Ed White Middle School

Ed White Middle School
Location
4800 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, Alabama 35810
United States
Coordinates 34°45′35″N 86°38′11″W / 34.7598°N 86.6365°W / 34.7598; -86.6365Coordinates: 34°45′35″N 86°38′11″W / 34.7598°N 86.6365°W / 34.7598; -86.6365
Information
Type Public
Motto "Flying to new heights"
Established 1969
School district Huntsville City Schools
Principal Annie C. Savage
Grades Middle school (6-8)
Enrollment 600+
Mascot Bulldogs
Information 256-428-7680
Website Ed White Middle School

Ed White Middle School was a public 6th through 8th grade middle school in Huntsville, Alabama. It was located at 4800 Sparkman Drive in northwest Huntsville.

The school was named for astronaut Edward H. White II. White was the first American to walk in space, and he was later killed in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Kennedy on January 27, 1967. Huntsville is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and has strong community ties to the space program. At the same time, the Huntsville City Schools named Roger B. Chaffee Elementary and Virgil I. Grissom High School for White's fallen Apollo 1 crewmates. The school was originally to be named Northwest Jr. High.[1] Ed White and Davis Hills middle schools were closed at the end of the 2013-2014 academic year due to low test scores, and their student bodies combined to form McNair Junior High.

Recognized faculty

Ed White Middle School teacher Marcus Taylor was one of just 60 teachers honored by the Parker Griffith Family Foundation for "dedication and desire to succeed in the classroom" with a 2006/2007 Classroom Grant award. Teacher Dennis Kimery was one of just 42 recipients of a 2005/2006 Classroom Grant award from the same organization.[2]

Science teacher Bonnie Garrett won one of 80 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards in 2007. The $25,000 check was presented during a November 2007 school assembly.[3] Garrett, who teaches biology and aerospace science, was Alabama's only Milken Educator Award recipient for 2007.[4]

Engineering outreach

In April 2001, teacher Doreen Forsythe and a group of students from Ed White Middle School visited NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to help produce some of the mirrors for Starshine 3, an Earth-orbiting satellite that resembles "a high-tech disco ball" and was designed to help study the effect of solar activity on Earth's atmosphere.[5] Ed White was one of 500 schools around the world whose students helped grind and polish mirrors for the Starshine project.

In 2002, students from Ed White Middle School participated in NASA's Earth-to-Orbit Engineering Design Challenge. Under the guidance of a mentor from the Marshall Space Flight Center, students built a scale model of a propeller designed by the Wright brothers.[6]

Teacher Roberta Freeman and engineering mentor Gregory Miley led a team of students in the 2008 National Engineers Week Future City Competition. The Alabama Future City Competition was held on Saturday, January 19, 2008, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.[7]

Facilities and structure

The school gymnasium is a Huntsville-Madison County Permitted Fallout Shelter as designated by the Madison County Emergency Management Agency. The rated capacity is 295 persons.[8]

Controversy

In late 2000, during a movement to ban corporal punishment across the state of Alabama, Ed White Middle School was one of just ten public schools in Huntsville that still used corporal punishment.[9] Paddling incidents in 2003 again made headlines but as of 2008 the policy of the Huntsville City Schools leaves corporal punishment as an allowable but discouraged practice.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Jaques, Bob (June 6, 2002). "First spacewalk by American astronaut 37 years ago. As of 2014, the Huntsville City School Board voted to retire Ed White Middle School. The school officially closed at the end of the 2013-2014 school year. Plans are moving forward to relocate the Academy of Academics and Arts to the current Ed White campus in the fall of 2015 after an extensive renovation project is finished." (PDF). Marshall Star. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. p. 5.
  2. ↑ "Classroom Grant Recipients". Parker Griffith Family Foundation. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  3. ↑ Owen, Sallie (2007-11-14). "Examples of Excellence - 'Education Oscar' Winner". Education News in Alabama. A+ Education Foundation. Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. Retrieved 2008-01-09. Science teacher Bonnie Garrett of Huntsville [...] excels at motivating "difficult to teach" students, according to her principal.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Steve (2007-11-07). "Ed White science teacher is tops". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  5. ↑ "Local students to visit NASA Marshall Thursday to help produce Earth-orbiting 'disco ball' satellite". NASA Media Advisory. Huntsville, Alabama: Marshall Space Flight Center. 2001-04-21. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  6. ↑ "The 'Wright' Stuff" (pdf). Marshall Star. Huntsville, Alabama: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. 2002-06-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  7. ↑ Hutchinson, Sonya (2007-10-07). "Alabama Students Tackle Infrastructure Safety In Future City Competition". IEEE Live Wire. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  8. ↑ "Huntsville-Madison County Permitted Fallout Shelters (Updated Apr 2007)" (pdf). Madison County EMA. Huntsville, Alabama. 2007-04-01. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  9. ↑ Stephens, Challen (2000-12-17). "South stands alone and more than one of every 10 licks lands in Alabama". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. Retrieved 2008-01-09. "However, we have to be very, very careful as far as the licks and making sure you're not too forceful," said principal Ann Savage at Ed White Middle. "That one kid can bruise easily so that the parent gets upset and files a lawsuit." Ed White is one of 10 schools in Huntsville that still use corporal punishment.
  10. ↑ Roop, Lee (2003-03-11). "Editorial: Put up the paddle--The days when corporal punishment in schools was appropriate have passed". The Huntsville Times. Huntsville, Alabama. Retrieved 2008-01-09. In Madison city schools, paddling is not an option. In Huntsville, paddling is not disallowed but is discouraged by the current administration.
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