Leeds High School

The school was established in 1911 by the Jefferson County School System. A two-story brick building was constructed for $10,000 at Parkway Drive (then called First Avenue South) and Montevallo Road. After the completion of additional classrooms for elementary grades in 1914, the school absorbed the pupils of the Leeds Academy, which closed that year.

The first athletic teams included a basketball club which debuted on Thanksgiving Day in 1914, and a football team, then called The Leeders, which took the field in 1923 under head coach N. B. Breland. A girls' basketball team began playing the next year.

Ground was broken for a new school building in 1925. It opened the next year, but was damaged in a fire in 1928 and had to be almost entirely rebuilt. The Works Progress Administration constructed a second wood frame multi-function building with a small auditorium and library in 1933. In 1938 a permanent auditorium and gymnasium was added onto the school. The basement of that building began serving as a cafeteria in 1939.

In 1954 Leeds High School relocated to the former Stadium School on Whitmire Street, which had been constructed in 1948 to serve the children of workers on the Southern Railroad. The 1926 building was demolished in 1966 to make way for a new Leeds Elementary School. Leeds High School and the previously all-Black Moton School were integrated in 1973. The high school was air-conditioned in 1977, along with the construction of a new gymnasium and classroom wing.[3]

In 2009, Leeds High School moved from Whitmire Street to 1500 Greenwave Dr. where it stands today. Whitmire St is now home to the current Leeds Middle School that moved from the Moton location.

Enrollment in grades 9-12 for the 2013-14 school year is 477 students. Approximately 55% are white, 30% are African-American, 10% are Hispanic, and 5% are multiracial. Roughly 51% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch.[4]

Leeds has a graduation rate of 96%. Approximately 82% of its students meet or exceed state proficiency standards in both mathematics and reading. The average ACT score for Leeds students is 22.[5]

Leeds competes in AHSAA Class 4A athletics and fields teams in the following sports:[6]

• Archery
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cheerleading
• Cross country
• Football
• Golf
• Indoor track & field
• Outdoor track & field
• Soccer
• Softball
• Tennis
• Volleyball
• Wrestling

Leeds has won state championships in the following sports:

• Boys' basketball (2009)
• Football (2008, 2010, 2014, 2015)
• Boys' indoor track and field (2001, 2002)
• Softball (2007)
• Boys' outdoor track and field (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005)
• Girls' outdoor track and field (2003, 2004, 2005)
• Wrestling (2015)

• Charles Barkley, former forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, and Houston Rockets
• Caitlín R. Kiernan, author and paleontologist

• Leeds High School website