Woodlawn High School (Birmingham, Alabama)
| Woodlawn High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
|
5620 First Avenue North Birmingham, Alabama 35212 United States |
|
| Coordinates | 33°32′31″N 86°45′07″W / 33.542°N 86.752°WCoordinates: 33°32′31″N 86°45′07″W / 33.542°N 86.752°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Public |
| Motto | Commitment to excellence |
| Established | 1916 |
| School district | Birmingham City Schools |
| Principal | Jesse Daniel |
| Faculty | 48 |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 857 |
| Student to teacher ratio | 18:1 |
| Color(s) | Green and gold |
| Athletics | AHSAA Class 6A |
| Nickname | Colonels |
| Website | www |
Woodlawn High School is a four-year magnet high school in Birmingham Alabama, United States. It is one of seven high schools in the Birmingham City School System. The school colors are green and gold, and the mascot is the Colonel. Woodlawn competes in AHSAA Class 6A athletics.
Woodlawn High School was established in 1916 when the community of Woodlawn was annexed into the city of Birmingham. The present building on 1st Avenue North was designed by architect William B. Ittner of St Louis, Missouri, in association with Birmingham architect Harry B. Wheelock. Charles Hall was the contractor for the construction, which was completed on January 30, 1922.
The initial enrollment was 901, of whom 700 were transferred from Birmingham's Central High School, which was then being reconstructed after a fire. The dedication was held on February 3 of that year. The student body selected chose "Junior Colonels" as their team name and gold and white as their school colors.
An addition to the school was completed in February 1926 and the school's 4,208-seat athletic stadium was completed in 1929, with eight classrooms and a small auditorium underneath. A large mural around the proscenium arch in the high school's auditorium was painted between 1934 and 1939 by Sidney van Sheck and Richard Blauvelt Coe for the Works Progress Administration. It is the largest WPA mural in the South. The school was further expanded with a $282,000 "delta-shaped" two-story band and shop building, completed before the 1954 fall session.
After World War II, white flight resulted in the loss of many middle-class families in the Woodlawn area. The situation was greatly accelerated by the desegregation of Birmingham City Schools, beginning in September 1963. In the ensuing decades the school deteriorated along with the neighborhood's economic profile. Conditions reached the point where the school was repeatedly placed on the state's "Academic Alert" list. Extracurricular activities were dropped in favor of at-risk counseling and programs for unwed mothers. The building itself became so dilapidated that teachers would walk to McDonald's rather than use the school's bathrooms. There was discussion of closing the school before a decision was made to renovate it for use as a magnet high school with a smaller enrollment.
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