Willow Street High School, Franklin, 1955 & Park Avenue High School, Franklin, 1967
Willow Street High School was located at 1400 Willow Street. Known initially as St. Mary Parish Training School, it was later renamed Willow Street High School. The high school had thirteen classrooms, a cafeteria, and a gym. In 1943, James Allesandro Hernandez, a native of Verdunville, became principal. He was among the first African Americans in St. Mary Parish to obtain a college degree. He was the first African-American in the parish to register to vote, the first to serve on the parish grand jury since Reconstruction, and the first appointed by the school board as a supervisor. Hernandez graduated from the College of Liberal Arts at New Orleans University, later known as Dillard, and later obtained his master's degree. By 1952, the school had become overcrowded. Despite large classes, understaffing, and inadequate buildings, it maintained an AA classification among schools in the state, the highest classification. In 1963, the St. Mary Parish School Board accepted plans for a new school with 32 classrooms. The new building would later be known as Park Avenue High School, and Hernandez played an instrumental role in its construction. After integration in 1970, Park Avenue High School became Franklin Junior High, located at 525 Morris Street. The former high school on Willow Street became Willow Street Elementary and is presently known as J. A. Hernandez Elementary School.