Frederick Sasscer High School

1958 photograph of FSHS's front entrance

Frederick Sasscer High School, also known as Frederick Sasscer Junior/Senior High School ("FSHS"), was a mid-20th century secondary school located at 14201 School Lane, Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland United States of America. FSHS' historical importance and its character lie in its roots in the Town of Upper Marlboro, Maryland (“Upper Marlboro”) (geographic coordinates: 38.815424125130434, -76.75859627498714). This article presents the school from a socio-historical perspective from the early days before the public school system was installed through modern times.

The annotated map below shows the layout of Upper Marlboro, its town limits, its central business district (CBD), and the sites of FSHS and its predecessor schools.

Annotated map of Upper Marlboro, Maryland

The scope of this article centers on FSHS and its predecessor schools which, until racial integration, were for the most part reserved for white students. Much has been written on Upper Marlboro’s schools for black children during and after segregation (see Marlboro Colored High School and Frederick Douglass High School) with little or no coverage of FSHS available by way of search engine queries. The goal of this article is to fill in this largely missing piece of recorded, readily-searchable history.

Methodology

This article relied on deep secondary- and tertiary-research into independent, reliable, credible, and verifiable sources to identify notable material. The methodology involved: (1) locating sources and assessing source credibility; (2) collecting information from these and supporting sources; (3) cross-referencing and associating the information to identify associations through pattern recognition, cause and effect, and multiple perspectives analysis; (4) documenting references used; (5) drawing conclusions; and (6) presenting, and preparing to defend, the results in a research-quality Wikipedia article.

There was virtually no information about the school found in readily-available search engine queries. Rather, most information was obtained through searches of subscription-based, digital newspaper content archives. This deeper research produced scores of usable references, which were documented as in-text footnotes.

The research endeavor also involved contacting the Prince George’s County Board of Education and Prince George’s County Historical Society by email to explain the purpose of the research and its benefits, to request assistance in locating specific pieces of information, and to verify sources of certain published information. Neither organization responded, tending to confirm a theory that the county is not interested in the history of schools and education equally across all populations.

Early history of the Town of Upper Marlboro

In the context of the history of the United States, Upper Marlboro, which was settled in or about 1695 , stands as one of the early successful European settlements. Upper Marlboro was known in earlier years as Marlborough Town, a period during which it was designated a port town, then later as Upper Marlborough to differentiate it from Lower Marlborough in Calvert County. Ultimately, its name was shortened to Upper Marlboro in the late 19th century for convenience.

Upper Marlboro was the birthplace of the first Catholic archbishop and Georgetown University's founder John Carroll as well as a tobacco trading center in colonial America. Upper Marlboro became the seat of county government for Prince George's County in 1721. As such, it was, and is, the site of the county courthouse. With these attributes, Upper Marlboro became “the social, political, and commercial center of Prince George’s County.”

Upper Marlboro also became a central location for education in Prince George's County with elementary, junior and senior high schools, including FSHS. FSHS, in addition to being a modern facility offering a modern curriculum for its time, was a product of the history of Upper Marlboro, its people, its economy, its history, and its culture.

The history of secondary education in Upper Marlboro

The evolution of education in Upper Marlboro has been influenced by societal changes, education policy, economics, and technology. Before embarking on the story of secondary education in Upper Marlboro, the joint topics of racial segregation and integration are discussed in building a foundation because they are, together and separately, inextricably woven into the fabric of the history of education in the town, the county, and the state.

Pre- and post-segregation

From America’s colonial days up until the mid-20th century, schools in Upper Marlboro and elsewhere in Prince George’s County and other counties in Maryland were segregated, first by custom then by law. An 1874 Maryland law required black and white children to be educated separately. In 1924, another Maryland state law reinforced the policy of racially segregated schools. In 1954, in the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the United States Supreme Court ended segregation, yet Prince George’s County moved slowly toward school integration for the next decade. For instance, Maryland enacted a provision that permitted some integration. Under this provision, schools were encouraged to allow students to voluntarily attend schools closest to their homes ("freedom of choice" policy), but, even then, this policy was not widely publicized so the uptake was limited.

Segregation characterized the history of schools in Upper Marlboro for most of its history, although a few black students began attending FSHS in the early- to mid-1960s as the result of relaxed segregation mandates. By 1965, the Prince George’s County Board of Education was moving forward with a plan to integrate 80% of the school population by 1967. At the time, there were only 20 black students enrolled at FSHS, with the school board’s expectation that there would be 311 black and 419 white students enrolled in September 1965.

In Upper Marlboro, some local white families did not accept the school board’s integration decision. A group protested to the school board on June 30, 1965, predicting that there would be “a holocaust in the county” if the board’s plan were to be implemented. They urged the board to return to the “freedom of choice” policy. In September 1965, the same speaker who predicted a holocaust, admitted: “Yes, it’s [integration's] been peaceful. The plan has been a success so far.” By then, FSHS had 365 black and 565 white students as well as 14 black teachers. Later, in February 1967, FSHS Principal Vernon Houts reflected on the integration: “They [the white students’ parents] feared the walls were going to come down…They thought the place would be defaced—even that kids were going to be carved up.” Principal Houts stated that people who relied on “free choice to achieve integration…are only kidding themselves. It won’t happen.” In the end, in terms of numbers, integration was successful.

An interesting aside to this topic was the issue of assigning mixed race students to either white or black schools. This included students with complex racial backgrounds in southern Prince George’s County, including some students with the surnames Proctor, Newman, Savoy, Queen, Butler, Thompson, Swann, Gray, and Harley who attended FSHS and other white schools. A number of these students were multiracial, possessing a mix of Piscataway Indian, white and black ancestry. This raised the question of criteria used to differentiate “white” and “black” students for the purpose of school selection. Research did not reveal that Prince George’s County had a formal process or test for assigning race (e.g. brown bag test, one-drop rule, comb test) but, rather, likely did so by evaluating physical appearance in the context of social understanding of characteristics of different racial groups. This topic is outside of the scope of this project; however, the topic would benefit from additional research.

Early schools

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As noted earlier, Upper Marlboro, Maryland was an early colonial settlement that developed into a small county seat and tobacco trading center town in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The areas around Upper Marlboro were rural, largely devoted to crop production and livestock. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were plantations and estates, wealthy gentry, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers who occupied these lands. The population was a blend of rich, middle class and poor and, in terms of race, white and black. As this land was mostly rural, poor whites and blacks and the rich and poor often lived, not in separate neighborhoods, but as rural next-door neighbors.

The economic and racial mix of the population around Upper Marlboro gave rise to a range of different educational arrangements: church schools, local schools organized by towns or groups of parents (including private academies), tuition schools organized by “traveling schoolmasters”, charity schools for the poor, boarding schools for the rich, “dame schools” run by women in their homes, and private tutoring and home schooling.

In Upper Marlboro, the privately funded Upper Marlborough Academy (a/k/a Upper Marlboro Academy, Marlboro Academy) was established in 1835. The school consisted of two rooms--one serving as the school room and one as a bedroom for the teacher. At the beginning, the school was restricted to boys with girls allowed to attend by 1840. In 1844, 42 boys and 18 girls attended. In 1867, a girls’ building was added. As early as 1839, subjects (“branches”) taught were: “Latin and Greek languages; Greek and Roman antiquities; Elements of General History; Natural Philosophy and Chemistry; Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry; Mensuration (measuring), Navigation, and Surveying; [as well as] all the lower branches of English education.” In 1843, the fixed salary of Marlboro Academy’s principal was advertised to be $700 per annum.

In 1840, by act of the Maryland legislature, the Academy became publicly funded. In 1908, the Marlboro Academy building was transferred to the Board of County School Commissioners, and the private academy became a public high school. A new high school building would be constructed at the location some 12+ years later.

The move toward common schools

During the 1830s and 1840s, Massachusetts legislator Horace Mann recommended the establishment of publicly funded “common schools” for all children. The purpose was to “create a learned, literate, morally-sound, and productive citizenry for the young nation.” The idea spread throughout the country. As previously noted, the Marlboro Academy became publicly funded in 1840.

Maryland was a relative latecomer to a central system of public education. After several failed attempts, in 1865, Maryland moved from local schools to a highly centralized, compulsory school system consisting of “of free primary schools, grammar schools, one high school per county, a normal school, and a university, as well as separate schools for Negroes, the blind, deaf, handicapped, and the imprisoned.” Funding sources were different for white and black schools with funding for the latter to be derived from taxes paid by blacks. Public funding for private academies continued only until public high schools could be established.

Frederick Sasscer, Jr., who was Superintendent of Schools for Prince George’s County from 1902 until 1914, commented in 1920 about the new Marlboro High School (a/k/a Upper Marlborough High School) being built on the site of the Marlboro Academy: “May the new High School building soon to be erected embody in its conveniences all the comforts of the new age, and may the children of the present generation and of generations to come find keen delight and rich enlightenment within its walls! On March 12, 1921, the new Marlboro High School, built on the site of the former Marlboro Academy, was reported as completed. On May 19, 1921, the new school was dedicated.

Marlboro High School had eight classrooms, offices and a library with rooms for home economics and other vocational training. The new school was “equipped with electric lights, two large furnaces, and a basement…used as a gymnasium.” The building was enlarged over the years with eight additional classrooms and an auditorium. Grade school students also attended. The Marlboro High School, and the Marlboro Academy before it, laid the educational foundation for the FSHS, which would be built several decades later.

After that, the Marlboro High School building was used as a primary school, known as Marlboro Elementary School, until 1974.

Frederick Sasscer High School (1948 – early 1970s)

The site for the school

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FSHS was built west-southwest of Upper Marlboro’s CBD just within the current town limits as shown in the town map presented earlier. The property “was purchased for the new Marlboro High School in 1945.” FSHS was constructed on this land in 1947 and opened in 1948 to address overcrowding at Marlboro High School with dedication occurring on June 16, 1949. The school was named after the previously noted school superintendent Frederick Sasscer, Jr. (1856-1929). Mr. Sasscer also served as principal of the predecessor Marlboro Academy, was a lawyer, and served as editor of the Prince George's Enquirer and its successor Enquirer Gazette, which still exists today and which was used as a source for some material in this article.

Frederick Sasscer, Jr., FSHS’ eponym

The Sasscers were prominent nineteenth century landowners in Upper Marlboro. Their roots in the town can be traced to the 1760s. The 1894 Hopkins map portrayed below suggests that the land on which FSHS was built (land boundaries highlighted in blue with the school’s entrance pinned in red) was originally part of the Sasscer family’s property holdings (see Hopkins map original annotation “Fred Sasscer”). For orientation as to the school’s location, Upper Marlboro’s CBD is visible as marked by the small black squares just to the east northeast of FSHS.

1894 Hopkins map of the Upper Marlboro area with later FSHS property highlighted

The photograph portrayed below is a 1938 aerial view of the land on which FSHS would later be built (property boundaries highlighted in blue with the school’s entrance pinned in red). Again, the buildings in Upper Marlboro’s CBD are visible just to the east northeast of FSHS.

1938 aerial view of the Upper Marlboro area with later FSHS property boundaries highlighted

A historical feature of the land on which FSHS was built was the Chesapeake Beach Railway (“CBR”) line that ran along the western border of the property. The railway was chartered in 1891, fell into receivership in 1894, and was then resurrected with the line being completed in 1899. (A closer look at the previously presented 1894 Hopkins map reveals a symbol for the railroad track (|-|-|-|) running diagonally from the top center left to the bottom center right of the map.) The train track was laid between 1891 and 1901 at which point in time the train began operations for several decades until 1935. Further, the remains of the railway right-of-way can be discerned from the two parallel, diagonal lines of trees in the 1938 aerial photograph above.

Shown below is a c. 1910 photograph of CBR’s Upper Marlboro train station that once stood near to where FSHS would be built and immediately before the railroad tracks crossed Crain Highway (the white road depicted below the highlighted school grounds in the preceding photograph).

Photograph of Chesapeake Beach Railway (“CBR”) Upper Marlboro station (c. 1910)

The FSHS building

The expression she “was just a twinkle in her father’s eye” is a metaphor for the image of an unconceived child created in the mind of a prospective father. It was 1944, nearing the end of World War II, and Prince George’s County officials were already thinking about the need for new schools to accommodate pent-up demand and, perhaps, anticipating the coming “baby boom.” A school construction program was to be launched “as soon as materials are available” to deal with the many “overcrowded and 'antiquated’” schools in the county. One of these planned projects was “[a] new junior-senior high school at Upper Marlboro to accommodate about 350 pupils.” In Upper Marlboro, that “twinkle” would materialize as Frederick Sasscer High School.

By mid-1946, an artist’s conception of the proposed “New Marlboro High School” or “Marlboro Junior and Senior High School” had been approved. The new school was to “include 10 classrooms, an auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria and library” for an approximate cost of $500,000. The school’s plans were delayed by the Civilian Production Administration, an American federal agency created in 1945 to oversee the transition from the wartime to peacetime economy, “because of a lack of building materials”.

1946 artist’s conception of FSHS

A $2.2 million bond issue was requested on June 11, 1947, to fund construction of the now-named Frederick Sasscer High School and other new schools in the county. On July 9, 1947, the opening date for receipt bids for FSHS was set for August 12, 1947. By that time, the planned number of classrooms had been increased from 10 to 14 along with an auditorium, gymnasium, and cafeteria, and the school was to be constructed of brick and concrete block. Notice was given that bids would be opened on August 26, 1947. On August 27, 1947, notice was given that the bid due date for FSHS was delayed until September 9, 1947. The bids, as received, were “considerably higher than expected,” with the school superintendent suggesting that the cost should be some $100,000 less. A school board session was set to study the bids. On September 24, 1947, the FSHS construction contract was awarded to Irons & Reynolds for $976,747. On November 6, 1947, architects’ sketches of the planned FSHS along with those of Oxon Hill High School and Cheverly -Tuxedo Elementary School were exhibited in Annapolis, Maryland. Announcement was made that FSHS would be completed on or about December 1, 1948.

“Marlboro’s $1,000,000 Frederick Sasscer high school” was dedicated in ceremonies on June 16, 1949. The principal speaker was United States Representative Lansdale Sasscer of Maryland, who was the son of Frederick Sasscer, Jr. for whom FSHS was named. Sasscer noted that “completion of the new school was a perfect example of the ‘booster’ spirit needed in every community.” A total pupil enrollment of 530 was expected by September 1949 with service to students of “Upper Marlboro, Croom, Forestville and intermediate areas.” As completed, FSHS had 19 classrooms, up from 10 in early planning and from 14 in later plans. The auditorium, gymnasium, library and cafeteria were also built as planned. With the opening of FSHS, the old Marlboro High School was to be converted into an elementary school.

In April 1961, a contract was awarded to build an addition onto FSHS. The contract for the 22-room addition to FSHS was awarded to Cee Bee Construction, Inc. for $680,340 with an expected completion of September 1962.

By the mid-1960s, FSHS had been built on the former Sasscer lands and had already served students for 17 years. The school, as expanded earlier in the decade, can be viewed in this 1965 aerial map (FSHS visible within land boundaries highlighted in blue with the school’s entrance pinned in red). In this version, buildings in Upper Marlboro’s CBD are clearly visible just to the east northeast of FSHS.

1965 aerial view of the Upper Marlboro area with FSHS property highlighted

A 2025 photograph of the entrance to what was FSHS is presented below. The as-built building is remarkably similar to the 1946 artist’s conception drawing presented earlier. The school’s façade had not changed substantially in the more than 75 years that passed since the school’s construction. The auditorium sits to the left of the entrance and the cafeteria sits to the right in the photo.

2025 photograph of the former FSHS’ entrance

Using the 1965 aerial map as a base, FSHS’ functions and relative locations have been annotated to depict the school’s layout as it appeared in the mid-1960s. Of note, the part of the school designated with the circled number “11” is the addition made to FSHS in the early 1960s as noted earlier. For orientation and coordination with the current school entrance photograph, the circled letter “C” notes the school’s main entrance, the circled number “5” notes the auditorium, and the circled number “8” notes the cafeteria. What appears to be the old railway right of way noted earlier is indicated by property lines and highlighted with the circled letter “D”.

FSHS’ functions and their relative locations annotated on 1965 aerial map

In its early years, FSHS was one of only two schools in the county that had an auditorium and a gymnasium. The auditorium, which had a stage with public address system, props, dressing rooms, and “elaborate” lighting system, could seat about 500 people.

When the Frederick Douglass High School (“FDHS”) opened in 1960 to accommodate black students, the former building, which had first been known as the Marlboro Colored School (a/k/a Marlboro Colored High School), was unoccupied. When FSHS needed expansion space to accommodate its growing student population, and before its addition was constructed in 1962, the old FDHS was repurposed into what was known as the FSHS “Annex”, to which FSHS students were shuttled to and from the main building by school bus. Later, the building was again repurposed, this time into the Prince George’s County Board of Education administration building. In 1982, the building was demolished. Some sources report that the old FDHS had been directly converted into the Board of Education building in 1960, but this claim does not recognize that the building had been first used as the FSHS Annex after FDHS opened.

Old Frederick Douglass High School (later FSHS Annex then Board of Education headquarters)

The Catchment area

In FSHS’ early days, students were drawn from almost half of Prince George’s County, geographically “…from Glenn Dale to Forestville to Brandywine.” As the County grew and experienced population shifts, FSHS’ catchment area changed. For example, as the more northerly parts of the country developed, DuVal High School in Glenn Dale was opened in 1960 to accommodate student population growth and, later, Largo High School in Largo was built. When Belair at Bowie was established in the early 1960s, students attended FSHS until Bowie High School opened in 1965.

As the years went by, FSHS’ students were moved to these and other newer schools elsewhere in the county until the FSHS facility was no longer needed as a school.

The FSHS culture

In a previous section, the early demographics of Upper Marlboro and vicinity were noted as including “…wealthy gentry, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers who occupied these lands.” In more modern times, the population became even became more diverse, including farmers ranging from those who were wealthy to those who were of more moderate means to those who were poor; white-/blue-collar workers commuting to government and private enterprises in Washington, DC and its suburban areas; small to large business enterprises; and more. That meant that education needs became just as diverse, from college-prep/ academic to business/ secretarial to vocational/ agricultural.

There were informal social class divisions as well, mostly attributed to “…local families with deep roots [in Upper Marlboro]” Eugene Meyer of the Washington Post wrote about these families at Marlboro High School: “Buck, Wyvill, Chaney, Beall, Baden, Moore, Pumphrey, Tippett, Wells, Hall, among others.” In quoting, Meyer continued: "Sasscer, Wyvill--that was highbrow. They were friends in school, but then they'd go different paths. It was definitely a class thing…The children of the gentry attended public elementary school, then often went off to boarding schools and college.” Even though these comments came from the era just before FSHS opened, the cultural legacy of Upper Marlboro lived on, perhaps stronger in FSHS’ earlier days, then relaxing as the years passed.

Despite social class differences, there was a unifying culture at FSHS centered around a number of cultural artifacts including the school’s alma mater, translated literally from Latin to mean “nourishing mother” or “kind mother”. FSHS was, figuratively, the nourishing, kind mother. The term has come to mean the school’s anthem. FSHS’ anthem was:

FSHS' Alma Mater

FSHS’ alma mater was put to music and sung by students, faculty and staff at various events to express loyalty and pride, to instill school spirit, and to connect the past with the present. In the end the alma mater serves as a unifying force.

Programs and clubs

For a good portion of FSHS’ mid-20th century life, senior high students (grades 9 through 12) could select from several educational tracks: academic (for college preparation), business/ commercial (for secretarial and office career preparation), vocational (for trades and agricultural preparation), and general (for students who have not yet chosen a career). At the time, FSHS was one of only two high schools in the county to offer vocational agriculture. Courses offered in each educational track were geared towards the students’ career aspirations. All students were required to successfully complete a certain number of course credits, including those in mandatory subjects (e.g. English, math), to graduate.

In junior high school (grades 7 and 8) at FSHS, a “core” program provided those essential subjects that students were required to master to prepare for their futures. The mandatory subjects included English, math, science, social studies and the like. Generally, core subjects were taught by one teacher in a single session over a period of several hours each school day.

Supplementing the more scholastic coursework, FSHS offered its students a wide variety of optional clubs, organizations and activities in which to further pursue their abilities and interests and in which to apply knowledge they obtained from the coursework. Examples included:

• Student Council
• Future Teachers of America (FTA)
• Future Farmers of America (FFA)
• Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
• Future Nurses Club
• Future Homemakers of America
• Industrial Arts
• Ornamental Horticulture
• Art Illustrators
• Dramatics
• Debating Society
• Math Lab
• Spanish Club
• Science Clubs
• Junior and Senior High Choruses
• Concert Choir
• Band
• Majorettes
• Library Club
• Dance Club
• Glee Club
• Elm yearbook staff
• Participation in activities such as public speaking, audio visual assistance, and newspaper production.

Driver education taught students laws and responsibilities associated with and provided hands-on experience in driving. And there were sports activities: physical education (for all) and sports teams (soccer, basketball, and baseball at FSHS for those who were interested and had the abilities), cross country, intramurals, and cheerleading.

Education did not end with the young. FSHS offered adult education as well, including courses in beginning and advanced typing and shorthand, ceramics and woodworking offered in the evening.

This comprehensive array of classwork and activities served to develop the minds and the bodies of students.

Educational technology

FSHS may have been situated in a small town in a largely agricultural area, but it did have its advanced technologies for the era.

The Washington Post newspaper writing in 1958: “The home economics department is very modern. It is provided with six kitchen units, a sewing unit which consists of about 15 sewing machines (both electric and treadle), a laundry unit which has an electric washer and dryer, and a living room suite.”

FSHS had one student, Charles Von Garlem, who was homebound because he had contracted polio. The Washington Post wrote: “Microphone-and-speaker telephones are installed in the classrooms and in [the student’s] home. These work as an intercommunication system and bring him right into the classroom…[the system] keeps him in two-way communication with his teachers and fellow students.” Charles, who was an “A” student, was selected to be the senior class salutatorian for his 1960 graduating class. At that time, when many locals still shared telephone lines with their neighbors (“party lines”) and some did not have telephone service at  all, accommodations made for Charles were technologically advanced.

Social and community events

FSHS held social events for its students from proms to plays to band/ orchestra concerts and choral performances. And, particularly earlier in its history, FSHS also hosted a variety of external events. On March 6, 1953, FSHS’ senior class performed the three-act mystery play, You’ll Die Laughing, at the school. The associate conductor of the Air Force Band and Symphony Orchestra conducted the FSHS band on the school’s steps on May 6, 1955.

On September 30, 1950, the Forest Garden Club held its first flower show at FSHS. Training for 4-H Club leaders was held on February 3, 1951. On May 5, 1951, a folk festival was held to show the importance of recreation in community life. Charity events to raise funds for a new home for a family whose two children were killed and home destroyed by the crash of a “crewless bomber” were held at FSHS in May 1951. In July 1951, an announcement was made that Prince George’s County Police recruit training would be held at the school. The Prince George’s County Science Fair was held at FSHS in March 1952. Demonstrations on the production and use of home-grown foods were held at Sasscer on October 8, 1951. On November 28, 1952, the Maryland Tobacco Co-operative held its annual membership meeting at FSHS to discuss farm problems. In March 1955, the Prince George’s Teachers’ Players performed Papa is All in the FSHS auditorium. In May 1958, FSHS sponsored an earth satellite exhibit for the public in the library.

A few of the triumphs and the challenges

Even before FSHS opened, school sports teams from Upper Marlboro were recognized for their accomplishments. In 1919, the local newspaper article proclaimed: “For the third consecutive year, the Marlboro High School boys won the soccer championship of Prince George’s County…”. Then, in 1954, FSHS became the Prince Georges County-wide soccer champions.

In basketball, FSHS was, during its existence, considered to be an “…aggressive, well-balanced club”. Of note was Phil Cranford (Class of 1962), who “finished his last and most successful season for Frederick Sasscer High School’s basketball team…with 475 points in 18 games.” Then, in 1967, FSHS won the Maryland Class B basketball championship, receiving a commendation from the Prince George’s County delegation to the Maryland legislature.

In 1950, the National Education Association issued a stamp bearing the then year-old FSHS in honor of American Education Week, November 5-11. In its early years, FSHS served as a showcase well beyond Upper Marlboro with the school’s modern design and features, such as the large auditorium, gym, and wide range of programs. In 1952, principals from three Pennsylvania schools toured FSHS to witness for themselves what the school had to offer.

Although the regular assignment of police onsite in schools began in the 1950s in some urban areas, FSHS was able to largely maintain a safe, harmonious educational environment without police presence. There were occasional conduct issues, but the FSHS administration was able to manage most of those internally. There were some incidents, however, that required police intervention.

In the early days of FSHS, on March 27, 1950, a 13-year-old FSHS junior high student died while playing Russian roulette. He was at home when the accident happened.

Then, five years later, in April 1955, the “Great Chicken Caper” took place. There was a “[l]oss of 250 chickens, which were being raised as a project of the FFA [Future Farmers of America] chapter …” at FSHS. Police investigated to find that the “crime” was perpetrated by dogs that had been attacking cattle, sheep and poultry in the area. Almost 10 years into the life of FSHS, in 1958, there was an incident that could have come from the script of the 1957 musical West Side Story, a “prearranged ‘rumble’” that (almost happened) at FSHS. The rumble arose from a fight between two boys at an earlier soccer game. The participants, who were not from FSHS, were greeted by county police in a half dozen squad cars upon their arrival in about a dozen vehicles at FSHS for the fight. Police made 19 arrests and seized “…a lead pipe, wire cable, a metal fist role, a play gun, and unworkable .32-caliber pistol and a nightstick…”. Adult participants were charged with disorderly conduct, and juveniles were released to their parents.

In a typical, more juvenile act in 1961, four FSHS high school boys celebrated their upcoming graduation by painting the nearby water tower with “61 – Class – 61”. They also painted the FSHS parking lot. The matter was handled internally with the boys agreeing to paint over the letters on the parking lot with paint that they purchased and to pay to have the water tower markings removed.

On May 7, 1974, after FSHS became a junior high school, a 12-year-old seventh grader was killed when he was run over by a school bus as he ran from his last class and between two school buses.

Perhaps, more symptomatic of the changing times, in November 1979, a junior high teacher at the school was charged with cocaine distribution and other drug crimes.

The wind down of FSHS

For most of its existence as a school, FSHS housed students junior and senior high school students, from grades 7 to 12 although, at one time, there were some sixth-grade classes held at FSHS and, towards the end of its time in the early 1970s, the school taught junior high school students only until it no longer served as a school later in the decade.

The liminal period (early 1970s to 2006)

As FSHS wound down as a high school, students in grades 9 through 12 were dispersed to other Prince George’s County schools including Bowie High School (in Bowie, Maryland), Largo High School (in Largo, Maryland), Frederick Douglass High School (the formerly all black school in nearby Croom, Maryland), and DuVal High School (in Lanham, Maryland). In the late 1970s, the former FSHS building was repurposed as the Sasscer Administration Building, the headquarters of the Prince George’s County Board of Education.

For the next three decades, there was no high school located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland proper. As most population growth was concentrated in central Prince George’s County east of the Capital Beltway as contrasted to south county and further from Washington, DC, during this period, school construction was focused on the areas of most growth.

The new(est) Marlboro high school: The Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School (2006 – Present)

In 2006, a new high school, tentatively dubbed “the new Upper Marlboro high school” was opened. But the new school could not have been more different than FSHS or its predecessor schools in Upper Marlboro in terms of location, culture, original demographics, size, or cost. Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School (“HWHS”), as the newer school was named, is discussed in some detail here for comparison and contrast between past and the present education systems in this part of Prince George’s County.

First, HWHS is not located in the Town of Upper Marlboro. Although the school carries an Upper Marlboro mailing address, it is located at 12650 Brooke Lane outside of the town limits in unincorporated Prince George’s County some three miles from the town’s CBD. The cultural ties to Upper Marlboro are very different from those of FSHS and its predecessor schools to the extent that such ties exist at all today.

Reflecting the broader demographic changes in Prince George’s County, when the new school was built to serve students in the Upper Marlboro area, the school was named after Henry A. Wise, Jr., a war hero as a World War II pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen and the first black physician to practice at Prince George’s Hospital Center. Dr. Wise was born and raised in Cheriton, Virginia, and lived in Lanham and Bowie. There was no evidence that he had ties to the Upper Marlboro area.

HWHS opened to about 1,900 students. The student population at FSHS was approximately 750, (±100), making HWHS two to three times FSHS’ student body size. Whereas FSHS and its predecessor schools were designated for white students until schools were desegregated and, even then, primarily for whites, today’s HWHS has a 97.9% non-white enrollment, meaning 2.1% are white. The demographics have essentially flipped.

HWHS’ cost of construction in 2005-06 was $92 million; in contrast, FSHS was constructed in 1947-48 for about $1 million. HWHS was 92 times more costly than FSHS to construct. In 1948, when FSHS opened, the per student cost for education in Prince George’s County averaged $100; in 2025, the county’s cost for education averaged $17,122 per student, over 171 times more expensive. By comparison, the United States’ Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) saw a ninefold increase from 1948 to 2006 and an almost fourteenfold increase from 1948 to 2023.

When HWHS was built, the Washington Post noted that it “…far surpasses the other 21 major high school campuses in the county.” The building provided:

"…a 5,000-seat gymnasium (larger than any other in the county school system), an indoor track circling the gym's upper level, an auxiliary gym, a 950-seat performing arts center with box seating designed in an acoustic-enhancing style similar to the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, an intimate black box theater, a weight room, a cardio fitness room, a mirrored dance room, an aerobics room, a band room, a vocal music room, three lecture halls, three computer labs (each with 30 new Dell desktops), a greenhouse and more. Lots more.

That is what $92 million can buy."

HWHS has a much wider program offering than did mid-century schools in Upper Marlboro, including FSHS. The school offers programs in business and finance, health and biosciences, information technology, and child growth and development. HWHS’ career and technical education programs help students to “gain the skills, technical knowledge, academic foundation and real-world experience they need to prepare for high-skill, high-demand, high-wage careers” as contrasted to academic/ college prep programs. Its “Sources of Strength” suicide prevention and mental health program is one that earlier high school students did not have. As noted earlier, FSHS’ program offerings were more limited: academic, business/ commercial, vocational, and general.

When HWHS opened, Prince George’s County School Superintendent John E. Deasy commented that the new school was both “…an opportunity and a challenge -- an opportunity to start a new high school's culture from scratch, a challenge to establish academic standards on par with the extraordinary physical structure of the campus, “, continuing that “[i]t's not about the space…[i]t's about what they do with the space." Yet, a couple of decades later, with the superior, modern facilities and wealth of programs, learning at HWHS is not impressive. For 2024, HWHS had a graduation rate of 79% (1 out of 5 students did not graduate), the school’s math proficiency is 8%, and its reading proficiency is 40%. The school’s college readiness rating is below that of other schools. Out of 17,656 high schools nationwide, HWHS ranks in the bottom half, positioned at 9,714 with a U.S. News & World Report overall score of 44.98/100.

FSHS’ students did not have the incredible resources available to HWHS students, yet FSHS’ students learned the knowledge, skills and abilities they needed to succeed in college or whatever career and other life choices they made. There were high school dropouts, for certain, but not because of academic failure but more often because they were needed for work on their family farms.