Central Park Elementary School

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Central Park Elementary School
Central Park School 1914.jpg
BCS small logo.png Birmingham City Schools
Years 1914–present
Location 4915 Avenue Q Ensley, (map)
Central Park neighborhood
Grades K-5
Principal Rafiq Vaughn
Enrollment 500 (2015)
Colors blue & gold
Mascot Rams
Website bhamcityschools.org

Central Park Elementary School (formerly Central Park Grammar School and Central Park Community School) is an elementary school in the Birmingham City Schools system located at 4915 Avenue Q facing Central Park in the Central Park neighborhood of the Five Points West community. The principal is Nichole Davis.

The first school building, with four classrooms, opened in October 1914 to serve white students from Monte Sano School in Vinesville. A four classroom addition was completed in 1922 and the following year the school was comfortably accommodating 415 students in grades 1 through 7. The Birmingham School Survey of that year found, however, that the school lacked specialized rooms for physical education, stage programs, shops, laboratories and a library.

A new open-air stadium, named for principal Edgar Keenan, was dedicated in 1940. In 1943 Central Park students sold enough war bonds to earn a "Minute Man Flag" from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In the 1950s significant structural problems were documented in the aging school building.

The school moved to a new 80,000 square foot building, designed by Gresham, Smith & Partners in April 1994. The building featured separate wings for different grade levels, and was designed to be "readable" by students, with clearly established structural and decorative elements. The scale of the exterior, clad in brick and split-faced concrete block, was modulated with classrooms backing up to neighboring houses and large-scale elements facing the park.

Another addition was completed in 2003. Wireless internet service was installed at Central Park Elementary in 2008 in anticipation of the roll-out of Birmingham Schools' XO laptops.

Under the guidelines of the Alabama Accountability Act of 2015 Central Park Elementary was designated as a "failing" school by the Alabama Department of Education in 2016. It was removed from the list in 2017. The school was again given an "F" grade in 2022, which improved to a "C" in 2023.

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