Pompano Beach High School

Pompano High School was founded in 1928, in Pompano Beach, Florida, to address the growing need for secondary education in northeastern Broward County. The first class to graduate from Pompano High was the class of 1928, which had only twelve students.

The school's sports teams were called the Beanpickers after the part-time job that many of the school's students had in the formerly agricultural area of the time. The Beanpicker was also the name of the school's yearbook, which was first published in 1943.

In 1947, following the merger of the towns of Pompano and Pompano Beach, the school changed its name to Pompano Beach High School. In 1957, construction began on NE 6th Street to create a new campus to facilitate the growing community. In 1958, the student body changed the name of the school's sport teams from the Beanpickers to the Golden Tornadoes. In 1960, a new football field, gymnasium, theater, classrooms and new offices were built. The school moved to its present location on March 14, 1960 and was at last developing with a full range of offered courses, sports, civic organizations and clubs.

In the 1980s, however, changing population trends and westward migration led to lower attendance rates, and in 1985, Pompano Beach High School closed for 12 years amid much political controversy and community protest. Its campus was then temporarily used as a center for adult education and community programs.[10]

In 1997, the school was resurrected as a satellite campus of Blanche Ely High School called the Pompano Beach High School Institute for International Studies. Later, it once again became a school in its own right. Almost always known simply as Pompano Beach High School, it was Broward County's first all-magnet school,[11] specializing in "International Affairs with Informational Technology." Located on the 1960 campus, the school grew to fill the buildings it had once occupied, with the exception of several buildings that had come to be used in the intervening years by the City of Pompano Beach and by the Broward County School District. In 2001, the first class graduated from Pompano since the school's closure in 1985.[4]

In February 2004, the school's name was shortened to Pompano Beach High School. On April 13, 2004, a newly built campus opened adjacent to the older campus. On this new campus, the school's current cafeteria, library, offices, and classrooms are contained in a single three-story building. The new facility boasts a totally wireless environment with high-speed connectivity, a 3:1 student to computer ratio and a network with multiple servers. The school transformed their classrooms into 21st century digital models to include interactive "smart" boards, ceiling-mounted LCD projectors, and sound and voice amplification systems to help teachers meet student needs. A new auditorium was completed in 2005, which the school uses for concerts, plays and special guest presentations. The two original gyms are still in use and have been renovated. The buildings that had been used by the school since its 1997 reopening were demolished to make room for the school's parking lot.

Despite having been closed for 12 years in recent history, the school maintains some connections with its long past. Volume 64 of the Beanpicker was published in 2007; the volume numbers for the years 1985–97 were skipped. Alumni from the school's earlier days continue to meet for reunions.