Howard High School of Technology is a vocational-technical high school in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

and is the oldest of four high schools within the

New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District (NCCVTSD or NCC Vo-Tech) is a public vocational-technical school district serving New Castle County, Delaware. Its headquarters are located at Delcastle Technical High School, in an unincorpo ...

, which includes

Delcastle Technical High School Delcastle Technical High School is a public vocational-technical high school in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington, and is the largest of four high schools within the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School Distric ...

in Newport,

Hodgson Vo-Tech High School Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School is a public high school in Glasgow, Delaware and is one of four vocational-technical school high schools within the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District. Brief History The scho ...

in Glasgow, and

St. Georges Technical High School St. Georges Technical High School is a public vocational-technical high school in unincorporated area, unincorporated St. George's Hundred, Delaware, northeast of Middletown, Delaware, Middletown. It has over 1,100 students in grades 9–12 with a ...

in St. Georges. In 2022 it was designated an affiliated area of ''Brown v. Board of Education'' National Historical Park.

History

Howard High School, named for General

Oliver Otis Howard Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men agains ...

, who founded

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

and was the Commissioner for the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

from 1865 to 1874, opened in 1867 at 12th and Orange St. with educator

Edwina Kruse Edwina Kruse (February 22, 1848 – June 23, 1930) was an American educator, born in Puerto Rico. She was principal of Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware for almost 40 years, and a close associate of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, who taught at H ...

as its principal. Despite being a public school, Howard received very little state funding, particularly compared to white-only schools, and conditions rapidly declined. For many years, Howard families appealed to the government for financial aid for the building, which had been deemed "hazardous to an extreme degree, although inadequate for instructional purposes." ''

Gebhart v. Belton ''Gebhart v. Belton'', 33 Del. Ch. 144, 87 A.2d 862 (Del. Ch. 1952), ''aff'd'', 91 A.2d 137 (Del. 1952), was a case decided by the Delaware Court of Chancery in 1952 and affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court in the same year. ''Gebhart'' was on ...

'' was combined with four other cases in the US Supreme Court to form the ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

'' suit in 1954. In 1975, Howard High School closed and was replaced by the Howard Educational Park, then the Howard Career Center. It sits adjacent to the original Howard High School. The school settled on its current name, Howard High School of Technology, in late 1993.

Killing of Amy Joyner-Francis

On April 21, 2016, Amy Inita Joyner-Francis, a female 16-year-old student at Howard High School of Technology was assaulted and killed by a fellow student, Trinity Carr in a school bathroom while two other students allegedly assisted. The incident was widely publicized and started controversy about the appropriate charges of teenagers involved in situations of

school violence School violence includes violence between school students as well as attacks by students on school staff. It encompasses physical violence, including Fistfighting, student-on-student fighting, corporal punishment; Psychological abuse, psychologica ...

and

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

. Two of the students were convicted of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

and one of the two was convicted of

negligent homicide Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against a person who, through criminal negligence, allows another person to die. Examples include the crash of Aeroperu Flight 603 near Lima, Peru. The accident was caused by a piece of duct tape ...

. The latter conviction was later overturned in a ruling that has faced some criticism. A third student was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

of a conspiracy charge.

Academics

In addition to 10 credits within their chosen program, Howard students must meet Delaware core standards: 4 credits of English and math; 3 science and social studies credits; 2 language credits; 1 physical education credit; and 0.5 health credits. Each of the career programs has its own required courses, which allows students to gain the most contextual education possible. There are 14 career programs separated into five distinct areas at Howard: *Business, Communication, and Computers: Academy of Finance and Business and Computer Network Administration *Construction Technologies: Building Automation and Carpentry *Health Services: Dental Assisting; Medical Assisting; and Nursing Technology *Public and Consumer Services: Cosmetology; Culinary Arts; Legal Administrative Assistant; Legal Support Services; and the Teacher Academy for K-12 *Transportation: Auto/Diesel Technology and Engine Technology Howard also has partnerships with higher education institutions such as

Delaware Technical and Community College Delaware Technical Community College (previously Delaware Technical & Community College, also known as DTCC, Delaware Tech, or Del Tech) is a public community college in the U.S. state of Delaware. Delaware Tech is an open admission institution ...

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

Wilmington University Wilmington University (WilmU) is a private university with its main campus in Wilmington Manor, Delaware, with a New Castle street address. - It was founded in 1968 as Wilmington College by educator Dr. Donald E. Ross. As of 2016, the unive ...

so students can earn dual enrollment credits as well. In 2017, more than 90% of those enrolled in college courses finished them successfully. In 2021,

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

gave Howard a Distinguished School Award and they joined the

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

initiative, which gives each student a school-owned iPad to use for their schoolwork. In 2013,

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

selected Howard as one of twelve schools in the country as a Innovative Learning School; teachers received an intensive, two-day crash course on how to effectively use technology in the classroom.

Athletics

Howard is part of the

Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) is an organization that oversees and regulates interscholastic athletics in the US State of Delaware. The DIAA is headquartered at the John W. Collette Education Resource Center in Dover. H ...

and offers eleven varsity sport teams that compete in Blue Hen Conference, Flight "B."

Notable alumni

* Amy Joyner-Francis (2000-2016), homicide victim * Trinity Carr (b. 2000), convict * Emma Belle Gibson Sykes (1885-1970), suffragist, teacher, and civil rights activist *

Pauline Alice Young Pauline Alice Young (August 17, 1900 – June 26, 1991) was an African-American teacher, librarian, historian, lecturer, community activist, humanitarian, and individualist. Early life and education Pauline A. Young was born in West Medford, Ma ...

(1900-1991), activist, historian, author, and teacher *

Louis L. Redding Louis Lorenzo Redding (October 25, 1901 – September 28, 1998) was a prominent lawyer and civil rights advocate from Wilmington, Delaware. Redding, the first African American to be admitted to the Delaware bar, was part of the NAACP legal ...

(1901-1998), civic activist and Delaware's first Black lawyer * Bubby Sadler (1909-1987), late

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

* Edward L. Loper Sr. (1916-2011), artist and teacher *

Clifford Brown Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", an ...

(1930-1956), jazz trumpeter *

Richard Allen Williams Richard Allen Williams (born 1936) is an American physician who is founder of the Association of Black Cardiologists. He previously served as the President of the National Medical Association. Early life and education Williams was born in Wilm ...

(b. 1936), cardiologist and founder of the

Association of Black Cardiologists The Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) is an organization founded to bring special attention to the adverse impact of cardiovascular disease on African Americans. History The ABC was founded in 1974 by Richard Allen Williams, in associat ...

* Stephanie Bolden (b. 1946), member of the

Delaware House of Representatives The Delaware State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal number of constituencies, each of whom is ...

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to G ...

(1953-2015), late basketball player for

Hofstra Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

as well as teams in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

* A. J. English (b. 1967), retired

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player *

Devon Still Devon Joshua Still (born July 11, 1989) is a former American football defensive end. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State, where he earned consensus All-Am ...

(b. 1989), former NFL defensive end

References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in New Castle County, Delaware Schools in Wilmington, Delaware Public high schools in Delaware Vocational and technical schools in Delaware Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Delaware National Historic Landmarks in Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware 1928 establishments in Delaware Educational institutions established in 1928