Lymus Johnson 1895-1906

Mr. Johnson oversaw the move of the old No. 35 school to its new location at the corner of Jefferson and Chatham Streets. Renamed Johnson Academy to honor its principal, the new school was a large two-story wooden framed building consisting of eleven classrooms, the principal’s office, and a chapel.

L. Frazier 1907-1908

Mr. Frazier’s administration saw the school year extended from five to seven months in 1908. Teachers at Johnson Academy made $45 per month.

A. Moore 1909-1911

A. Moore died in the middle of the 1910-1911 school year.

H. H. McCray 1911-1912

A. Moore died in the middle of the 1910-1911 school year. Mr. McCray finished out Mr. Moore’s term.

L.C. Jones 1912-1931

Expansion highlighted L.C. Jones’ tenure as principal. The Jones family donated land on the corner of Parramore Avenue and Washington Street for a new school. Completed in 1921, the new building was a two-story red brick structure that served grades 6 through 12, and by 1929 all 12 grades had been moved from Johnson Academy. The Orange County Board of Education honored the family by changing the name of the school to Jones High School. The new school saw the addition of a manual arts room, cafeteria, basketball court, cloak rooms in each classroom, homemaking classes, and two new wings. Mr. H. H. McCray and Mr. James Preston served as assistant principals.

Pictured: L. C. Jones source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

A.J. Polk 1932-1935

During Mr. Polk’s administration, the Board of Education purchased an army barrack for elementary students and moved the building to Kentucky Street and Holden Street (now Orange Blossom Trail and Anderson Street). They called it Kentucky Street School, but later changed the name to Holden Street Elementary. Students in grades 1 though 6 moved from Jones to the new school.

Pictured: A. J. Polk source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Cullen Banks 1935-1954

In 1935, Mr. Cullen Banks became principal of Jones High School. Students came from surrounding areas, including Apopka, Clermont, Conway, Kissimmee, Winter Park, and Winter Garden. Because the Orange County School Board did not provide buses to transport those students, parents had to arrange transportation any way they could. With the steady increase in population and the expansion of Orlando, it became necessary to build another school at a different site. The Board chose a lot at West Cypress Street and Orange Blossom Trail. Whites in the area rebelled against the choice, saying, “It is in the heart of our community.” Completed in May 1952, the new Jones High School opened the following fall.

The facilities included 16 standard classrooms, three classrooms in the home economics wing, chemistry and physics laboratories, a 3,348 square foot library with an office, a cafeteria with two training rooms for table servers, cooks, and other cafeteria help, a vocational shop for industrial arts, advanced cabinetmaking, agriculture, tailoring, dry cleaning, and cosmetology, an auditorium with seating for 944 people, and a gymnasium with seating for 1,700 that was designed so the stage was available for either space or both simultaneously. There were also band rooms, choir rooms, a music library, and directors’ offices, classrooms for science lectures, dry cleaning, home economics for 7th and 8th graders, advanced cooking, child-care, biology, shorthand, typing, reading, and individual workrooms.

Pictured: Cullen Banks source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Cecil W. Boston 1954-1964

Mr. Boston’s administration highlighted a successful curriculum based upon three tracks: academic, general, and vocational. In addition to the courses outlined for those tracks, he developed a Diversified Cooperative Training Program through which students followed a general curriculum in the mornings and worked at various community jobs in the afternoons. Mrs. Clementine G. Byrd and Mr. Nathaniel Evans were assistant principals.

Source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Claudius J. Manigault 1964-1968

Mr. Manigault continued the programs started under Mr. Boston. In addition, he supervised several expansions of the school, including six new classrooms, a vocational office, education classroom, four shops, two electronic shops, a 240 seat assembly room, and a Diversified Cooperative Training and Education suite. He also began the plans for a football practice gridiron with a surrounding track field and an all-purpose court to accommodate tennis and basketball. Mr. Robert Howard and Mr. James Roberts served as assistant principals.

Pictured: Claudius J. Manigault  source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Wilbur S. Gary 1968-1975

Mr. Gary continued the traditions and curriculum started by Mr. Boston and expanded by Mr. Manigault, but by 1969 Jones High School was in jeopardy because of a large drop in enrollment that occurred as a result of desegregation. Without the efforts of Mr. Gary and others, the school board may have closed Jones. Several events changed Jones High School forever. During the 1969-1970 school year, the courts ordered desegregation in all schools. In January of 1970, all Orange County teachers’ names were put in a fishbowl. Names were drawn on public television and teachers were assigned to various schools throughout the county. Jones High School received nearly all new teachers; Jones teachers of nearly thirty years switched schools without a chance to say goodbye to their students.

Although the drawing was random, Jones lost most of its best staff, including department heads in English, mathematics, and science. Throughout the turmoil, Mr. Gary tried to keep the school as normal as possible. Other events during his administration included the Jones High School Marching Band’s first attendance at the Orange Blossom Classic in 1969, the Jones Concert Chorale’s completion of its first album, the 1969 Senior Class prom held at the Orlando Exhibition Hall, and the entrance of the football, basketball, baseball, and track teams into integrated athletic competitions.

Pictured: Wilbur S. Gary source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Henry C. Wright 1975-1981

A former industrial arts teacher and vocational program coordinator, Mr. Wright initiated a number of changes during his administration. These changes included the creation of the first local advisory committee (consisting of community leaders, parents, and students), relocation of the administrative suite to the Rio Grande entrance, expansion of the home economics suite, the addition of an automotive paint and body shop, and the conversion of the Large-Group Instructional Building into a media center. He also expanded the curriculum by adding drama, electronics, and JROTC. Mr. Benjamin Griffin, Mr. Bill Mitchell, and Mr. Wilfred Still served as assistant principals.

Pictured: Henry C. Wright source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Clara Walters 1981-1990

Clara Walters did much to enhance student growth, build student pride, and encourage student and community spirit. During her administration, she changed the school’s address from Cypress Street to 801 Rio Grande, renovated the auditorium and renamed it the James W. Wilson Auditorium, connected the buildings via covered walkways, added a guidance suite, converted the dry cleaning area to a drama classroom, expanded the Foreign Language Department, and introduced COMPACT. Mr. William Benjamin and Mr. David Stanley served as assistant principals.

Pictured: Clara Walters source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Victoria Johnson 1990-1991

During Ms. Johnson’s one-year term as principal of Jones High School, she supervised the renovation of the faculty lounge and workroom, the completion of the boys’ shower room, refinishing of the gym floor, extension of television connections to all areas of the school, and establishment of a Family Education Center. During her administration, high school competency test scores rose significantly. Ms. Catherine Peterson and Mr. William Benjamin served as assistant principals.

Pictured: Victoria Johnson source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Eddie Sneed 1991-1999

Mr. Sneed’s administration was rich with curriculum expansion and increased enrollment that required the addition of portables on campus. Additional math, science, history, and English classes were added. Test scores surpassed two large Orange County Schools, Evans and Oak Ridge. New computers required space, so the wood shop was converted into a technology lab. Jones also became a Sports Medicine Magnet school. Mr. Sneed also oversaw the opening of the Jones High School Historical Museum on August 23, 1998.

Pictured: Eddie Sneed source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Andrew Jenkins 1999-2003

During Mr. Jenkins’ tenure at Jones High School, he served as President of the Orange County Association of Secondary School Principals. Jenkins oversaw the establishment of the Academy of Business and industry, opened a new cafeteria, worked with the City of Orlando to resurface the track, organized the school’s Ambassador Club and Renaissance Program, and partnered with the Urban Land Institute to enable teams of students to present land-use proposals to the city council. The program resulted in scholarships for students. In addition, Mr. Jenkins also assisted in obtaining a 21st Century grant, a comprehensive school grant, and a small learning community grant (2.5 million), as well as designing the new Jones High School campus.

Pictured: Andrew Jenkins Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Lorenzo Phillips 2003-2006

With Mr. Phillips, Jones High School began a new era of academic excellence. Despite the media’s negative coverage of the school, Mr. Phillips managed to restore school pride and spirit among students and faculty. He, along with partners Blue Cross Blue Shield and Florida State University, helped the Medical Arts Magnet (previously Sports Medicine and Management Magnet) make enormous strides. In addition, IT and Finance (previously Academy of Business) provided direct instruction and a self-paced computer curriculum (IT 21 and Business 21) with the help of partners from CNL, Wachovia, Lockheed Martin, YMCA, and Orlando Marriot.

Double-block reading was provided to every level-one student and a single level-two student. There were nine teachers that started the classes and five academy of reading labs. Jones also saw results from the FCAT simulations, which predicted 31% of 9th grade classes and 34% of 10th grade classes would score at a level three of above on the reading portion of the exam. The student writing average also increased from 2.6 to 3.0. During Mr. Phillips’ tenure, Jones’ facilities included five academy of reading labs, four classroom computer labs, a state-of-the-art magnet classroom, 32 student computers in the media center, five computers per classroom, suites for music and technology, and a historical museum.

Pictured: Lorenzo Phillips source Jones High School Historical Society Inc.

Bridgett Marcia Williams 2006-2012

Dr. Williams oversaw a variety of improvements during her tenure.  In 2007, Jones High School received the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program and the International Diploma Program in 2008, fully accrediting Jones High School as an IB magnet school.

A 2008 Newsweek article recognized Jones as one of the top high schools in the United States.  Dr. Williams led the school from an "F" grade in 2005 to a "B" in 2010.  Jones also saw its dropout rate fall from a high of 1202 per hundred students in 2000, to just .03 in 2010.  That same year, 97.3% of all Jones High seniors graduated.

Valerie Perry Maxwell 2010-2015

When she began her tenure at Jones High School in July of 2010, Mrs. Maxwell noted that her job was to provide students "a quality education...in a nurturing environment."  In her first year, Jones became a 5-star school with 59% of its graduating seniors receiving college scholarships and 68% of the class accepted into colleges.  Twenty seniors from the class of 2010 were designated Florida Medallion Scholars and 7 seniors received the University of Florida Alliance Scholarship.

Mrs. Maxwell also established the health leaders program Insitute with the UCF School of Medicine.

Roderick Waldon 2015-2017

Jones High School experienced significant growth in both student achivement and post-secondary opportunities under Principal Waldon's leadership.  His tenure at Jones High School encompassed the inception of the Rosen Parramore Scholarship Program.  The Rosen Parramore Scholarship Program provides a "safety net" of post-secondary financial support to Jones High School students allowing them to graduate without student debt.  This program coupled with other pre-existing programs, like 100 Black Men of Orlando's "Project Success", help to dissipate finances as a limiting factor for post-secondary opportunities.

At the conclusion of Prinipal Waldon's first year, the school's graduation rate grew from 76.7 to 91.3%.  This 14.5% improvement gave Jones High School top honors as #1 in OCPS in overall growth.  Principal Waldon's Leadership also bolstered student achivement growth in Mathmatics, Social Studies and English Language Arts.  The work of Principal Waldon and his team always supported the motto:  At Jones High School, Excellence Is The Expectatoin For Every Student.

Allison Kirby 2017-2022

Allison Kirby came to Jones High School with a commitment to honor its rich history, enhance strategic academic opportunities for students, and celebrate the commitment of dedicated faculty and staff.  During her first year, the Medical Magnet program became the first program in the state to provide students with the ability to become Licensed Practical Nurses upon graduation.  In support of the music programs, Ms. Kirby crafted a letter that garnered national TV attention through The Ellen Show and prompted a donation of $100,000 in support of sending the band and concert choir to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Principal Kirby's efforts resulted in expanded STEM offerings, community engagement through mentoring, and increased access to rigorous Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.  Through the NAF Engineering Academy, Jones students have access to the only secondary school-based chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers in the Orlando Area.

Through gains in performance, pride, and participation, Ms. Kirby led the GREAT Jones High School to greater hieghts while acting on the theme of "History in the Making."

Orlando Norwood 2022-Present

The latest addition to a long list honorable Jones High School Principals is Principal Orlando Norwood.  Principal Norwood is dedicated to creating an environment where everyone feels valued, supported, and safe so the positive experiences and academic success takes place each day!  Principal Norwood will continue Jones High School tradition and strongly encourage Families, Teachers, support staff, community members and administration to play a major part in helping our students develop academically, socially and emotionally.  

Welcome to Jones High School Principal Norwood!