George Washington Carver School (Coral Gables, Florida)

George Washington Carver Middle School
Address
4901 Lincoln Drive Coral Gables, Florida, Dade 33133 USA
Information
Type	Private to Public
Established	1899-1966
Status	Open
School district	Dade County Public Schools
Principal	Mrs. Shelley Stroleney
Grades	6th-8th
Campus	Suburban
Area	6 acres
Color(s)	Orange and Green
Mascot	Hornets

George Washington Senior High School, the school served grades K-12. It is located in Coral Gables, Florida, under the supervision of the Dade County Public Schools. The school opened in 1899 as a black school, for black students residing in Dade County, Florida, Florida; although it traces its beginning to an earlier private school for black children, informally known as "The Little Schoolhouse," which opened in 1899 as Dade Training School as private. When the school first opened, it served students from K-12. Because this school belonged to the black community then, the school colors followed behind Florida A&M University.

After Florida schools desegregated during the 1966-1967 (with the class of 1966 being the last class to graduate from Carver) school year, Carver became a seventh grade center. The Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores were forced to attend Coral Gables Sr. High. Most of those students called the school Carver Gables.

Some residents had thought that the school was in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood, but because of its position it is actually located in Coral Gables because Brooker St. is the line that separates the two. Therefore, when the school converted seventh grade center the former high school students (i.e., sophomores, juniors, and seniors) were transferred to Coral Gables Senior High to complete high school. Later years, it became a junior high school.

The school is named for George Washington Carver. Its colors are borrowed from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University: Orange and Green, and its mascot Hornets.

Athletics

During the High School Days of Carver, football teams used to play other high schools such as Miami Northwestern High School, Booker T. Washington Senior High of Dade County, North Dade Junior/ Senior High School, Arthur and Polly Mays Senior High, George S. Middleton High of Tampa, FL, Howard Blake High of Tampa, FL, Dillard High, Attucks High of Broward County, Gilbert High of Jacksonville, FL, Gifford High of Vero Beach, FL and others.

Alma mater

The school's alma mater was composed by Tommy Sands in 1956. "All Hail Carver, o' let us live" was sung in 1983 in a National Racism Free Zone Project (NRFZP) conference, Carver was an all-black school back then. A tradition in G.W. Carver is every Monday after the morning announcement is to recite the alma mater.

Notable alumni

• Winston Scott (astronaut)
• Jonathan Vilma (football player)

2012 School Bus Scandal

In March-April 2012, several students in the school's upper grade were accused of throwing heavy objects at passing cars from the school bus windows. On March 29, 2012, on a school bus en route to the South Miami area, one student allegedly threw a mini-building at a car, which was designed for an architecture course, and caused the car to swerve out of control and crash into the Coco Plum bridge, located in Coral Gables, Florida. Furthermore, another student allegedly cut off all the steel seat belts on a school bus and pelted them into oncoming traffic. Other incidents occurred, but through a school-wide investigation, and acquisition of suspected students' text messages, a ring of students were discovered who partook in the so-called "scalping" of automobiles. The students were tried on charges of disturbing the peace, destruction of property, and battery, by a class-action lawsuit, which was finally brought to court in December of 2014. Three students plead guilty to the offenses and each wound up with sentences of 100 community service hours each, along with a 10-session anger management course. Coverage of the scandal was featured on many local news networks, such as WSVN, and WFOR. After this incident, new rules of window construction were put in place by the Miami-Dade County Public School Systems disciplinary board.

See also

• Miami-Dade County Public Schools

External links

• Official website
• George Washington Carver Middle School at Miami-Dade County Public Schools
• George Washington Carver Middle School at Greatschools.net