Stone High School (Mississippi)


Stone High School is a public secondary school in Wiggins, Mississippi, United States. It is the only high school in the Stone County School District.

History

Prior to federally mandated integration in 1969, Stone County maintained separate schools for white students and black students. Stone High School served the white students, while Stone County Training School, built in 1955 and renamed W.P. Locker High School in 1959, served the African-American students. After integration, Locker was used as a middle school. Locker's principal, Needham Jones, a former Tuskeegee airman, was demoted to assistant principal at the middle school, although he was more qualified than the white principal of Stone. Jones sued and won, but retired rather than take the position of principal at Stone High School.
In 2016 a group of white students at Stone High School put a noose around the neck of a black student. Local law enforcement discouraged the student's family from filing a report. The student was disciplined by the school and was removed from the football team by coach John Feaster, the school's first African-American coach in any sport. In 2016, 75% of the schools 800 students were white.
A 2017 report showed that white students were 3.2 times more likely to be in an AP class than black students, and that black students were 3 times more likely than white students to be disciplined.

Notable alumni