Howard W. Bishop Middle School was built in 1962 as a Junior High School and was named after the former superintendent of Alachua County Schools Howard Wayne Bishop.

H.W. Bishop was the superintendent for 13 years from 1941-1952. He was famous for the purchase of Camp Crystal property. He found an ad in the newspaper advertising the sale of some of the Camp Blanding property in Clay County.  He purchased the property for $1.00 and a candy bar. Since it was during the war, the clerk wanted some chocolate. The receipt did not show the candy bar. Clay County was disappointed that an Alachua County School Camp was in their county.

Our other famous alumni is musician Tom Petty, who attended HBMS from 1962-1964. He recorded the song Free Falling in 1989.

Mr. Michael Gamble, our current principal, is the 13th principal of HBMS.

The Academy of Technology and Gifted Students magnet program began in 1995 when Mrs. Carolyn Whitehead was the school principal. In 2019, the name was changed to the Academy of Technology and Advanced Studies.

In the summer of 2020, demolition of existing classroom buildings began to prepare for long-awaited construction of new facilities. HBMS was relocated to a temporary swing school for the 2020-2021 school year. 

-Special thanks to Mrs. Judy Masuda for researching this information