Calumet High School–Perspectives was a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

four-year

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 ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

and

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

located in the

Auburn Gresham Auburn Gresham is a community area in Chicago, Illinois, on the far south side of the city. It was the original location of the South Side Irish Parade before it relocated to the adjoining Beverly neighborhood to the southwest. Its residents a ...

neighborhood on the south side of

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, United States. Opening as Calumet Township High School in 1889, it became a

Chicago Public School Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

in 1900 and closed in 2006. From 2006 until 2020, the building was used by two charter schools under Perspective Charter Schools.

History

The school opened as Calumet Township High School in 1889. The school operated at first in a former elementary school on the city's east side, but the

Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently made up of 11 members appoin ...

eventually decided that a new building needed to be built to house the school. The new school building, at 81st and May Streets, was constructed during January 1925 and completed in 1926. It opened for students for the 1926–27 school year. The school closed after the 2005–2006 academic year due to poor performance and low enrollment. As a part of the Chicago Public Schools

Renaissance 2010 Renaissance 2010 was a program of the Chicago Public Schools school district of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Pushed by for-profit education companies, Renaissance 2010 initiative was announced in June 2004 by the Chicago Public Schools an ...

program, the Calumet High School building was home to two charter schools: Calumet – Perspectives Leadership Academy, which was located on the third floor, and Calumet – Perspectives High School of Technology, which was located on the second floor.

Closure

At the end of the 2019–2020 school year, both schools closed at the location.

Other Information

Before its 2006 closure, the school was named Calumet Career Prep Academy High School. The school was used as the filming location of the 1999 drama film '' Light It Up''.

Athletics

Calumet competes in the

Chicago Public League The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admi ...

(CPL) and is a member of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

(IHSA). The school sport teams are nicknamed The Warriors (formerly Indians). The boys' basketball team were regional champions in 2012–13.

Notable alumni (1900–2006)

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan ( ), is an American singer. Known as the " Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of ...

(attended), – Grammy Award-winning R&B singer. * James Young (Class of 1968), – Musician, guitarist and songwriter for the rock band

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

. *

Kirby Puckett Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett was instrumental in helping the Twins t ...

(Class of 1978), – Baseball player, Major League Baseball Hall-of-Fame outfielder. * Monique D. Davis (Class of 1955), – Politician, Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives. *

Marsha Warfield Marsha Francine Warfield (born March 5, 1954) is an American actress and comedian. She grew up on Chicago's South Side, graduating from Calumet High School. She is best known for playing tough, no-nonsense bailiff Roz Russell on the NBC sitcom ...

(Class of 1971), – actress, comedian, talk show host (''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 4, 1984, and ended on May 31, 1992, after nine seasons consisting of List of Night Court episodes, 193 episodes. The show is set in the night shift of a Manhattan ...

'', ''

The Marsha Warfield Show ''The Marsha Warfield Show'' is an American daytime talk show that aired for ten months on NBC from 1990 to 1991. Comedian and actress Marsha Warfield served as host. Overview Each show featured several guests who, on the surface, did not seem t ...

''). *

Jamie Foster Brown Jamie Foster Brown (ca. June 26, 1946) is the former owner and publisher of ''Sister 2 Sister'' magazine, which ran from 1988 to 2014. ''Newsweek'' called it the "African-American version of ''People (magazine), People'' magazine." As an entertain ...

(Class of 1964), – magazine publisher. * Stella Foster (Class of 1963), – Journalist, columnist for ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

''. *

Georgie Anne Geyer Georgie Anne Geyer (April 2, 1935 – May 15, 2019) was an American journalist who covered the world as a foreign correspondent for the '' Chicago Daily News'' and then became a syndicated columnist for the Universal Press Syndicate. Her columns ...

(Class of 1952), – renowned newspaper journalist and columnist. *

Tony Hinkle Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle (December 19, 1899 – September 22, 1992) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletic administrator. He attended the University of Chicago, where he won varsity letters in three sp ...

(Class of 1917), – basketball coach,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

. *

Merrell Jackson Merrell Jackson (April 26, 1952 – February 23, 1991) was an American actor who played one of the apostles in the film ''Godspell'' (1973). He sang "All Good Gifts". Life Jackson graduated from Chicago's Calumet High School in 1971, where he ...

, (Class of 1971) – actor best known for "

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical in two acts with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set t ...

". * Martin Joyce – United States Air Force. * Billy Moore, (attended) – While a student, murdered top youth basketball player, Ben Wilson in November 1984. * Tommy Sands (attended), – actor and teen idol hitmaker, notably with "

Teen-Age Crush "Teen-Age Crush" is a song written by Audrey Allison and Joe Allison and performed by Tommy Sands. It reached #2 on the U.S. pop chart and #10 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1957. The song ranked #33 on ''Billboard's'' Year-End top 50 singles of 1 ...

" in 1957. *

Earl Eby Earl William Eby (November 18, 1894 – December 14, 1970) was an American sprinter who won a silver medal in the 800 m at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Earlier at the Athletics at the Inter-Allied Games, 1919 Inter-Allied Games he won the 400 m even ...

(attended), – Athlete, participated in the 1920 Olympic Games, taking second for the USA in the 800 meters, and finishing fourth as a part of the 1600 relay. * George L. Safranek, PhD. (Class of 1950), – Geophysicist,

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, University of Texas * Richard Trentlage (Class of 1947), – Musician, composer of the "Oscar Mayer Weiner Jingle", "McDonald's is your kind of place!", "Buckle up for safety, buckle up!" and many other mindsticking, advertising ditties.Obituary 12/27/1928-9/21/2016, Davenport Family Funeral Home Crystal Lake, Il>

References

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1900 Educational institutions disestablished in 2007 Public high schools in Chicago Defunct high schools in Illinois 1900 establishments in Illinois 2007 disestablishments in Illinois 2020 disestablishments in Illinois Educational institutions disestablished in 2020