South Shore opened in 1940 as South Shore High School at 7626 South Constance Avenue. During the early days, the school was predominately white; mostly populated by pupils in the South Shore community. By the late–1950s, the community began experiencing an increase in population by African-Americans. South Shore, which was built to accommodate at total of 2,000 students, became overcrowded by 1964. Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Board of Education decided a new school needed to be built to relieve the overcrowding. The plan to build a new extension of the school was implemented in 1965. Construction on the extension building at 75th street and Constance avenue began in April 1966. The extension school was to cost $2.5 million to build and was to be completed by 1967, but it was revised several times, gaining a budget of $4.1 million. The extension was constructed by Oak Park, Illinois' Mercury Builders between 1966 and completed in August 1969.The new extension opened for students on September 6, 1969.
Small Schools (2001–11)
Beginning in 2001, the school campus, located at 7527–7627 South Constance Avenue was divided into four small specialized high schools: the School of Entrepreneurship, the School of the Arts, the School of Leadership, and the School of Technology. The small school concept continued until the Chicago Board of Education decided to phase out the school in 2009; this was completed at the end of the 2010–11 school year.
School of Leadership
After the phasing out of two of the small schools, the extension building was demolished in early 2011. The remaining students of the schools were moved into South Shore School of Leadership; being housed only in its original campus on Constance Avenue for the 2011–12 school year. At the time, the Chicago Public Schools opened a new South Shore school: a selective enrollment school to attract students from all areas of the city. The leadership school was eventually phased out and closed at the end of the 2013–14 school year, being fully replaced by the new school.
Other Information
The school's newspaper The Shore Line won a first place ranking in the American Scholastic Press Association annual review in 1983. The newspaper was the first to win a first place ranking in the city. The school students won first place two consecutive times in an annual essay contest sponsored by the citizen school's committee in 1981 and 1982. The school was a part of a CBSdocumentary about the city's public school system in 1984.
South Shore International College Prep
The new school, South Shore International College Prep High School opened for the 2011–12 school year adjacent to the former South Shore High School location and park. South Shore International College Prep is a selective enrollment magnet school and accepts students from throughout the city of Chicago. The school uses the same team name and colors as the former South Shore High School. South Shore International College Prep student demographic is made up of: 96.3% African-American, 2.6% Hispanic, 0.2 White and 0.7% Other. 89.6% of the student body are classified as low–income.
