Near North Career Metropolitan High School

In November 1974, The Chicago Board of Education decided to phase out Cooley High due to its poor academic performance and the aged building. In March of the following year, The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the board decided a newer and modern school needed to be constructed on the near–north side to replace Cooley. When it became time to decide a location for the school, CPS decided to build the new school on the land where Cooley stood. City council and white community members argued that Cooley's location would only serve the residents of Cabrini–Green, a predominately African–American housing project located within walking distance (as Cooley did over time) and that students from other neighborhoods would be afraid to travel through the housing project.

After years of debating about the location of the new school, The board voted on what they considered a neutral location for the school in August 1977. The location was a vacant landfill north-west of Cooley, bordered by North Avenue to the north, Clybourn Avenue to the south, Larrabee Street to the east. The chosen site, named the Larrabee-Ogden-Clybourn triangle was the location of the former Sieben Brewery which was demolished by the 1950s and the Isham YMCA.^[10] Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic and schools superintendent Joseph P. Hannon led the groundbreaking ceremony for the new $8–million school building on November 23, 1977.^[11]

In April 1978, construction began on the school and was completed in three phases. On September 5, 1979, the school opened as Near North Career Magnet High School with a student body enrollment of 600; with the student demographic being 47% African-American, 32% White, 18% Hispanic and 3% Other. The school had a magnet program and offered IB courses in addition to classes in vocational courses such as: horticulture, hotel-restaurant management, ophthalmic assistant training, graphic arts and auto mechanics through the Education To Careers (ETC) program.^[12] At the time of its opening, the school was still under construction with only 19 classrooms and laboratories completed.^[2] Due to this, Vocational classes began in March of the following year. The late start led to a large percentage of white Near North students from areas outside of the school boundaries becoming disgusted and transferring out by mid-school year.

By the middle of the 1979–1980 school year, Near North's student demographic was 70% African-American, 15% White, 10% Hispanic and 5% Other.^[13] Near North's 4–year drop-out rate for the class of 1982, Students who began their freshmen year at Cooley was 59.6%. The drop-out rate was 8.5% after the 1983–1984 school year. By April 1985, Near North had an enrollment of 1,073 students, 899 African-Americans, 78 Whites and 65 Hispanics. The school was renamed to Near North Career Metropolitan High School during the 1986–1987 school year.^[14]

Near North competed in the Chicago Public League (CPL) and was a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The schools' sports teams were named Huskies. Near North boys' football team were Class 4A one time during the 1988–1989 season under the leadership of coach Lowell Bouck.^{[citation needed]}

American politician, then-Colorado state senate Gary Hart spoke at the school during his presidential campaign in March 1984.^[15][16] In June 1998, A 18-year old student was arrested and charged with setting off a half-stick of dynamite in one of the school bathrooms.^[17]