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18 • Thursday, July 28, 2022
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GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY Homewood High Was Built From Scratch 50 Years Ago
By Anne Ruisi
Courtesy
Homewood yearbook photo
H
omewood High’s colors are red, white and blue, but this year gold has been added to that palette as the school celebrates its 50th anniversary. The road to opening the system’s first four-year high school was challenging, one that involved temporarily housing students at multiple locations and persuading Shades Valley High School seniors from Homewood to skip their final year there and go a completely new school, Michael Gross, Homewood High’s first principal, recalled. It couldn’t have been done without the support of the students, parents, faculty and community, he said. Parents were the initial driving force to break away from the Jefferson County School System and form the Homewood School System, Gross said. “A lot of parents felt they were paying more than their fair share (for) education. Parents were paying a lot of money in taxes,” he said. When he started teaching at Homewood Junior High in 1964-65, there were 40 students in a class and none of the classrooms had air conditioning, Gross said. So a group of parents approached thenMayor Bob Waldrop, who was on board with the idea. Waldrop, Gross and noted educator Mamie Foster, who was from Homewood’s Rosedale community, met and strategized what it would take to form a school system. At the time, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Jefferson County schools were under a court order to racially integrate schools that had long been part of Jim Crow Alabama, so a federal court had to grant permission for a new school system to be formed. Ensuring integration was a moot point, Gross said. “The key thing about it is Homewood had a black community, Rosedale. In 1968-69, Jefferson County had a court order to desegregate Homewood and they had no problem integrating. The kids played together, knew each other,” Gross said. The city of Homewood set up a school board in 1970-71 and appointed the first
The Vietnam War was raging at the time and students had strong feelings of patriotism ... Over 90 percent voted for the now-familiar Homewood Patriot, a Revolutionary War soldier, and the school colors of red, white and blue. school superintendent, Virgil Nunn, who came from the Fairfield School System. “He was a very fine gentleman who knew what he was doing. He was a great leader for the school system,” Gross said, adding that one of Nunn’s first jobs was to hire a principal for the new high school. Nunn recruited Gross for the position. One of his pressing goals was to ensure the junior high was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a high school when the seniors were affiliated with it. Then accreditation had to be obtained for the new high school. These are crucial designations demanded by colleges considering student applications. Accreditation was achieved under Gross’ leadership. By the time the school system was formed, high school students from Shades Valley High were transferring to the new system grade by grade, with grades 8-11 already at the old Homewood Junior High School.
Moving to a New Home
The new $5.2 million high school – $36.8 million in today’s money – was being built on Lakeshore Road, and it was Gross’ job to persuade students who would have been seniors at Shades Valley High in the 1971-72 school year to transfer to Homewood. “They weren’t happy. I told them, you seniors are the leaders of the school,” and they came, Gross said. A problem facing school officials in the first semester was that the old junior high already was crammed to the gills with students and there was no room for the senior class. Some shuffling was needed. The junior high was a couple of blocks north of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church and near Trinity United Methodist Church, and both offered to let the school system use its Sunday school rooms as temporary classrooms, Gross said. So, for the fall 1971 semester, the seniors went to Dawson and eighth graders used the
The city of Homewood set up a school board in 1970-71 and appointed the first school superintendent, Virgil Nunn, who came from the Fairfield School System. One of Nunn’s first jobs was to hire a principal for the new high school. Nunn recruited Michael Gross, shown above in a photo from 1972, for the position.
classrooms at Trinity. In December, the new high school was nearing completion, and “everyone was so excited about forming the new high school. Everyone pulled together. That made my job easier,” Gross said. Cooperation was the key not only to forming the new school system and building the new high school, but in furnishing it, Gross said. The plan was to move into the school right after the Christmas holiday, but the furniture wasn’t delivered until the week before Christmas, the same week final exams were being held. “I offered to let them take exams or help set up the furniture,” Gross said of the senior class. “Almost 100 percent helped.” About 300 seniors pitched in to set up desks, chairs and other school furniture, and the high school opened just two days later than other systems following the break. The first day in the new facility began with See HOMEWOOD, page 20
As their school celebrates its Golden Anniversary, the Homewood Patriot Marching Band and its auxiliaries also are celebrating their 50th anniversary and marking the milestone with a reunion, an alumni pregame performance with the Homewood Patriots Marching Band and other activities Sept. 23-24. The event will kick off Sept. 23 at 6:25 p.m., when the 50th Reunion Alumni Band members will march into Waldrop Stadium for their pre-game performance on the field, according to information on the reunion website, www.homewoodband.org. The Homewood Patriots will play Pinson Valley at 7 p.m. The 450-member Homewood Patriot Band, the Star Spangled Girls, the Patriot Guard, the drumline and the drum majors will be celebrated at the pregame performance, said Terrence Cobb, an assistant director of bands. On Sept. 24, tours of the Homewood High fine arts wing will be available, followed by lunch and a video slideshow on the band over the past 50 years. For more information, contact director of bands Chris Cooper at: ccooper@ homewood.k12.al.us.
Homewood yearbook photo
Reunion, Alumni Performance Set for Patriot Band Celebration
