A new brick building for the school was built on Rodgers Street in
South Norfolk, to replace the aging South Norfolk High School. When South Norfolk merged with
Norfolk County to form the city of
Chesapeake in 1963, Smith High became part of the new city. The school opened in 1954 and was named after Oscar Frommel Smith (25 October 1891 – 4 May 1950), a
Hampton Roads fertilizer magnate and civic leader, who had recently died and whose widow, Ruth, offered the school the $50,000 if it would name the new stadium after her husband. The city council decided that not only the stadium, but the whole school would be named after him. In 1955 Ruth Smith donated $1,200 the school board to go toward a radio station permit. The school moved to its current location on Great Bridge Boulevard and Tiger Drive in Chesapeake's Greenbrier section in 1994. After the move the school kept its old name, and the Rodgers Street building became Oscar F. Smith Middle School. Therefore, Oscar Frommel Smith is the only person to be the namesake of two Chesapeake schools. Smith High was authorized to begin administering the
IB Diploma Program by the
International Baccalaureate Organization in 2003 and IB students from all six Chesapeake zones feed into it. Up to 60 applicants are accepted each year for the four-year program. Chesapeake Public Schools' pre-IB academy instruction consists of intensified courses in grades
9 and
10 in English, Spanish or French,
social studies, science, and mathematics in preparation for the college-level curriculum of the grade
11-
12 diploma program. IB students have the opportunity to earn the
International Baccalaureate diploma in addition to the Virginia Advanced Studies Diploma. As part of his 2008 Presidential Campaign,
Barack Obama held a town hall meeting in the J. William Myers gymnasium on 21 August 2008.
John Kerry held a similar event in the gym in 2004. == Facilities ==