Editing Gardendale, Alabama (section)

===Public===
Gardendale is served by several schools operated by the [[Jefferson County Schools (Alabama)|Jefferson County Schools]] school district. Gardendale Elementary School which opened in 1969 and replaced the older elementary school located about 300 yards east of the current school. Bragg Middle School was built later to handle the growing student population. Until Bragg was opened, [[Gardendale High School]] handled grades 7–12. Both Gardendale High School and Bragg Middle School use the nickname ''Rockets'' and share the same colors of maroon and gray. Gardendale High School is rated as a 6A school for athletic competition for the two-year period beginning in the fall of 2010. Also located on the north side of Gardendale is Snow Rogers Elementary School. Snow Rogers school is unique in that although it is inside Gardendale city limits, it is a feeder school for both Bragg Middle School in Gardendale as well as North Jefferson Middle School located in nearby Kimberly, Alabama. These schools in turn feed into Gardendale High School and Mortimer Jordan High School located in nearby Kimberly, Alabama.  Residential addresses of Snow Rogers students determine which school they go to once leaving Snow Rogers Elementary. Mt. Olive Elementary is located in the nearby unincorporated Mt. Olive community. Gardendale High School used the Rogers campus as well as temporary classroom buildings while a new high school was being constructed on the site of the former high school (which was built in the mid-1960s). The new high school opened in early 2010. Gardendale High School graduated its first students in 1968.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

In November 2013, the city requested to break off its schools from those of [[Jefferson County, Alabama|Jefferson County]] and form its own mostly-White school system.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/judge-says-mostly-white-southern-city-may-secede-from-its-school-district--even-though-the-effort-has-attacked-dignity-of-black-school-children/2017/04/26/4d654232-2a89-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html Mostly white Southern city may secede from school district despite racial motive; Washington Post; April 27, 2017.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.naacpldf.org/files/about-us/1141-main.pdf |title=Lawsuit - Jefferson County Board of Education vs. Gardendale City Board of Education; United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Southern Division. April 24, 2017 |access-date=April 27, 2017 |archive-date=April 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428051235/http://www.naacpldf.org/files/about-us/1141-main.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The county schools had a majority of Black students. By establishing its own school district, Gardendale has ensured its schools will mostly have White students. Other towns in the county have followed this route and so moved toward ''de facto'' racial segregation.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hanna-Jones|first1=Nikole|title=The Resegrgation of Jefferson County|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/magazine/the-resegregation-of-jefferson-county.html|access-date=September 11, 2017|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 6, 2017}}</ref> In early 2018, the attempt to break away from the county schools was squashed by the [[11th Circuit Court of Appeals]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ktvz.com/news/court-blocks-predominantly-white-alabama-city-from-creating-its-own-school-system/701914109|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215165121/http://www.ktvz.com/news/court-blocks-predominantly-white-alabama-city-from-creating-its-own-school-system/701914109|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 15, 2018|title=Court blocks predominantly white Alabama city from creating its own school system|work=[[KTVZ]]|date=February 14, 2018}}</ref> Judge [[Madeline Haikala]] awarded the [[NAACP]] money on the grounds that the city government did not act in good faith,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-orders-alabama-city-pay-legal-fees-school-67935467|title=Judge orders Alabama city to pay legal fees in school fight|agency=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=December 26, 2019|access-date=December 27, 2019}}</ref> with the fine being almost $850,000. She stated the appellate argument had a "lack of [[:wikt:candor|candor]]".<ref>{{cite web|author=Koplowitz, Howard|url=https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/12/federal-judge-orders-gardendale-to-pay-850k-legal-bill-for-black-students-in-school-district-case.html|title=Federal judge orders Gardendale to pay $850K legal bill for black students in school district case|work=[[AL.com]]|date=December 24, 2019|access-date=December 27, 2019}}</ref>

Gardendale continues to impose its 10 mill tax while, at the same time, Jefferson County is imposing its countywide 8.8 mill tax for schools.