Hueytown High School

Hueytown High School is a four-year public high school in the Birmingham, Alabama suburb of Hueytown. It is one of fourteen high schools in the Jefferson County School System. Hueytown competes in AHSAA Class 6A athletics. According to the website "Niche.com" Hueytown High was ranked #48 among the "Top fifty Alabama High Schools for Athletes" in 2020, one of only two Jefferson County School System schools to be so recognized among the state's more than 347 high schools. Student profile Enrollment in grades 9-12 for the 2013-14 school year is 1,113 students. Approximately 51% are white, 43% are African-American, 4% are Hispanic, and 2% are multiracial. Roughly 52% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Hueytown has a graduation rate of 88%. Approximately 89% of its students meet or exceed state proficiency standards in mathematics, and 85% meet or exceed standards in reading. The average ACT score for Hueytown students is 22. History The first Hueytown High School began classes on February 25, 1921, with students who had transferred from Bessemer High School. Creation of the high school was long championed by W. R. Copeland, who had for many years been Principal of Hueytown Grammar School and later an Assistant Superintendent of Education for the Jefferson County School System. Hueytown High would be one of six new high schools (along with Powderly, Jones Valley, West Jefferson, Warrior, and Mortimer Jordan) in the Jefferson County system around that time. Minor High School followed in 1922. That first Hueytown High School had an enrollment of just 66 students with 25 seniors in the first graduating class that followed in 1922. Mr. Harley F. Gilmore was named the first principal and athletic director by the school board on May 6, 1920, nine months before the first classes began. He was paid an initial annual salary of 2,400 dollars. He would serve as principal from 1920 until his retirement in 1956. His thirty-six year tenure as principal is the longest in school history. He was commonly referred to as "Professor Gilmore" and the school's original football stadium (built in 1933) was named in his honor. Prior to his being named Principal, he had been the Superintendent of the Athens City School System. Only six teachers served on the original staff with Mr. Gilmore.