As Crooms Academy confronts the role of preparing students for a high tech world, it emerges on the grounds of one of the oldest high schools in Seminole County. Founded in 1926 by Professor Crooms as Seminole County's first high school for black students, Crooms has a rich and varied past. Professor Crooms and his wife, Wealthy, donated the land on which the school was constructed. Under their guidance and teaching, many doctors, lawyers, teachers, and business people graduated from Crooms.
Notable graduates include U.S. Representative Alcee Hastings; George Allen, the first black graduate of the University of Florida Law School; Oswald Bronson Sr., president of Bethune-Cookman College; and Bob Thomas, Sanford's first black city commissioner. Professor Crooms led Crooms Academy until his retirement in 1953.
In 1970 Seminole County was desegregated and Crooms lost its identity as a community high school. Its role changed several times and has included an administrative center, a school for students with behavior problems, and a place for pregnant teenagers. Most recently, it was a school for academically struggling students. In 1973 the original building burned and in the past years the other school buildings have deteriorated. In 2000, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to lift Seminole's desegregation order by 2003 if the county met certain conditions. Included in this is rebuilding Crooms Academy and turning it into an academy of information technology.
Professor Crooms is remembered as a man ahead of his times as he broke educational boundaries for black students in Seminole County. Today, Crooms Academy remains in this tradition as it establishes new territory in technology education at the high school level.
Crooms Academy of Information Technology is a dedicated magnet school that provides students with a wide range of educational choices. In addition to graduating with a regular high school diploma and a National Academy Foundation Certificate, every student will be afforded the opportunity to select from a wide variety of Information Technology Certifications. Some of the certifications offered are A+, MOUS, MCP, CCNA, MCSE and many more.
