Clay-Chalkville High School (CCHS) is an United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 which was established on August 14, 1996 in Clay, Alabama

Clay, Alabama

Clay is a city in northeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. Local government is run by a mayor and city council. Before incorporation on June 6, 2000, it was a census-designated place...

. The school is the largest of 17 high schools operated by the Jefferson County Board of Education

Jefferson County Board of Education (Alabama)

The Jefferson County School System is the second-largest public school system in the U.S. State of Alabama and serves most of Jefferson County, Alabama...

, the second-largest of 127 school systems in the state of Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

.

Facilities

It is a one-level building with 53 classrooms, four computer labs, four science labs, a choral room, a band room, a media center, a fine arts room, a video production studio, a lunch room, practice and spectator gymnasiums, a 650 seat auditorium, and 766 spaces for parking. The school has fields for baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, and practice. Stadium seating was removed from the old Shades Valley High School

Shades Valley High School

Shades Valley High School is a public secondary school located in Irondale, Alabama . The school was established in 1948 near Homewood and was moved to its present location in Irondale in the fall of 1996.-Location:...

 and repaired for Clay-Chalkville High. The 9,880 sq. ft. media center is a focal point for the school and includes a time capsule placed by the Class of 2001. It overlooks an outdoor amphitheatre through a curved wall of windows. The auditorium

Auditorium

An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...

 has a fully complemented stage with fly tower and scene room. Clay Chalkville was founded in 1996 to cut back on overcrowding at Hewitt-Trussville High and Junior High Schools which resulted in overcrowding in the school they built to reduce overcrowding. The school opened it doors on August 6 of that year under the direction of Principal Lawrence C. Carter. Clay Chalkville Middle School opened the same day. The current principal is Mr. Steve Laney with Ms. Kim Weaver, Mr. Steve Shankles, Mrs. Michelle Hayes, and Mrs. Julianna Coleman serving as Assistant Principals and Administrator of Curriculum.

Sports

Athletics began at Clay-Chalkville when the school opened in 1997. When football head coach Toney Pugh left in December 1998 to start Oak Mountain High School, former Erwin and Mortimer Jordan head coach Hal Riddle came in to lead the Cougar football program. In his first season, 1999, Riddle carried the Cougars to the Class 6A football Super 6 at Legion Field, beating Robert E. Lee-Montgomery, 30-27, in overtime for the school's first Alabama High School Athletic Association

Alabama High School Athletic Association

The Alabama High School Athletic Association , based in Montgomery, is the agency which oversees interscholastic athletic programs for public schools in Alabama....

 state championship. A first-half field goal by Matt Briggs stands as the longest field goal in the Class 6A title game.
The Cougars' biggest rivalry began the same season, as CCHS beat Hewiit-Trussville High School in their first meeting.
In 2003, head coach Jeff Mauldin and the Cougars' baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team won the 6A state championship in Montgomery. The Cougars returned to the title game in 2005 and 2006, but finished second. The boys' tennis team placed first in the Jefferson County Tournament in the past two years. Women's and men's basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

teams have also advanced to post season games throughout the school's short history. The school also has volleyball, cross country, cheerleading, wrestling, softball, soccer, golf and outdoor track and field.
Cougar Athletics online

Choir

There are two choirs in Clay-Chalkville Chamber and Concert. Chamber Choir recently performed at AMEA in Tuscaloosa AL.

Band

The Cougar Band. Clay-Chalkville has two bands (concert and symphony band) and a marching band that both bands participate in.

Controversy

In 2011, The Clay-Chalkville football team, undefeated at the time, was caught up in controversy when they were accused of using an ineligible player for the first nine games and therefore had to forfeit those games. They attempted to appeal the forfeits to the Alabama High School Athletic Association, but the appeal was denied. They later took the case to the Jefferson County Circuit Court, where they were granted an injunctive relief and put them back in the AHSAA playoffs. However, Etowah County has attemped to challenge the court's decisions in order to put Gadsden City, who was the 4th seed in region 7 when Clay-Chalkville forfeited the wins, back in the playoffs. A hearing is yet to be heard.