A Look Back at Longfellow Career Exploration Academy

Before bulldozers raze Henry W. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy this summer, echoes of laughter filled the campus Friday during an open house for current and former students to reflect on the decades-old school.

The Longfellow school is moving into a new building adjacent to its current campus in August. It opened in 1947 as an elementary school on the outskirts of Dallas, with only the Inwood Theater across the street and before Inwood Village was developed.

Longfellow was also one of the first racially mixed schools in Dallas ISD because of the district’s decades-long desegregation case in the 1960s. School leaders and alumni called its integration natural because of the diverse neighborhoods near its East Dallas location.

History of Longfellow Career Exploration Academy

The school closed in the late ’70s and later reopened in 1984 as a magnet middle school, focusing on academically gifted students and career exploration programs. It’s consistently top-ranked, earning three National Blue Ribbon School awards.

“(Alumni) have all sort of doubled back down into wanting to be involved, … supporting the school, talking to kids, being a career speaker, all those things,” said M. Scott Tatum, Longfellow’s principal.

It was a day for reminiscing as Jaidan Ward (right), 8th grade Physics teacher, documents the moment by capturing a photo of school alumni (from left) Lybo Lynn Buchanan, sister Viki Buchanan and Kim Sweatmon. The three attended Longfellow in the 1960s. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy hosted an open house celebration for their new Dallas ISD campus at the current location at 5314 Boaz Street in Dallas on May 23, 2025. (Steve Hamm / Special Contributor)

Notable Alumni and New Campus Features

Notable Longfellow alumni include former city council candidate Tom Dunning, DISD Police Department Sergeant Cynthia Izikire, and at least three current DISD principals. Former First Lady Laura Welch Bush started her teaching with second graders at Longfellow in 1968.

Longfellow’s next library will be named after Bush, Tatum said. The new campus has specialized spaces for students to build skills in the school’s six career pathways — business, law, culinary arts, multimedia, STEM and career/college readiness — a new production studio for filming and spaces that look more like a high school to inspire students, he said.

Efforts to preserve Longfellow’s legacy include plans to feature a physical timeline of the school’s history, the installation of the school’s building name letters, part of the old gym floor with the hand-painted Longhorn logo and mid-century design elements, including a vintage 1950s yellow, Tatum said.

The New Campus and Funding

The new $63 million campus is funded through DISD’s $3.47 billion bond, approved by voters in November 2020 in an effort to repair or replace the district’s aging infrastructure.

Longfellow’s replacement campus has the capacity for 650 students.

Workers were busy at the construction site of the new Longfellow Career Exploration Academy as an open house celebration for the new Dallas ISD campus was held at the current school at 5314 Boaz Street in Dallas on May 23, 2025. (Steve Hamm / Special Contributor)

Enrollment and Excitement for the New Campus

It ended the school year with 450 students, and enrollment is expected to increase to 525 at the new campus, Tatum said.

“Once everybody sees what the new building is going to be like, they’re going to be thrilled,” said Tom Dunning, a former student. “It’s going to be the most up-to-date middle school in Dallas.”

During the event, Dunning reminisced and laughed about his school days with several former classmates in front of Longfellow. Their chatter joined the chorus of excitement among the current students celebrating the last day of school.

Reflections and Memories

Inside Longfellow, current and former teachers joined current and former students in writing notes of encouragement throughout the building’s walls. Substitute teacher Carolyn Galvan wrote “every end is a new beginning, embrace the future” and “your journey is just beginning” in between hugs with several students and parents.

“It’s amazing. I told myself I’m not going to be emotional,” Galvan said. “I signed up for another year of substituting. I hope I see it.”