In 1995, the State Department of Education required all schools to offer technology classes. Therefore, Union High School added a new Tech Prep building at the junior high school. The 8,000 square foot building had two labs, one classroom, a media center, a teacher workroom, restrooms, and two offices with a work room.
In March 1996, Union school district joined the consortium with five other school districts to establish an Alternative School in Decatur. Students with discipline problems were bussed to the school daily. In 2004, the school opted out of participation in this program and began its own program in Union.
Another change at the junior high happened in 1999 with a $924,000 addition to move the fifth and sixth grades to this campus. This addition gave the campus seven more classrooms, a teachers’ workroom, restrooms, and a multipurpose room used as a band hall. This move called for another name change from Union Junior High to Union Middle School, then housing grades five through eight.
In 2001, a decision was made to improve the football complex by replacing the bleachers on the visitors’ side. Then in 2002, the home side bleachers that had been built in the early 1950s were replaced, and a new Press Box and a Ticket Booth were built. The project cost $247,000.
Located west of the band hall, the old Marketing building that had been built in the late 1930s with money from the Lions Club and WPA to hold classes for Home Economics and Agriculture was razed in 2003. The school replaced it with a new building that held five classrooms and a choral room. The ‘new building’ was opened in 2004. A new concession stand was then built on the west end of the football field.
Next in 2005, the school purchased property on Industrial Drive off North Street and built a new sports complex. It included baseball and softball fields and tennis courts. Later, archery was added to the athletic program, and those students practiced next to the tennis courts.
Also, in 2005, the industrial building adjoining the football field was renovated into a field house, and the weight room was moved there from its former location below the bleachers in the ‘old gym.’
In 2006, the school paid $400,000 to purchase the former Carleton Oil/Spanky’s office building at 417 Decatur Street to house the school’s central office that was currently located on Peachtree Street. The bus barn was also relocated there. After that move, the former central office building was sold and moved away. That lot is vacant today.
In addition, that same year, the school built a Maintenance Department on the west end of the football field.
In the summer of 2011, two houses owned by the school on the northwest corner of Forest and Wood Streets were demolished, and a new band hall was built. It opened in July 2012. The former band hall built in 1965 was then used for academic classes.
The school celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2012.
A field house/dressing room for the softball ladies was built next to their field on Industrial Drive in 2013. Also, in that year, three mobile trailers were added to the school campuses. One replaced an existing trailer at the elementary school. It is used today for Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy for qualifying students. The second went to the middle school for science classes but is used today as a storage area. The third was placed at the back of the parking lot off Peachtree Street. It was used for a self-contained special education class but currently houses the Union Law and Public Safety class.
In 2014, the entrance to the high school received a renovation. Finally, in 2016 Union High School opted out of sending students to the Newton County Career and Technical Center in Decatur and began its own program in the fall. The school added four areas of study. First, they built a new building west of the football field and started a program in agriculture. They also began the Teacher Academy program and added programs in Health Science and in Law and Public Safety.
The old gym was remodeled during the 2017 school year. It is currently used for physical education classes and practice sessions for athletic teams.
In recent years, some school events have been moved away from campus to satisfy the need for more seating. First, the school’s beauty pageant was relocated from the UHS cafetorium to ECCC’s auditorium. Likewise, graduation, which had been held in the school’s cafetorium, in the gymnasium, and on the football field, was first moved to ECCC’s auditorium and then to the Neshoba County Coliseum. In addition, at the school year’s end, the school holds many of its banquets and awards programs at the First Baptist Church. Finally, the Junior-Senior Banquet, now a prom, has been removed from school responsibility, and parents of the junior class plan the event each year.
This article concludes the series on schools in Union. Thanks for your patience while I did a timeline of our school. If you recognize that I have omitted something or if you have memories to share, please contact me at teresablount26@yahoo.com or 601-774-5564.
