From Masten Park High School to City Honors:- Table of Contents

Preface | 1973-74 | 1975-76 | 1976 | 1975-80 | 1980-95 | 1995-98 | Staff

A Brief History of City Honors High School From 1975 to 1998

1995-98: The Lafornara Era

Principal Michael J. A
Dr. Paul Lafornara
was appointed principal in 1995.
(Photo: 1997 yearbook)

nelli's replacement was Dr. Paul Lafornara, a principal with both elementary and high school administrative experience. As principal at South Park H.S., Lafornara had shepherded the process whereby the school had been designated a National School of Excellence. Immediately, he sought to upgrade the already high City Honors academic. New college-level AP and IB courses were added to the curriculum in the second year of his tenure. By his third year, many sophomores were opting for AP English and History, and all juniors were taking IB English.

In 1995-96, the Buffalo News published a series of articles which summarized the results of an in-depth, statistical analysis of the Buffalo public schools. City Honors was singled out as the jewel of the system, one of the academically premier schools in Western New York.

The following school year, New York State began publishing its annual Report Card, ranking public schools throughout the state according to the number of students passing State Regents Exams. City Honors was listed at the top of the schools in Western New York. Interestingly, although the CHS teachers were excited at the school's new-found status, students were singularly unimpressed. They scoffed at the Regents exams as being too easy - as well they are compared to the college-level AP and IB exams that they concentrate their efforts on.

Business First newspaper also ranked City Honors as the top public school in Western New York during 1996-97 and 1997-98. To the left is a reprint of the headline of their March 23, 1998, lead story.




This page was created by the City Honors School Webmasters class under the supervision of Chuck LaChiusa
Color photos and their arrangement © 2005 Chuck LaChiusa

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