Crooms Academy of Information Technology
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| Crooms Academy of Information Technology | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| 2200 West 13th Street Sanford, Florida 32771 United States |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Rich in Tradition, Pride, and Vision. "Make it a great day or not. The choice is yours." |
| Established | 1926, 2002 in present form |
| School district | Seminole County Public Schools |
| Principal | Dr. Connie E. Collins |
| Faculty | 63 |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Students | ~581 |
| Color(s) | Orange & Maroon |
| Mascot | Panthers |
| Website | http://www.croomsaoit.org |
Crooms Academy of Information Technology (CAIT), locally called Crooms, is a technology magnet school located in Sanford, Florida, known for being one of the few schools in the U.S. that issues laptops to every student. Crooms is much smaller than many U.S. high schools, having a little more than 500 students.
Contents |
[edit] History
Crooms Academy was originally founded by Professor Crooms as the county's first high school for African-American students. In 1970 however, Crooms lost its identity and became a school for students with behavior problems and pregnant teenagers. Soon, it became a school for students who struggled academically.
In 1973, the original building burned down and the other neglected buildings deteriorated. In 2000, the school was rebuilt into a school for information technology.
[edit] The Buildings
The campus itself consists of a two story building consisting mostly of classrooms and computer labs (Building 1), a gym (Building 3), and a cafeteria (Building 2). The cafeteria building also houses four classrooms and a computer lab. The small size of the campus allows for a capacity of approximately 600 students.
[edit] The Technology
Dell is the number one supplier of the technology at Crooms. Each student is issued a laptop based on grade level and return condition of previously issued laptops.
Being a small, technology based school, it has many features that other high schools do not have. Because of the constant need to repair the students' laptops, the school has a repair location officially called Laptop Central, which is commonly called the Sickbay. While a student's laptop is in the Sickbay, there is usually a desktop computer for the student to use to do his/her work. Also, the school library is more technology based, with charging stations for the laptops, and only a few shelves of books and magazines. Because of this, it is called the Cyber Center. There is an iMac lab on campus, to ensure that students can learn how to use the Mac OS.
Students pay an insurance fee ($50) and a battery replacement/user fee ($60) to help cover the costs of upkeeping the laptops. The school also uses SMARTBoards in most of the classrooms. The SMARTBoards act like regular whiteboards except there is no ink or marker waste, things "written" on the board can be saved to the computer, and it is easy for students to use. A standard projector connected to a computer shows the image on the board. It usually has 4 pens (Black, Blue, Red, and Green) for students to write with and an eraser tool. The SMARTBoard is connected via a USB port to the computer.
Many students who are technologically savvy have shown their skills in various ways, some make programs, others build computers, and some have created websites.
[edit] Current
For the 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 school years Crooms was rated an A. [1]
Crooms Academy was also recently ranked as one of U.S. New's Top 100 Best High Schools in the country for 2008, moving from a bronze to silver medal. [2]
[edit] References
"2006-2007 School Grades." Florida School Grades. June 2007. Florida Department of Education. 23 Aug 2007 http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/xls/0607/SGschool20062007.xls
"Best High Schools." Crooms Academy of Information Technology: Best High Schools - USNews.com. 03 Jan 2009 http://www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/florida/crooms_academy_of_information_technology
