By Karen Gutierrez
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Betty Lee Nordheim holds her yearbook from when she graduated from Holmes in 1947. The retired teacher is the school's unofficial historian. (Patrick Reddy photo)

COVINGTON - Holmes High School turns 150 this year, and everyone is invited to the party. No other public high school in Kentucky has lasted as long.

Here's another little-known fact, Holmes supporters say: The school's graduates over the decades rank among the most accomplished citizens of Northern Kentucky and beyond.

Staples Inc. President Ronald L. Sargent graduated from Holmes. Real estate magnate Jim Huff is a Holmes man. So is a brigadier general, a nuclear scientist, an internationally known mathematician and the former owner of the largest chain of Shell gas stations in America.

In recent years, however, the school has fallen on hard times. So the May 22 anniversary gala is not just about celebrating a milestone. It's also about bringing the glory days back into focus, so today's students won't forget to dream.

HOLMES FACTS

Total enrollment: 1,224 (grades 8-12) Daily attendance rate (2002): 92 percent Average teacher salary (2003): $36,733 Percent eligible for free lunch: 59 percent Annual household income to qualify for free lunch: $23,920 or less for family of four Sources: Kentucky Department of Education and the Covington Independent School District

"What we have now is a kind of disconnect, " says Bill Weathers, spokesman for the Covington Independent School District and an organizer of the gala. "We want our current students to be inspired. We have a history here."

At last count, 500 people planned to attend the bash. It will feature dinner, dancing, speakers and videotaped stories from Holmes alumni. Memorabilia will be on display, including the football from Holmes' 1946 state championship.

The oldest guest is likely to be Clyde Day, class of '25. One of the funniest will surely be Betty Lee Nordheim, class of '47. Her taped history includes an anecdote about a male teacher who got stuck in a wastebasket while flirting with a female colleague. Two boys had to pull him out, she says.

Stories like these will play continuously at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, where the gala will be held. Reservations are required; tickets are $50.

Holmes opened in 1853 as Covington High, the first public high school in the state. Its student body of 11 boys and nine girls met in a rented room at 11th and Scott streets, says Nordheim, the school's historian.

The current building, at 25th and Madison streets, was built on land once owned by retail king Daniel Henry Holmes. In 1915, the Covington School Board paid Holmes' heirs $50,000 for the property, which included a 32-room mansion called "the castle."

Early on, the castle's main foyer served as the school cafeteria. In 1936, the home was torn down for administrative offices.

Over the decades, Holmes had a reputation for academic rigor. People sent their children from other cities and counties, including Fort Thomas and Fort Mitchell, says Nordheim, an art teacher at the school from 1968 to 1990.

Then Covington's demographics changed. People moved to the suburbs, leaving behind a more transient and troubled population. Discipline declined as teachers got less support from parents, Nordheim says.

Today, Holmes' test scores rank it near the bottom of Kentucky high schools.

But a turnaround is in the works.

Superintendent Jack Moreland, who arrived in 2000, has shaken up operations. Two alumni, attorney Dennis Williams and Brig. Gen. Thurman Owens, rejuvenated the Covington Education Foundation and started a "Hall of Distinction" to recognize outstanding graduates. Test scores have begun to climb.

When Moreland first arrived, he and Weathers drove around the district one day, and Moreland remarked on the absence of a sense of pride. It was like when John Allen took over the Cincinnati Reds and found no evidence the Big Red Machine had ever existed, Weathers says.

"We have students today who we feel could benefit immensely from an understanding of the students who went before them," he says.

And that's why for its 150th birthday, Holmes will give itself the gift of its own past.

For reservations to the gala, call 859-392-1124.

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com