School History

Coahoma Agricultural High School is a historically black, public high school established in 1924. Coahoma County was among the first of the counties in Mississippi to provide an agricultural high school for Negroes. In 1924 county superintendent P. F. Williams proposed the organization of a school system which included a number of elementary and junior high schools and one central agricultural high school. Upon adoption of the proposal by the Board of Supervisors in that year, Coahoma County Agricultural High School was established. The junior college curriculum was added in 1949, and the name of the institution was changed to Coahoma Junior College and Agricultural High School. The system operated under the then-existing "separate but equal" doctrine of education until 1965 when the school opened its doors to all students, regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or disability.

In 1975, on the recommendation by the Evaluation Committee for the Self-Study of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Coahoma Junior College was deleted from the descriptive title of Coahoma County Agricultural High School in documents and publications. In 1981 Coahoma Agricultural High School began operating separately from the Coahoma County School District, and the word county was dropped from the school's name.

Since its inception, Coahoma Agricultural High School has been headed by eight superintendents: M. L. Strange, 1924-25; J. M. Mosley, 1925-29; J. W. Addison, 1929-37; J. B. Wright, 1937-45; B. F. McLaurin, 1945-66; J. E. Miller, 1966-79; M. C. Martin, 1980-92; and Vivian Presley, 1992-present. After the addition of the junior college curriculum, James E. Miller became the first principal of the high school and served from 1951-54. He was followed by W. L Tobias, 1954-63; Frank McCune, 1963-74; Eugene Fox, 1974-84; Albert Williams, 1984-85; Sammy Felton, 1985-86; T. W. Richardson, 1986-87; S. T. Bailey, 1987-93; Olenza McBride, 1993-96; John Brown, 1996-2007; and I.D. Thompson, 2007 - present.

Coahoma Agricultural High School is located on the campus of Coahoma Community College, which is four and one half miles north of Clarksdale on Friars Point Road. The school is accessible from three major highways: US 61, US 49, and MS 6. The high school has its own facilities, instructional and administrative personnel, and program of student activities. It shares library facilities with the college. The president of Coahoma Community College is the superintendent of Coahoma Agricultural High School. The same Board of Trustees governs both the high school and the community college. The district serves students in grades 9-12 who live in the northern half of Coahoma County. District boundaries were established as a result of a federal desegregation mandate. Students residing in the Clarksdale Public School District may elect to attend Coahoma Agricultural High School and a limited number so elect each year. Approximately 68% of the student population come from Friars Point and Jonestown, another 18% from Coahoma and Lula, and 21% from Clarksdale. The population is 100% Black. Over the past five years, the yearly enrollment in the district has averaged just over 300 students, a decrease of approximately 50 students from the average of the previous five years and a trend reflective of demographics in the other school systems in Coahoma County and in systems in Bolivar and Sunflower Counties.

The district currently has an enrollment of 249 students, of whom 145 are female and 104 are males. This 48% to 42% female/male ratio has remained relatively constant for the past three years.

Coahoma County has three school districts:
Clarksdale City District
Coahoma County District
AND
Coahoma AHS District.
Coahoma Agricultural High School students come from Coahoma Junior High School.