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Virgil Grissom High School

7901 Bailey Cove Rd

Tel: (256)428-8000

Virgil Grissom High School serves 1,742 students in grades 9-12.
The student:teacher ratio of 18:1 is equal to the AL average of 18:1.
Minority enrollment is 26% of the student body (majority Black), which is less than the state average of 44%.
Virgil Grissom High School operates within the Huntsville City School District.
Huntsville City School District's 69% graduation rate is lower than the AL state average of 74%.

The student:teacher ratio of 18:1 has stayed the same over five years.
The school's diversity score of 0.43 is more than the state average of 0.32. The school's diversity has stayed relatively flat over five years.

	This School	(AL) School Average
Student : Teacher Ratio	18:1	18:1

American Indian	n/a	1%

Asian	4%	1%

Hispanic	6%	6%

Black	14%	33%

White	74%	56%

Hawaiian	n/a	n/a

Two or more races	2%	2%

All Ethnic Groups
Diversity Score The chance that two students selected at random would be members of a different ethnic group. Scored from 0 to 1, a diversity score closer to 1 indicates a more diverse student body.	0.43	0.32

Eligible for Free Lunch Families meeting income eligibility guidelines may qualify for free and reduced price meals or free milk. These guidelines are used by schools, institutions, and facilities participating in the National School Lunch Program (and Commodity School Program), School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program.	22%	47%

Eligible for Reduced Lunch Families meeting income eligibility guidelines may qualify for free and reduced price meals or free milk. These guidelines are used by schools, institutions, and facilities participating in the National School Lunch Program (and Commodity School Program), School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program.	3%	5%

Huntsville City School District's student population of 23,199 students has stayed relatively flat over five years.
The district's graduation rate of 69% has decreased from 98% over five years.
The revenue/student of $11,413 is higher than the state average of $9,721. The district revenue/student has grown by 13% over four years.
The district's spending/student of $12,863 is higher than the state average of $10,229. The district spending/student has grown by 13% over four years.

School District Name	Huntsville City School District
Number of Schools Managed	41	6
Number of Students Managed	23,199	2,879

Graduation Rate	69%	74%

District Total Revenue	$270 MM	$28 MM

District Spending	$304 MM	$29 MM

District Revenue / Student	$11,413	$9,721

District Spending / Student	$12,863	$10,229

School Statewide Testing	View Education Department Test Scores

Source: 2015 (latest year available) NCES, AL Dept. of Education

Virgil I. Grissom High School is a public 9th through 12th grade high school in Huntsville, Alabama. It is known academically as one of Alabama's finest public high schools.
The high school's building is well-known for having no windows. This was changed, however, with the addition of a new science wing in 1997. This added about 5 windows to the school. Grissom's building is divided into "pods", lettered A-H on the first floor and AA-HH on the second. The building itself follows a roughly octagonal format. Students jokingly refer to the school as "Grissom Penitentiary" because of the symmetric design.
Grissom is also home to many productive sports teams.The school also has numerous social, academic, and athletic organizations, or clubs.
Academically, the school has had much success. Grissom's math teams and academic team are among the best in the state of Alabama, and they have also earned national recognition.
The school is named for astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, and its mascot is affectionately called "Gus." Gus Grissom was nearly drowned during a space capsule retrieval in the Pacific Ocean when the hatches prematurely opened following explosive bolt actuation. He was killed in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Kennedy on January 27, 1967. It is unfortunate that his death has been so controversal having followed his whistleblower type activities.