Fairview-Cllifton German Language School

City-wide

Four Intervention Specialists

Art, Choir, Chess, Girl Scouts, Soccer, Whiz Kids, Student Council

Yes

None

Fairview German Language School exists to be an empowered and vibrant, city-wide, K-6, magnet school dedicated to academics, German, and the arts. We will foster a culture of excellence within a diverse learning community with unique traditions, to provide opportunities for each child to reach his/her full potential as a world citizen.

As Fairview GLS community,
we believe in and value….
. Active participation of teachers, parents, students, and community
. Supporting the development of each child’s potential
. Holding all to high expectations and high standards
. Early 2nd language learning
. Integrity in all of our personal and professional conduct
. Demonstrate respect for ourselves, others, our facilities, and our community
. The pursuit of excellence through dedication and hard work

The History of Fairview German Language School

Fairview School was built in 1888 in the Romanesque Revival style with a brick-paved schoolyard to hold 750 neighborhood students. The Board of Education's annual report that year stated that the building would "supply a much-needed want in a part of the city which is rapidly improving, as well as being a credit to the Board and an ornament to its surroundings."

The curriculum included Household Arts, Industrial Arts, Kindergarten, and, until World War I, German language instruction. An auditorium was created on the third floor by raising a large blackboard between rooms 301 and 302 into the ceiling. The custodians lived in apartments in the attic of the school until it

was realized that this was a fire hazard.

The school was becoming crowded by the turn of the century so a temporary structure called "the colony" was constructed (and used until 1958). Less than 20 years after the first temporary structure, another temporary building was added. Still, by the 1950s, the building was so crowded that the lower grades were being taught in local churches.

Crowding was finally relieved in 1958 with the dedication of what was known as the Fairview School Annex, now called the "new building." This building was only a part of a planned new building, with the "old building" scheduled to be torn down. The changing neighborhood and the movement of young families to the suburbs caused a decline in the number of children in the neighborhood, however, and this plan was not implemented.

In the early 1970s the Cincinnati Board of Education developed alternative (magnate) schools to promote desegregation and to offer area parents choices in education for their children. The alternative schools, in addition to the standard instruction, focused on a special interest or skill or teaching technique and accepted admission applications from students all over the city.

The German-English Bilingual Alternative program, Cincinnati's second alternative school, began in 1974 with the opening of two first and two second-grade classrooms at the neighborhood schools of Fairview and Schiel (in Corryville).

These schools were chosen because of their central location and proximity to each other, as well as for their availability of space. The program was the first in a public school in the United States to offer primary pupils intensive second language instruction.

The parents, a strong group from the beginning, formed a long-range planning committee in 1976. The goals of the committee were three-fold:

• Continuation of the program beyond the sixth grade;

• The establishment of a nonprofit foundation; and

• The development of an exchange program for trips abroad.

Originally, the majority of parents wanted an independent school with grades K-8, but was unable to get Board of Education approval, as there were no K-8 schools in the district at that time. Unwilling to have the program end with the sixth grade, the German parents began meeting with the French and Spanish alternative schools to promote the idea of a middle school (grades 6-8) for all three languages. In the spring of 1978, the Board of Education gave approval for a foreign language middle school.

In 1978, Fairview was closed as a neighborhood school and became an alternative school only. The middle school opened in the fall of 1979 at Schiel. French and Spanish students arrived the following year. In the spring of 1981, the first German students graduated from the eighth grade. Schiel continued to house a neighborhood program until the fall of 1982, when it became the Cincinnati Bilingual Academy. In 1985 this program moved to Sawyer School (in Evanston). Cincinnati Bilingual Academy shared the building site with, and was eventually absorbed by, the Academy of World Languages (AWL). The French and Spanish students were moved to their own K-8 schools on the east and west sides of town.

The establishment of an exchange program for seventh graders was a high priority of the program, but sending 12 and 13 year-old children abroad had not been done before. The students' knowledge of the culture of Germany, as well as their proficiency in the language, was instrumental in achieving the objective. Amid great excitement, the first group traveled to Donaueschingen, Germany, in the spring of 1980, with the first group of students from Germany arriving here two years later.

In 1982, Fairview officially became the Fairview German Bilingual School. During the 1994-95 school year, Fairview German Bilingual School changed its name to the Fairview German Language School to accurately reflect its program. In the fall of 1995, Fairview added sixth grade classes. The school has consistently ranked among the top in the city scholastically and in 1986 was one of 23 Ohio public schools to be recommended for National Department of Education recognition. Fairview has also received CPS' School Incentive Award every year from 1998-2004. Fairview has received the State of Ohio Effective School Award in 2005 and Excellent Award in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In June of 2008, Fairview moved into a new building at 3689 Clifton Avenue and changed its name to Fairview-Clifton German Language School.

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