Michael Nichols:  

Michael's schools include Altoona High School, and Sardis High School. I was born and raised in Altoona, Alabama. I went to Altoona High School grades 1-11 and would have graduated from Altoona had the Etowah County School Board not come up with the bright idea of combining Altoona High School and our arch rival Walnut Grove High School into one school. Altoona was the smallest school in Etowah County. Roughly 250 students in 12 grades and my Senior class would have consisted of 17 students. Fourteen of those I began the first grade with and the other three moved in later. Truth be know the other schools got tired of the little school kicking their butts in Baseball, Basketball, and Football almost every year. With the consolidation came the biggest question, "which school will be the High School." It was suggested that the Altoona School would be better suited for the grammer school. This was the real wisdom of those on the school board. Altoona High School was built on top of a small peak mountain it consisted of rocks and more rocks. It had no playgrounds for the children. When I was in the first grade we played tackle football on a black topped road with winn rock as the cover. There were two small play grounds on the side of the little mountain. Both in the woods and both hard to get to. How stupid can you be and how stupid did it make the School Board look. My coach was offered the job of Coaching at Sardis High School, and he accepted and My Family and I moved to Sardis and I finished my High School time at Sardis High Schoo...Expand for more