Homewood Middle School
Homewood Middle School, located at 395 Mecca Avenue on the corner of Valley Avenue, is the only school in Homewood City Schools serving grades sixth, seventh, and eighth. Enrollment in 2016 was 927 students. The principal is Joel Henneke. The school's colors are red, white, and blue and the school teams are called the Patriots.
History
As an institution, the school was founded as Homewood Junior High School, part of Jefferson County Schools, in 1956. At the time, the school was an intermediate step between the local elementary schools and Shades Valley High School. The original building was located at 1108 Frisco Street, three blocks north of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church. The school's sports teams were originally known as the Indians.
When Homewood began its own school system in 1970, the school became a part of it. In the late 1970s, it was renamed to Homewood Middle School. Within a few years of the name change, the school adopted the Patriots mascot to match Homewood High School.
New campus
In 1998, the Homewood Board of Education began investigating whether to renovate the school or build a new one. In 1999, the Board hired architects Giattina Fisher Aycock to conduct a study on the matter. Ulitmately, it was decided to build a new school. Property containing The Club Apartments on Valley Avenue, which was adjacent to the existing middle school campus, was purchased for construction of the new school in 2001. Demolition of the apartments began in 2002.
Giattina Fisher Aycock designed the new school and the Brasfield & Gorrie firm acted as construction manager. Several ecology-friendly measures, such as separating scrap materials, were implemented during construction and energy-saving measures were incorporated into the school's design in an effort to get Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the United States Green Building Council. The effort succeeded, resulting in the new Homewood Middle School becoming the first school in the nation to receive LEED certification.
The new school opened to students on January 4, 2005. Subsequently, the old school building was mostly razed. Plans have called for the campus to be renovated to house offices for the Homewood Board of Education.
Principals
- Joseph Prickett (1956–1966)
- Michael Gross (?–1972)
- Jack B. Walden (1972–1975)
- Don Cornutt (1975–1992)
- John Dedrick (?–1998)
- Cindy Cason (1998–2001)
- Patsy Stanley (2001–2004)
- Bill Cleveland (2004–2007)
- Kevin Maddox (2007–2008)
- Martin Nalls (2008–2013)
- Jimmie Pearson (2013–2020)
- Joel Henneke (2020–present)
Accomplishments
External Links
- Homewood Middle School website
References
- "Homewood Weighs Middle School Options." (August 26, 1998) The Birmingham News
- "Guidance Sought on Rebuild vs. Renovate." (September 15, 1999) The Birmingham News
- Hickerson, Patrick (August 27, 2003) "Homewood Wants 'Green' Title on New Middle School." The Birmingham News
- "Homewood Middle designed to conserve energy." (March 4, 2005) Birmingham Business Journal Web version.
- "Dream of New HMS Is a Reality." (n.d.) Retreived October 19, 2006 from [1].
- "Southern area set to see lots of growth in 2007." (January 3, 2007) The Birmingham News