Crooms Academy of Information Technology

Crooms Academy of Information Technology, locally called Crooms, is a technology magnet school located in Sanford, Florida, known for being one of the few schools in the United States that issues laptops to every student. Crooms is much smaller than many U.S. high schools, having a little more than 600 students The school is operated by Seminole County Public Schools.HistoryCrooms Academy was founded in 1926 by Professor Joseph N. Crooms as the county's first high school for African-American students.In 1970 Seminole County was desegregated and for several years Crooms served as the 9th Grade Center for Seminole High School. In 1973 the original building burned and in the past years the other school buildings have deteriorated. In the early 1980s, the 9th Grade Center was discontinued and the school 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 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.The BuildingsThe campus consists of a two story building consisting mostly of classrooms and computer labs, a gym, and a cafeteria . The cafeteria building also houses four classrooms and a computer lab. The small size of the campus allows for a capacity of approximately 600 students.