| Hazard High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 157 Bulldog Lane Hazard, Kentucky 41701 United States |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| School district | Hazard Independent Schools |
| Superintendent | Sandra Johnson[1] |
| Principal | Donald "Happy" Mobelini[1] |
| Faculty | 18.5 (on FTE basis)[2] |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 293[3] (2009–10) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 17.1[2] |
| School Colour(s) | Navy and Old Gold [4] |
| Athletics conference | KHSAA[4] |
| Mascot | Bulldog[1] |
| Team name | Bulldogs/Lady Bulldogs[1] |
| Feeder schools | Roy G. Eversole Middle School |
| Website | www.hazard.kyschools.us/home |
Hazard High School is a public high school located in Hazard, Kentucky. The school serves about 300 students in grades 9-12 in the Hazard Independent Schools.
Hazard High School's boys' basketball team, the Bulldogs, won state titles in 1932 and 1955, and won the Kentucky All A title in 2004.[5][6] Alumni Johnny Cox and Sam Smith played in the NBA and ABA, respectively.[7][8]
The "Band of Gold" was one of ten selected to play at George H. W. Bush's presidential inauguration in 1988.[9] First entering the competitive marching scene in 1987, the Band of Gold has made it to State semifinals every year except 2006, when they did not compete, made 15 State Final appearances, and earned state championships in 1989, 1994, and 1998.[10]
The school received national[11][12] attention in 1995 when it elected senior Valerie Cornett as its first African American homecoming queen. Cornett told reporters, "The young generation is trying to move forward. Here it's like everyone's equal." [11] It had only been in 1956 and only then because of national legal rulings that Hazard High ceased to be an all-white school.[13]
For a time in the 1980s and 1990s, principals Hargas Rogers, and later Sherri Cornett, then Donald Pratt defied US Supreme Court rulings by leading the school in the Lord's Prayer each morning over the intercom.[14] In December 1995, however, school officials replaced the prayer with a moment of silence, fearing legal repercussions after the morning prayer received attention in newspaper articles. However, in the early 2000s the new principal (and Hazard High alumnus) Donald "Happy" Mobelini resumed the custom of having a student (voluntarily) recite the Lord's Prayer during morning announcements, only to abandon the custom a few short years later—most likely due to pressures from an increasingly diverse and politically correct social climate.[15]