The line separating the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, which runs along Eldert Lane from Atlantic Avenue, passes through the school and the cemetery adjacent to it.

The school is named for Franklin Knight Lane, United States Secretary of the Interior during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson.

The school was included in many case studies produced by the United States Government as well as private foundations, for its turnaround and for its safety in the midst of urban decline and deterioration.

To address the problems of students with difficulty attending school, the SOAR program was initiated and recognized by the Federal Government for excellence.

During the 1980s and 1990s, led by the school's magnet Law Studies Program students were attracted from various parts of New York City, many of whom went on to attend prestigious universities, such as Columbia, Cornell, NYU, and Syracuse.

On March 8, 2004, the New York Daily News' front page headline "City's Worst School" led to a story in the newspaper regarding the poor academic performance, low graduation rates, violence, and students transferring out in large numbers due to those problems.

[6] In December 2007, the Department of Education announced that Franklin K. Lane would be phased out due to consistently poor performance.