Central High School (Philadelphia)

Central High School (Philadelphia)

Central High School is a public high school in the Logan section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Central, the second-oldest continuously public high school in the United States (if one does consider schools that were initially private it is the twenty-seventh oldest public high school), was founded in 1836 and is a four-year university preparatory magnet school. About 2,400 students attend grades 9 through 12. It consistently ranks among the top schools in the city and state. Central is regarded as one of the top public schools in the nation due to its high academic standards.

Central High School holds the distinction of being the only high school in the United States that has the authority, granted by an Act of Assembly in 1849, to confer academic degrees upon its graduates. This practice is still in effect, and graduates who meet the requirements are granted the Bachelor of Arts degree. Central also confers high school diplomas upon graduates who do not meet the requirement for a bachelor's degree.

Central, rather than using a general class year to identify its classes (as in "class of 2015"), uses the class graduating number system (as in "272nd graduating class" or "272"). This tradition started shortly after the school's founding, when it was common to have two graduating classes per year – one in January and one in June. In June 1965, semiannual graduations were replaced by annual graduations. As of the 2012–2013 school year, the current senior class is the 272nd graduating class of Central High School.

Due to its authority to grant academic degrees, Central traditionally refers to the principal of the school as the "President" of Central High School. The current president is Timothy J. McKenna.