City Honors School - Additional Facts

Additional Facts

• The building that houses City Honors is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• In December 2008, City Honors School was again nationally recognized for its strong academic rigor as U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked the Buffalo Public School the 35th best in the country. Last year the magazine ranked C.H.S. the 50th best in the nation. The strength and rigor of the school’s International Baccalaureate (I.B.) Program is believed to be reason why there was an increase of 15 spots on the best schools rankings list.
• City Honors School has been named as one of the top public high schools and middle schools in Western New York (or near the top) by Business First every year since the publication began its rankings in 1997.
• The school was named one of the top 50 public feeder high schools in the United States by Worth Magazine.
• In 1951 longtime City Honors staff member Irene McVay was involved in a student-led strike protesting racial segregation in the school system in Prince Edward county, Virginia. The two week strike led to a lawsuit, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, which became part of the famous Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision.
• Buffalo native and Canisius High School graduate, Tim Russert of NBC's Meet The Press was named an honorary City Honors graduate by Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. James A. Williams on May 22, 2007.
• City Honors School was ranked #4 on Newsweek Magazine's list of America's Top Public High Schools for 2006.
• City Honors School was named #8 Newsweek Magazine's list of America's Top Public High Schools for 2007.
• City Honors was ranked #11 on Newsweek Magazine's list of America's Top Public High Schools in 2008.
• City Honors was ranked #10 on Newseek Magazine's list of America's Top Public High Schools in 2010.
• City Honors began as a program at Bennett High School, moved to School 17 and then to its current location in 1980. Fosdick-Masten had been closed for several years when City Honors arrived.
• Mary V. Kiefer was coordinator of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program from 1999-2007. She grew the program from an average of 16 IB Diploma Candidates to 48. She was also instrumental in implementing the policy that all juniors and seniors take IB English A1 HL. However, Mary's family, friends, and the City Honors Community lost her to cancer on October 10, 2007.
• The City Honors Foundation was started in the mid 1990s. It is a 401(c)(3) non-profit organization and its purpose is to raise money to benefit the City Honors community. It merged with the City Honors Alumni Association and the Fosdick-Masten Park Alumni Association in 2007.
• The Mary V. Kiefer International Baccalaureate Endowment Fund was created in March 2008. The purpose of the fund is to help the IB program grow and insulate it from possible budget cuts.
• City Honors moved back to the Fosdick Masten location after being displaced for two years due to reconstruction. The school reopened on September 8, 2010. The reconstruction added a new building to the property to provide the students with a proper sized gymnasium as well as an indoor swimming pool. The new building also includes multiple new classrooms. The reconstruction project helped improve and update classrooms in the main building as well.