History
The school originally opened as Southwest Junior High School in the 1950s, in an area near what is now the Florida Institute of Technology and a historically black neighborhood in the south Melbourne area. At the time, Stone Middle School was serving as a school primarily for black students in the area, serving multiple grades. As desegregation progressed, the schools were re-purposed as Stone became a middle school with white children being bussed in from all neighborhoods south of New Haven Avenue (US 192). Shortly thereafter, Southwest became Palm Bay Senior High. Southwest Middle School was reconstituted within Palm Bay in 1988.
There was some controversy regarding the school's chosen graduation venue in 2005, which was an auditorium in a local Calvary Chapel facility which featured a large cross shape carved into the wall behind the stage. A suit was filed in court by the families of two Palm Bay Senior High students, in an attempt to block the usage of the religious facility for a secular public school ceremony in favor of a secular venue. The judge presiding over the case ruled that it was too late to change the venue (and thus that the 2005 graduation ceremony of Palm Bay Senior High School, as well as those of several other local high schools, would proceed as planned in the Calvary Chapel facility), but that in following years the Brevard County public schools would have to find a secular venue for graduation ceremonies.
In 2006-2007, Palm Bay had the highest reported incidence of behavioral offenses within the school district's traditional high schools. This could be due to high reporting standards which could vary among schools.
Read more about this topic: Palm Bay High School
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