Austin Community Academy High School

Austin College and Career Academy High School (formerly known as Austin Polytech High School, commonly known as Austin High School) is a public four-year high school located in the Austin neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools, Austin opened in 1876 and was named in honor of Henry W. Austin, a Chicago real estate developer. Austin shared its campus with two smaller schools; Austin Business & Entrepreneurship Academy High and V.O.I.S.E. Academy High School. After the 2015–2016 school year, the small schools converted into one school and was renamed Austin College and Career Academy High School. History Austin was opened by the Chicago Public Schools district in 1876. During the mid-twentieth century, Austin High was considered one of the best high schools in the Chicago area. In 2004, the online newsletter Chicago-Catalyst.org called the school "A yellow brick fortress". In later years, however, Austin suffered from low test scores, low attendance, and student violence. During the 2003–2004 school year, The Chicago Public Schools began phasing the school out, ordering the school to stop admitting new freshmen students. The last graduations were held in June 2007 and the phase-out was completed by the end of summer, 2007. Many of the old school records from 1890 to 1970 were moved to the Chicago Public Library's Special Collections for Community History for preservation after the original closing of the school in 2007. Renaissance 2010 As part of the Renaissance 2010 program, the school's campus was then converted into three smaller high schools: Austin Polytechnical Academy, which opened in 2007, Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy, which opened in 2006, V.O.I.S.E. Academy High School, which opened in 2008. (VOISE stands for "Virtual Opportunities Inside a School Environment"; the school combines an online curriculum with classroom instruction.) The schools on the Austin campus share an athletics program. The sports teams are nicknamed the Tigers. After the 2015–2016 school year, Chicago Public Schools decided to close the small schools and merge them back into one school, naming the new school Austin College and Career Academy High School.