Central High School (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

Add links
Coordinates: 33°11′53″N 87°32′58″W / 33.19802°N 87.54945°W / 33.19802; -87.54945
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Central High School
Address
Map
905 15th Street

Tuscaloosa, Alabama
35401

United States
Coordinates33°11′53″N 87°32′58″W / 33.19802°N 87.54945°W / 33.19802; -87.54945
Information
School typePublic, high school
Founded1979 (45 years ago) (1979)
School boardTuscaloosa City Board of Education
School districtTuscaloosa City Schools
SuperintendentMike Daria
CEEB code012690
PrincipalTeresha Jones-Hamilton
Staff47.30 (FTE) (2018–19)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment727 (2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio15.37:1 (2018–19)[1]
Color(s)Red, gray, and white
   
MascotFalcons
Websitewww.tuscaloosacityschools.com/chs

Central High School is a

Tuscaloosa City School District along with Paul W. Bryant High School and Northridge High School.[2] Central High School offers the International Baccalaureate program.[3]

History

Central High School was formed by the merger of Tuscaloosa High School and Druid High School in 1979 in response to a federal desegregation order. The school operated on two campuses, a west campus (West Central) made up of the former Druid High property and enrolling grades 9 and 10, and an east campus (East Central) on the former Tuscaloosa High grounds enrolling grades 11 and 12. The former mascots and school identities were discarded for a new one. Nikole Hanna-Jones of ProPublica stated that the consolidated school "emerged as a powerhouse that snatched up National Merit Scholarships and math-competition victories just as readily as it won trophies in football, track, golf."[4]

In 1998, the desegregation order was lifted by judge

Sharon Blackburn. In August 2000 the district board voted to establish two new high schools, and to reduce Central's attendance boundary to a majority black area. This led to what could be referred to as the re-segregation of Tuscaloosa high schools.[4] Even though the high school students took a vote to rebuild Central as one high school encompassing all four grades, the city council[citation needed] decided that instead they would build three separate high schools.[4] Two new high schools, Bryant and Northridge, were opened in 2003. That same year the population of white students at Central dropped to three people, ample evidence of said re-segregation. This separation also resulted in the Tuscaloosa city high school system, CHS especially, dropping from a 6A school leading to a decline in the city's athletic standing as a powerhouse among schools in the state of Alabama at the highest level.[citation needed] Central High declined academically after the opening of new schools.[4]

In 2004, all Central students were transferred to West Central so that East Central could be demolished for a new Central High facility. The $31 million school building was completed in 2006 and houses all current Central students.[5]

Clarence Sutton, Jr. became principal in 2010.[4]

Demographics

In 2014 the student body was 99% black, and 80% of the students were designated as low income.[4]

Curriculum

For a five year-period in the post-2000 era, no Advanced Placement (AP) classes were offered at Central High. The post-2000 school began offering physics classes in 2013.[4]

Culture

For a period in the post-2000 era the school had no yearbook nor a school newspaper.[4]

Academic achievement

The State of Alabama designated it as a failing school in 2014,[4] and was on the same list in 2017. The percentages of students in grades 9 and 10 in the 2015-2016 school year declared in "need of support" for subjects were, in the reading field, 68.6% of the total students and 44% of students taking the ACT, and in the mathematics field, almost 91% of the total students and about 65% of those taking the ACT.[6] The school was removed from the failing schools list in 2019.[citation needed][7]

Alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c "Search for Public Schools - Central High School (010336001608)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  2. ^ Central High School - About the School Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , retrieved July 23, 2007; Our Schools Archived August 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved July 23, 2007.
  3. ^ International Baccalaureate Program - Central High School Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved July 23, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hanna-Jones, Nikole (April 16, 2014). "Resegregation in the American South". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  5. ^ Alison Schmitke, "Teaching Brown in Tuscaloosa", Rethinking Schools, Vol. 20, No. 2, Winter 2005/2006; Jonathan Shaw, "New Central Expected to Make Community Proud", West End Journal, April 9, 2007.
  6. Tuscaloosa News
    . Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  7. ^ Bullard, Savannah (January 21, 2019). "Central High School Off Alabama Failing Schools List". WVUA 23. Retrieved April 16, 2020.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Central_High_School_(Tuscaloosa,_Alabama)&oldid=1216196243"