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1973 – 2011
Founded: East Allen County Schools' high school for southeast Fort Wayne, at 6501 Wayne Trace. It is named for Paul Harding, superintendent of New Haven's schools 1954–64 and the first superintendent of the consolidated East Allen corporation (1964 until his death on August 7, 1968). A 1965 Ball State University study for the new corporation recommended the school; the board commissioned the architects Schenkel & Shultz on March 31, 1969, and the building rose on a 97-acre site on Wayne Trace between Paulding and Tillman Roads. The school was established in 1973.
Course: Enrollment peaked at 1,235 in 1974–75. By its final year Harding served about 600 students and was in its fifth year on state academic probation.
Fate: Under Superintendent Karyle Green's redesign plan, presented September 21, 2010 to cut costs and answer falling enrollment, the EACS board voted 6–1 on October 5, 2010 to close Harding and seven elementary schools at the end of 2010–11. Harding closed on June 10, 2011; its students were redistributed to New Haven, Leo, Heritage and Woodlan high schools. The building reopened in two parts: Paul Harding Junior High School (grades 7–8) and East Allen University, an early-college magnet high school in partnership with Vincennes University, which opened in August 2012 in the same building.
Sources:
- Paul Harding High School (Wikipedia) — established 1973; the namesake; the 1965 study and 1969 commission; peak enrollment; the 2010–11 closing.
- East Allen University (Wikipedia) — formed 2012 in the Harding building.