School was named a

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

by the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

in 1989, 2003, 2009, 2015, and 2021. It has been ranked by

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

and U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 50 public schools in the U.S. with regards to student test scores and advanced placement programs. Ben Franklin was listed as one of the elite public schools in the country by Newsweek in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Franklin was no longer listed as a "public elite" and instead ranked numbers 35 and 52, respectively, on the complete Newsweek lists of "America's Top Public High Schools." Ben Franklin was also ranked 16 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report on its 2009 "America's Best High Schools" list and was one of its featured stories. Additionally, 2 art and 12 academic

Presidential Scholar The United States Presidential Scholars Program is a program of the United States Department of Education. It is described as "one of the Nation's highest honors for students" in the United States of America and the globe. The program was estab ...

s have been selected from the school as of 2007. The class of 2014 produced twenty-five National Merit Semi-finalists, fifteen National Achievement Semi-Finalists, three National Hispanic Scholars and fifteen National Merit Commended Scholars. 17 Benjamin Franklin seniors named Finalists in the 2014 Competition for National Merit Scholarships.

Extracurricular activities

Performing arts

The music program at Ben Franklin was founded by Peter Dombourian, who served as part-time band director and music teacher from 1974 until 1991. His students included

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Award ...

, who enrolled concurrently at Ben Franklin and NOCCA. In 2005, the band room and music lockers at Ben Franklin were flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, destroying the school's collection of instruments, privately owned instruments left behind by students, and approximately $100,000 of sheet music. The

Tipitina's Foundation ''Tipitina's Foundation'' is a not-for-profit charity organization that grew out of the New Orleans music venue, Tipitina's. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, the foundation's mission is to protect and preserve the musical culture of New Orleans a ...

, New Orleans Music Exchange, Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, and P.S. 54 Charles W Leng School were among the contributors who helped the music program continue. Student musicians in the

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

and

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

participate annually in the Louisiana Music Educator's Association (LMEA) State Festivals, where they often collect "Superior" ratings.. Franklin also has a theater program. In March 2008, Franklin theater students were able to conduct a mixed-media performance of James Still's "And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank" with

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

survivor/author

Eva Schloss Eva Schloss (née Geiringer; born 11 May 1929) is an Austrian-English Holocaust survivor, memoirist and stepdaughter of Otto Frank, the father of Margot and diarist Anne Frank. Schloss speaks widely of her family's experiences during the Holoc ...

in attendance. The play was co-sponsored by the

National World War II Museum The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...

and coincided with Schloss' lecture at the museum.

Publications

Franklin also has a TV station for students known as FTV. Ben Franklin publications include ''The Riverbend Review '' (literary magazine), and ''The Franklin Falcon'' (yearbook). The ''Riverbend Review'', published since 1987, has received numerous awards from the

Columbia Scholastic Press Association The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchang ...

and the American Scholastic Press Association, winning a Silver Crown and First Place classification in 2008 and a Gold Crown and First Place with Special Merit classification in 2009. The Spring 2008 volume featured student poetry, short stories, original art, and an interview with writer Andrei Codrescu.

Athletics

Ben Franklin teams are known as the "Falcons" with school colors green, white, and orange. The Falcons are in District 11-4A (Div. II) of the

Louisiana High School Athletic Association The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) is the agency that regulates and promotes the interscholastic athletic competitions of all high schools in the state of Louisiana. Organization LHSAA was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in ...

and features the following athletic programs: * Girls:

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

,

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

, cross country,

dance team A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or song team, is a team of participants that participates in competitive dance. A dance squad can also include: a jazz squad, ballet squad, or any kind of religion dance squad. Dance squads ...

,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

,

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

,

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. * Boys:

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

,

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

.

Championships

The Ben Franklin girls' soccer team was the Class 4A State Champion in 1998, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The volleyball team won state titles in 1996, 2002, and 2003. In 16 years as Ben Franklin's head volleyball coach, Jodee Pulizzano led Franklin teams to six Division II state championships and two runner-up trophies. Accomplishments since 1996 include: * swimming-girls (AAAA Champion 1997; Runner-up 1996, 1999) * swimming-boys (AAAA Champion 2001; Runner-up 1999, 2000) * volleyball (AAAA Champion 1996,2002,2003; Runner-up 1997, 2004) * girls' soccer (AAAA Champion 1998, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) * boys' soccer (AAAA Champion 2004; AAAA Runner-up 2005; AAA Runner-up 2011) * tennis-girls (AAAA Runner-up 1997) * tennis-boys (AAA Champion 2008, 2009; AAAA Runner-up 2004, 2006, 2007; AAA Runner-up 2010) *Cheerleaders (First place at the Spirit Blast Cheer and Dance Championship 2010 against two other schools) In 2007, the Ben Franklin football team made the Class 3A playoffs for the first time in school history. However, the team went on to lose in the first round to Amite High School.

Yearbook 2006

The class of 2006 was the subject of an online documentary calle
Yearbook 2006
created by bluecadet interactive and produced by Josh Goldblum, Josh Cogan, and David Lee. The non-profit Web-based project features 140 minutes of raw interviews as well as photographs and other multimedia designed to capture the lives of about 30 Franklin seniors after Katrina. The project, featured in the

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; pronounced ) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services ...

's Spirit of Recovery conference and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', was designed to “give a cohesive and layered forum to the fractured voices of those seniors who were displaced and those who remained in New Orleans, aiming to, above all, nurture and heal the vibrant social fabric that Katrina threatened to destroy.”

Accusations of bias in admissions

The school's selective admissions policies have led to accusations of bias. Before Hurricane Katrina, it was estimated that 450 of 800 applicants on average were not accepted because of insufficient grades and test scores. Compared to the rest of the city, as of 2007, the school has a disproportionately low percentage of African Americans. Carl Galmon, a local activist, claimed in 1996 that Franklin's admissions tests are culturally biased against black students. Following Katrina, the school converted to a charter school and preserved its selective admissions system. The school has received praise for traditionally producing some of the "highest-performing students in the entire state of Louisiana," including an exceptional number of students awarded by the National Achievement Scholarship Program of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a program open only to African Americans.

Notable alumni

* Barry Ashe: Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana * David "Dee-1" Augustine: rapper *

Gilda Barabino Gilda A. Barabino is the president of the Olin College of Engineering, where she is also a Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering. Previously, she served as the Dean of The Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York, and ...

: president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science *

Lolis Eric Elie Lolis Eric Elie (born April 10, 1963) is an American writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and food historian best known for his work as story editor of the HBO drama '' Treme'' and story editor of AMC's ''Hell on Wheels''. Early life an ...

: former columnist at ''

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'', TV writer for ''Treme'' and ''Hell on Wheels'', author, award-winning documentary filmmaker, author of ''Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country'' () *

Ted Frank Theodore H. Frank (born December 14, 1968) is an American lawyer, activist, and legal writer, based in Washington, D.C. He is the counsel of record and petitioner in '' Frank v. Gaos'', the first Supreme Court case to deal with the issue of '' c ...

: Director of the

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*

Jalila Jefferson-Bullock Jalila Eshe Jefferson-Bullock (born 1975) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a state representative in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2004 to 2007, representing House District 91. Jefferson-Bullock won the seat fro ...

:

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- Representative, District 91: 2003-2007 *

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restaurant in Los Gatos, California *

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: jazz trombonist - attended Ben Franklin/NOCCA *

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:

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, nine-time

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winning musician - attended Ben Franklin/NOCCA *

Jeffery Miller Jeffery Oliver Miller is an American trombonist, vocalist, composer, arranger and bandleader primarily known for his work in jazz and pop music. He was worked with Delfeayo Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Preservation Hal ...

: jazz trombonist - attended Ben Franklin/NOCCA * James Nolan: poet, fiction writer, essayist, and translator *

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dramas ''

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'' and '' Treme'' * Wade Rathke: co-founder of the

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(ACORN) * Cedric Richmond:

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and director of the

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in the

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; former

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, Louisiana's 2nd district: 2011-2021 *

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In popular culture

Benjamin Franklin High School has appeared in film, books, and other media. In a short play that appears in Louisiana novelist

Walker Percy Walker Percy, OSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, ''The Moviegoer'', won the Nat ...

's ''

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'', the lead character attends Franklin. Portions of the school's atrium and front entrance were used in the 2004

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

movie '' Stuck in the Suburbs''. The school was also used for portions of the 2005

Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

movie ''

Odd Girl Out ''Odd Girl Out'' is a 2005 drama telefilm starring Alexa Vega, Lisa Vidal, Elizabeth Rice, Alicia Morton, Leah Pipes, Shari Dyon Perry, Joey Nappo, and Chad Biagini. First aired April 4, 2005 on Lifetime, the film is based on the book ''Odd Gi ...

''. In Julie Smith's mystery novel ''Louisiana Hotshot'', murder victim Rhonda Bergeron is said to have graduated from Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans. In Ronald Everett Capps' novel ''Off Magazine Street'' (loosely adapted into the film ''

A Love Song for Bobby Long ''A Love Song for Bobby Long'' is a 2004 American psychological drama film directed and written by Shainee Gabel, based on the novel ''Off Magazine Street'' by Ronald Everett Capps. It stars John Travolta as the title character, an aging alcoho ...

''), Byron Burns decides to send Hanna to Benjamin Franklin High School, a school "he had heard had a fair reputation".

References

External links

Benjamin Franklin High School official website
*
Archives of older website
*
Archives of older website
(hosted on Greater New Orleans Free Net, GNOFN, Inc.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Benjamin High School Charter schools in New Orleans Magnet schools in Louisiana Public high schools in New Orleans Educational institutions established in 1957 1957 establishments in Louisiana