Schools
The city has its own school district, the Beech Grove City Schools, but Franklin Township Community School Corporation also serves some of this region. Beech Grove City Schools consists of five facilities (Hornet Park, Central Elementary, South Grove Intermediate, Beech Grove Middle, and Beech Grove High). Its high school athletic teams, the "Hornets" (colors: orange and black) participate as members of the statewide Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), the Marion County Athletic Association and the Indiana Crossroads Conference.
The city's first school was opened in 1907 in the upstairs of the Wheat Grocery Store at 423 Main Street. Between 1909 and 1929, a series of school buildings and additions were built on the 1000 block of Main; only the original gymnasium remains from these structures. The high school was begun in 1917 and its first graduating class was in 1922.
A new combined junior high/high school was built in 1955 at 1248 Buffalo Street, just northwest of the existing school site. The previous complex became Central Elementary. The new facility operated on a split-day schedule, with high school students attending in the morning and junior high students attending in the afternoon.
By 1960, the city's growth to the south prompted the building of South Grove Elementary (later Intermediate) at the 800 block of South 9th Avenue. With the population growth, the present high school was built in 1966 just east of the 4000 block of South Emerson Avenue and the 1955 facility remained as the junior high (later middle) school.
Before the 1990s, the kindergarten education experience was only offered in the city by private specialty schools (past examples being Cassidy's and Happy Time). As part of the state's trend to incorporate this age level within the public schools, the city school system joined with the City's Parks Department in the development of Hornet Park, a dual-use facility built on the grounds of the former Olympia Club (a private swimming/recreation club). Kindergarten (and, added recently, 1st-Grade) classes are held in the south part, while the city offers meeting rooms and exercise facilities in the north part.
At different times in the city schools' history, certain grade-levels have been moved between schools. Ninth-graders were moved from high school to junior high from 1964 to 1973. Sixth-graders were in elementary school until 1977, when they were moved to middle school level, but were returned to the elementary level in 2004.
Also within the city limits are the Holy Name of Jesus School (Roman Catholic, grades pre-school to 8 only), built in 1922, and the Nazarene Christian School, grades Kindergarten through 12, (Independent Nazarene, a ministry of the Independent Nazarene Church in Beech Grove). Many students from Holy Name of Jesus continue their high school studies at Beech Grove High School or the nearby Roncalli High School.
Read more about this topic: Beech Grove, Indiana
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