Fordson High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States in Metro Detroit. It was completed in 1928 on a parcel of land which was then the village of Fordson, named for Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford. It is a part of Dearborn Public Schools.
History
Prior to the opening of the school, students attended the nearby Miller School. Henry Ford contributed most of the money that was used to build the school. Fordson was named as such since the community of Fordson was originally separate from Dearborn, prior to the year the school opened. The cost to construct the campus was $2,500,000.
Ground was broken for the original school building in 1926 with representatives from each of the four entering grades participating. The senior class president was George E. Sarkozy, one of those that participated in the ceremony. The school was designed by architect Everett Lane Williams of the Detroit architectural firm Van Leyen, Schilling & Keough. The school building, designed in the Collegiate Gothic style, was inspired in part by the buildings of the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan as well as the Rushton and Apethore halls in Northamptonshire, England.
Henry Ford Community College began operations at Fordson High. The college initially held classes in the Fordson basement.
Fordson Tower
The Tower was constructed in 1926 and has been used for innumerable things. During World War II, the Tower was used to spot enemy aircraft that could have been headed for the River Rouge Plant, where tanks were in production. The media center used the Tower for archival storage, classes, and media center office space. Students of Fordson hung signs over the Tower including a "for sale" sign in the 1950s and the most recent in 1993 exclaiming Fordson's State Championship in football.
Renovations and additions
In 2005, an addition was adjoined to the northwestern body of the school. A cafeteria, ten classrooms including science and computer labs, and the replacement of the greenhouse comprised the new wing. The addition preserved the structure and appearance of the school by using the alternating dark and light limestone scheme and proceeding with the same architectural model developed from the school's inception. Consequently, Fordson received the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation and has been featured in many publications including the Masonry Institute of Michigan and the architects of the addition, TMP architecture.
In 2007, the athletic facilities underwent an extensive renovation. The natural turf varsity football field and the practice field on the eastern side of the athletic campus were replaced by AstroTurf surfaces. The track and tennis courts were also renovated. Beyond the tennis courts on the northern side of the campus, trees were planted when a seldom used sidewalk was demolished. Sarkozy field, the prior soccer field for the school was sold to the city of Dearborn for $800,000. The total cost before the sale was $1.6 million.
Present day
In 2009 the Wayne County Regional Education Service Agency issued a report strongly asking Fordson High's administration to only use Arabic when absolutely necessary to communicate to students and parents. The school district administration stated they disagreed with the decision and would not enact it.
As of 2013, the principal of Fordson is Youssef Mosallam, who was a graduate of the Fordson Class of 1994 and senior on the 1993 Class AA State Football Championship team. Fordson is located in Dearborn, the largest Arab community outside the Middle East, where more than 40% of the residents are of Arab ancestry. This is reflected at Fordson, where approximately, as of 2006, 95% of the 2,700 student body is of Arab ancestry. According to SchoolMatters, in 2006, 91.6% of students passed the Michigan reading test while 80.4% passed the math portion. Of the students taking the ACT, the average score was 19.7 out of a possible 36. According to the 2015 Mackinac Center Report, Fordson High School was ranked the 13th Best Non-Charter Public High School in the State of Michigan due to gains over the last five years of all subgroups.
In 2011 North Shore Films produced Fordson- Faith, Fasting, Football and the American Dream, highlighting the Fordson football tradition and its deep roots within the Dearborn community.