William Howard Taft High School

William Howard Taft High School is a former New York City high school in the southwest section of the Bronx, whose building now houses small specialized high schools. The school was operated by the New York City Department of Education. The Taft school campus is located on Sheridan Avenue and 172nd Street in the Bronx. History Founded in the 1940s, Taft originally served the largely homogeneous population of the surrounding area. In the post-war years of the forties, fifties and sixties. Notable graduates included director Stanley Kubrick, producer Jerry Weintraub, novelist Judith Rossner, and singers Eydie Gormé, Chuck Negron, Luther Vandross and Alan Merrill. Demographic and the advent of specialized magnet schools brought about shifts in enrollment. During the Abraham Beame (1974–1977) and Edward Koch (1978–1989) administrations, citywide, crime rates were high and unfavorable publicity accelerated the decline of the school. By the early 1970s, Taft H.S. earned a reputation as a "failing school" with many of the problems of other high schools in poor, marginalized neighborhoods in New York City.