Huntsville City Schools is the school district serving Huntsville, Alabama. As of the 2025–26 school year, the system had 23,816 students and employed 2,894 personnel.https://www.huntsvillecityschools.org/page/district-overview The district oversees 43 schools: 26 PreK-elementary schools, 11 middle schools, 6 high schools, 1 Virtual School, and 3 magnet schools.
The school system finished the 2010 fiscal year with a debt of nearly $20 million the largest of any school system in Alabama by a significant margin. However, after Casey Wardynski was appointed superintendent, he worked to erase the school system's debt and bring the budget into surplus.
It is partially within Madison County, - Text list and partially in Limestone County. - Text list
History
In 2014 officials from the school district began monitoring social media activity from students. The officials stated that a phone call from the National Security Agency (NSA) prompted them to do so.Stephens, Challen. "Huntsville schools say call from NSA led to monitoring students online." Alabama Media Group. September 24, 2014. Retrieved on September 25, 2014. In the 2013 fiscal year it paid Chris McRae, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to run this program."Huntsville schools paid $157,000 to former FBI agent, social media monitoring led to 14 expulsions" (). AL.com. November 1, 2014. Retrieved on November 3, 2014.
On April 13th, 2026, Huntsville City Schools achieved unitary status in two areas of its 2015 consent order with the US. Department of Justice. This action released Huntsville City Schools from federal supervision in the areas of Faculty/Staff and Extracurricular Activities.
Feeder pattern Huntsville City Schools has five feeder patterns. Huntsville City Schools also hosts five schools that fall outside of any feeder pattern.
Columbia Feeder Pattern Columbia High School
Williams Middle Williams Elementary Providence Elementary
Morris Middle Morris Elementary Ridgecrest Elementary
Grissom Feeder Pattern Grissom High School
Challenger Middle Challenger Elementary Farley Elementary
Mountain Gap Middle Mountain Gap Elementary Weatherly Elementary
Whitesburg Middle Whitesburg Elementary Chaffee Elementary McDonnel Elementary
Huntsville Feeder Pattern Huntsville High School
Hampton Cove Middle Hampton Cove Elementary Goldsmith Schiffman Elementary
Huntsville Junior High Blossomwood Elementary Jones Valley Elementary Monte Sano Elementary Sonnie Hereford
Jemison Feeder Pattern Jemison High School
McNair Junior High Dawson Elementary Highlands Elementary Lakewood Elementary Rolling Hills Elementary
Lee Feeder Pattern Lee High School
Chapman Middle Martin Luther King Jr Elementary Montview Elementary
Elementary schools
Academy for Academics and Arts (magnet) Academy for Science and Foreign Language (magnet) Blossomwood Elementary Chaffee Elementary Challenger Elementary Dawson Elementary Farley Elementary GoldSmith Shiffman Elementary
Hampton Cove Elementary Hereford Elementary Highlands Elementary Jones Valley Elementary Lakewood Elementary Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary McDonnell Elementary Monte Sano Elementary Montview
Morris Elementary Mountain Gap Elementary Providence Elementary Ridgecrest Elementary Rolling Hills Elementary Weatherly Heights Elementary Whitesburg Elementary Williams Elementary
Middle schools
Academy for Academics and Arts (magnet) Academy for Science and Foreign Language (magnet) Challenger Middle Chapman Middle
Hampton Cove Middle Huntsville Middle McNair Jr. High School Mountain Gap Middle
Whitesburg Middle Williams Middle
High schools
Columbia High School Virgil I. Grissom High School Huntsville High School
Jemison High School Lee High School New Century Technology High School
Others Community Intensive Treatment for Youth (C.I.T.Y.) (alternative school) Huntsville Center for Technology (vocational school)
Priority schools The Alabama Department of Education publishes data on schools labeled as "Priority" schools in the state. This is in conjunction with the Alabama Accountability Act. To be labeled "Priority", they must be designated as priority by the state superintendent or receive a D or F on their state report card. The following Huntsville City schools were placed on the state priority list as of the 2024 school year: Artemis Virtual Academy Jemison High School Whitesburg Middle School Ronald McNair 7-8
Former schools
Chapman Elementary School J.O. Johnson High School S.R. Butler High School R.L. Stone Middle School Terry Heights Elementary School Fletcher E. Seldon Center Ed White Middle School Davis Hills Middle School
Board of Education
District 1 - North Huntsville (Currently held by Chaundra Jones) District 2 - East Huntsville (Currently held by Holly McCarty, Third Presiding Officer) District 3 - South Huntsville (Currently held by Andrea Alvarez) District 4 - Downtown Huntsville (Currently held by Ryan Renaud, Vice President) District 5 - West Huntsville (Currently held by Carlos Matthews, President)
Officeholders are current as of 4/26/2026https://www.huntsvillecityschools.org/page/board-of-education
Revitalization Currently, a major overhaul of the cities school facilities and curriculum is occurring. In 2012, a new digital curriculum was issued, giving all students laptops and increasing digital usage for teaching. This was done to take advantage of the growing use of computers and to help give students easy access to information and organization. In 2011, a $194 million five year capital plan was granted by the Alabama Board of Education to the Huntsville City School System. With this, the city plans to renovate and construct new facilities for many of its aging campuses. These include a new Blossomwood Elementary School, New Freshman Academy for Huntsville High School, construction of a new building and campus for the combination of Lee High School and New Century Technological School, construction of a new Whitesburg Elementary, Virgil I. Grissom High School (the cities largest student body), and J. O. Johnson High School. Renovations and consolidations for many other of the cities schools is also planned. Columbia High School attracted national attention in August 2026 for its football team breaking a 101-game losing streak. It defeated Greensboro High School 41–14.
References
External links
Huntsville City Schools website "Demographer recommends closing nine Huntsville public schools" in The Huntsville Times, 2011