Lee Williams High School is the second comprehensive high school in the town of
Kingman, Arizona
Kingman is a city in, and the county seat of, Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is located southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Arizona's ...
, operated by the
Kingman Unified School District
The Kingman Unified School District is the school district for Kingman, Arizona and nearby areas. It includes 11 schools.
Owens-Whitney Elementary School District students may choose to attend Kingman USD for high school. Additionally, since 200 ...
. It opened on August 9, 2012, a year later than originally planned.Chilton, James. "KUSD board keeps students out of Lee Williams High School." ''
Kingman Daily Miner
''The Kingman Miner'' is a local newspaper in Kingman, Arizona, owned by Western News & Info. It has a circulation of 8,030.Doxol disaster in 1973. The school mascot is the Volunteers.
History
In 1917, Mohave County Union High School opened at this site, later known as Kingman High School. In 1993, a new Kingman High School North campus was opened for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Freshmen attended the old ("South") school. As the population of Kingman continued to grow, Kingman North became the permanent high school while Kingman South was converted to White Cliffs Middle School. Kingman High School, a campus built for 1,600 students, ultimately housed 2,059 students. This overcrowding necessitated a second high school.
Construction
At the start of February 2010, workers began to gut the old White Cliffs, with the middle school being moved to a new campus. A $22 million, 17-month project thus began to convert, remodel, and update White Cliffs into a new, second comprehensive high school for Kingman. The main White Cliffs campus, or "Building A", was stripped of its wiring, plumbing, and wall panels. The cafeteria was demolished and replaced with a new one, and a new campus quad was installed. The gymnasium, which is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, remains, but was complemented with a new auxiliary gym. Asbestos removal (the only piece of the project not done by a local contractor) was also performed.
Another component of the remodel was the refurbishing of an old auto shop for career/technical education use, including metalworking and other arts classes. The renovation preserved some elements of the past, such as the "Mohave County Union High School 1917" monument sign, as well as the aforementioned gym.
Part of the football field and one section of bleachers are located on the site of the old Pioneer Cemetery.Glionna, John M. (2013, May 25) ''Haunted high school spooks former frontier town''. The Los Angeles Times: retrieved May 26, 2013. Some of the graves were relocated in 1944, but due to the cost of re-interment, a number of unclaimed bodies remain. During construction of the high school, workers digging a trench behind the bleachers unearthed seven coffins along with personal items such as cuff links and jewelry.
A memorial stone honors the 350 settlers who were buried in Pioneer Cemetery.
Construction was expected to finish by July 1, 2011. However, the district did not get possession of the site until October 3 because of
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...
compliance issues.
Delayed opening
As Arizona's budget situation worsened, concern over whether Kingman Unified School District had the funds to operate Lee Williams emerged. The decision was pushed back to March 2011; at that time, following a 3–2 vote, the district voted not to open the school for the 2011–12 school year. Worries included additional budget cuts to the school district.
An open house of the site was held in October 2011.
Opening
On February 21, 2012, the Kingman Unified School District governing board voted in a 3-2 decision, despite continuing concerns over finances, to open Lee Williams High School to freshmen. It will cost $80,000,000/year to operate Lee Williams High School.
Immediate enrollment projections from the Kingman Unified School District see the school with 1,010 students in the 3A Conference.AIA 2013-15 enrollment figures by conference It is expected that both schools will eventually have an equal enrollment over time.