Vince "Vinny" Rusinak
Recently posted on the Class of 1963 webpage by John Baris:
Hialeah High School opened September 7, 1954

with 3,064 students making it Dade County's largest. It was considered a high school even though it was comprised of grades 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. In each of the next two years the lowest grade was dropped and a higher grade added.
.....................................................................................................................................................................
Hialeah High School opened its doors to students and staff in 1953 to serve the growing communities of Northwestern Miami-Dade County. It is one of the oldest secondary schools in the county, having celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2004. Hialeah was one of the ten Miami-Dade high schools that was given a grade of "F" for the 2006–2007 school year according to the FCAT examinations.
Hialeah's growth began in the late 1950s and early 1960s when a population boom occurred due to large housing developments being constructed in the northwest section of the city and the development of Miami Lakes opening in 1962. The housing developments were Palm Springs, Palm Springs Estates, Westhaven Estates, and other housing developments north of W. 68th Street up to the northern city limits of Hialeah at W. 84th Street. There were very few Hispanics in Hialeah up until the mid 1960's when large numbers of Cubans started moving into the city. The largest graduating class from Hialeah was in 1965 when 1190 students graduated. Miami Springs High School, which opened in September 1964, was built to relieve this overcrowding problem, but the initiative failed as the student population growth in the area was larger than the capacity of both high schools. Because of this, Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School was built, opening in 1971, to relieve both schools from their population problems. This divided the city of Hialeah into the three school zones still in effect today, Hialeah High School mostly serving the eastern and central portions of the city.
Up until the early 1970s, Hialeah High School (as well as the surrounding area) was predominantly white Americans until the influx of white Cubans, the majority of the school's population became Hispanic over the 1980s and 1990s. In 1987, an asbestos problem forced the closure of Miami Springs Senior High School. Miami Springs Senior High School students and staff temporarily relocated to Hialeah Senior High School. A split shift was established where Hialeah High students attended the first part of the day and Miami Springs students attended the second half.
Hialeah High's campus was greatly expanded between 1999 and 2003 adding a new building, expanding and renovating its auditorium and classrooms, and adding extra parking space. Due to a population increase in the city of Hialeah in the early 2000s, the school was fast becoming one of the most populated in the area and a proposal to build another high school in the city of Hialeah was put before the school board, and Westland Hialeah High School was constructed.
Hialeah has an athletic rivalry with nearby Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School which began in the 1970s. It also has a less formal rivalry with Miami Springs High School left over from the 1960s, and a historical rivalry with Miami Jackson High School which is no longer in effect.
|