Huguenot High School - History - As Part of Richmond Public Schools

As Part of Richmond Public Schools

The city school system started operating Huguenot High School in the summer of 1980. At almost the same time as the annexed area was added to the city, Richmond Public Schools began a court-ordered desegregation busing program in the fall of 1971. With its property actually adjoining the border with Chesterfield County in the Bon Air area, some of the students assigned to Huguenot High School had very long school bus rides from the East End of the city. Other students who lived close to Huguenot were assigned as far away as the former John F. Kennedy High School, located past the opposite side of Richmond's city limits in the edge of Henrico County. The river's location running lengthwise through the center of the city and the limited number of bridges in 1971 added to the transportation riding times and mileage. Within a year, white flight became evident in residential housing patterns, especially in the annexed area, where the busing program was cited as a major objection by those leaving the city. Some minority families also objected to the transportation hardships, as well as loss of traditional family participation at neighborhood schools, notably including Richmond high schools named for Maggie L. Walker, Samuel C. Armstrong, and John Marshall which had been attended by generations of some families.

In 1979, Huguenot High School became the Huguenot building within the Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe High School. Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe was created by Richmond Public Schools because of declining enrollment and the continued loss of revenue for education. It resulted in combining Thomas Jefferson, Huguenot, and George Wythe into one unique school in three widely-separated facilities. This change was implemented to reduce expenses and to create a learning environment which would meet the needs of all students. The plan was difficult to administer and suffered from transportation logistics.

In August, 1986, the Huguenot building was returned to the status of Huguenot High School and has operated as a separate school again since then. Richmond Public Schools added magnet school programs and other projects, and was released by the court-ordered busing program in the early 1990s.