Lake Highlands Elementary School
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Opening in 1955, Lake Highlands Elementary School has served this area for more than 50 years. Prior to 1955, public education in the area was limited to Little Egypt School for black students and Rogers School, which closed in 1929 when it was incorporated into Richardson Independent School District, for white students. Public schools in the Richardson School District would remain segregated until 1965. Following World War II, Richardson School District’s enrollment increased dramatically, following the trend of suburban growth across the nation. In 1954, voters approved bond issues supporting the funding of a new elementary in Lake Highlands, and an elementary and high school for African-American students in Hamilton Park. Builders completed work on the six-room Lake Highlands Elementary School in 1955. However, a surge in area population growth led to a six-room addition in 1959. During these early years, an active Parent-Teacher Association developed, which raised funds for school projects. Lake Highlands Elementary has been a leader in public education since its opening. Notably, in 1960, it became one of the first schools in the nation to use television for educational purposes, as students learned from programs broadcast from Richardson High School. Throughout the 1960s, enrollment continued to grow. By the 1980s, the school began to host special programs, including bilingual education, pre-kindergarten and centralized special education. The student body has also diversified over the years. Today, Lake Highlands Elementary School remains a leader in child education in the State of Texas. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Lake Highlands Elementary opened in 1955 amid the postwar suburban boom that swelled the Richardson School District, its six rooms soon doubled to keep up with growth. The marker frankly records the era's segregation: before 1955 local Black children attended the separate Little Egypt School, and Richardson's schools stayed segregated until 1965, the same year a new campus for African-American students rose in Hamilton Park. Lake Highlands also became a mid-century innovator, among the first schools in the nation to teach by television in 1960.
Why it matters
The school's story binds together three defining threads of postwar America—explosive suburban growth, the slow dismantling of school segregation, and early experiments in educational technology.
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