Abraham Lincoln High School
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Introduction
Abraham Lincoln High School (ALHS) is a California Distinguished public high school located in the Sunset District of San Francisco, California. In 2018, ALHS was ranked #499 and earned a gold medal by U.S. News & World Report, placing it in the top 2% of public high schools nationally.
ALHS offers honors and college prep programs and students have the opportunity to specialize in one of four academic areas: the Business Academy, the Digital Media Design Academy, the Teacher Academy, and the Green Academy.
ALHS provides services and special education for severely and non-severely impaired students; a comprehensive English Language Learner (ELL) program; a Mandarin Secondary Dual Language Pathway; 4 years of Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese instruction; a GATE pathway for gifted and talented students; a Wellness Center; Peer Resource Program; AVID; Step-to-College; clubs, athletics, and extracurricular activities.
History / Location / Facilities
Abraham Lincoln High School was established on Tuesday, August 27, 1940, accepting approximately 950 students under principal Clyde W. White. Its opening and dedication ceremony was held on September 22, 1940. ALHS is a "westside" school along with Lowell High School and George Washington High School.
In the center of the Sunset District, ALHS occupies four city blocks demarcated by the intersections of Quintara Street and Santiago Street and 22nd Avenue and 24th Avenue. The school is located near the Sunset Reservoir, which supplies water for the Sunset district and serves as a rectangular, city-block track for physical education, and directly north of McCoppin Square, the Taraval Police Station, and the Parkside branch of the San Francisco Public Library.
A 1938 bond issue, approved by San Francisco voters to address the increasing population in the Western San Francisco area, financed the incorporation of ALHS with a three-story building of 50 classrooms, library, and cafeteria as well as a football field, costing over $750,000 in 1940 (adjusted for 2005 dollars, over $10 million). Additions such as the North and South Gymnasiums, the auditorium, and the "New Building" expansion were completed later.
ALHS has been the beneficiary of the Prop A Bond work for remodeling and renovation. The site has been fully updated for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 2020 the San Francisco School Renaming Panel argued that Abraham Lincoln, the school's namesake, had treated Native Americans poorly, and therefore, the school should no longer have his name. Mayor of San Francisco London Breed criticized the renaming proposal, arguing that there were more important tasks to focus on during the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] A video recording of the meeting does not show that the committee discussed the proposal to rename Lincoln. The school board dropped the plan to rename the school.
