As written by Knowles Adkisson of the Berkeley School of Journalism, "The new institution was meant to be a model for California and the country.

In response, the RUSD instituted the Richmond Voluntary Integration Plan, where students were bused from a relatively large geographic area.

The sons and daughters of skilled African-American tradesmen walked the halls with students whose parents worked for Bank of America in San Francisco, and oversaw academic departments at the University of California, Berkeley."

That environment contributed to what became known as the Camelot era at the school, named after the term used for the administration of President John F.

These trends developed over decades, and can be seen especially in the case of John F. Kennedy High School in Richmond, California."

[4] From 1971 to 1977, the California Supreme Court decided the Serrano v. Priest cases, which were intended to equalize revenue for school districts in the state.

The school continued to send students to top colleges, including the ivy leagues, and athletic programs remained strong.

Richmond was losing businesses and hence jobs, leaving families from previously middle-class areas in poverty.

Adkisson writes, "The storm of dark events that enshrouded the city of Richmond and its unified school district from 1988 to 1993 is almost unbelievable, in retrospect.

Economic and social epidemics struck locally, just as the school district was about to undergo its greatest crisis since the city quintupled in population during World War II....Richmond was emblematic of trends occurring in urban communities across the country, as the manufacturing sector collapsed and crack cocaine worked insidiously through the inner cities.

By the turn of the century, the situation had become so severe that the initials of the school, JFK, were said to stand for Jail For Kids.

[3] In 2010, Kennedy nearly closed due to budget cuts, but the city of Richmond kept it open with an allocation of $1.5 million.

[18][19] In 2011, the school joined 'The Mock Trial' program, which is designed to create a collegiate culture and help students develop a working knowledge of the judicial system.

[22] During the same year, the school instituted the 'WriterCoach Connection', a program built on personalized instruction that pairs teachers to work one-on-one with students, with the goal of helping them think critically and write with confidence.

[3] The school competes in the Tri-County Athletic League of the Bay Shore Conference in California's North Coast Section.

For the rest of the decade and through at least 1992, Kennedy sent one or more players each year to a Division One college football program on scholarship.

[36][37] It serves both the school and the community, providing a laboratory where participants can perform personal digital fabrication and teachers can employ project-based learning techniques.