Our History
Paving the way for the future
Over decades and centuries, Guilford County has pushed through challenges to come together for the education and betterment of our entire community — and for that, we are stronger than ever.
From the early days of our state and nation, public education has played a vital role in American democratic society. Before a system of public schools emerged, children were educated through a disconnected and inconsistent collection of private institutions often made possible by churches, charities or community and parent groups. This disjointed approach to schooling resulted in overwhelming inequities that have taken decades and centuries to overcome.
A look through our history as a public school district shows much effort, transformation and growth over time. In more recent decades, as we have worked together to educate, serve and support all children across the county, we have become, without a doubt, Better Together. Guilford County Schools is now a thriving, nationally leading public system of education, serving every kind of learner and a multitude of ways — all while consistently earning top honors for having some of the best schools in the state and nation for academics, programming, character and service.
A Timeline of Public Schools in Guilford County
- Public Schools Grow: 1868-1950
- Desegregation: 1950-1976
- Merger & Choice: 1978-2007
- Points of Pride: 2008-2016
Public Schools Grow: 1868-1950
1868
- The first real effort for a public system of education emerges when the North Carolina Constitution establishes “a general and uniform system of Public Schools, wherein tuition shall be free of charge to all children of the State between the ages of six and twenty-one years.”
1870
- The first Guilford County schools open in this new day of public education — Piney Grove and Oak Grove School in Fentress, Mendenhall and High Point schools in High Point, another school named Mendenhall in Deep River and Warnersville, which serves Black boys and girls, in Morehead — but challenges in equal funding for white and Black schools will continue for a long time.
- The City of Greensboro incorporates and establishes The Greensboro Graded Schools in its charter. In graded schools, education and skill sets are broken into several levels. Lindsay State School, made by expanding a brick, one-room schoolhouse, becomes the state’s first graded school for white children and serves 200 children in eight grades.
1872
- There are nine white, four-month schools in the county and three white, two-month schools. There is one African-American, four-month school. Within 15 years, these numbers will rapidly increase to 98 schools, 75 serving white students and 23 serving Black students.
- Guilford County teachers join four other North Carolina counties in forming an association to improve education, earning $50 from the Peabody Fund.
1874
- Of North Carolina’s estimated 369,960 children between the ages of six and 21 years of age, only about 174,083 were in school, including about 55,000 Black children.
- Greensboro residents approve a special tax for the support of its public schools, with only eight voters dissenting.
1875
- An African-American-graded school, possibly the first in Greensboro, begins in a one-room church. That school gets a permanent school building in 1880 known as Percy Street School.
1877
- The North Carolina legislature adopts a Constitutional Amendment legalizing separate but equal schools.
- The state legislature also adopts an “Act to Establish Normal Schools” in connection with a University to “train young men of the white race” to become teachers of “common schools in the state.” (Noble, 1930, p. 411). Legislation is later added to provide “Colored Normal Schools” for the training of young men of the colored race” to teach in “colored schools.” Low pay for teachers discouraged young men of color from enrolling, however. The State Board of Education decides to open the normal schools to women, including UNCG.
1880
- Local tax supplement funds 120 days of public school instruction.
- 1,383 school districts in North Carolina still lack schoolhouses for white or Black children.
circa 1881
- The hiring and firing of teachers and principals of schools and most other school-based decisions remain in the hands of the local community. This management system would continue mostly unchanged but not without strife well into the 20th Century.
1885
- State legislature establishes boards of education. Guilford County's first board consists of three white men, Professor J.A. Holt, Dr. J.A. McLean and Dr. Nereus Mendenhall.
1896
- Proximity School opens near Greensboro but outside of the city limits to serve the children of white Proximity mill workers.
1897
- City of High Point's first public graded school for white students opens at what was going to be the Cox Granite Mansion on Green Street and South Main Street. About 350 students enroll.
- The first public graded school for Black students opens at the High Point Normal and Industrial Institute, with about 169 students attending.
1898
- Southern leaders and Northern philanthropists start meeting annually to improve education in the region. The meetings become known as the Conference for Education in the South
1902
- In Hooker v. Town of Greenville, the Supreme Court of North Carolina requires equal appropriations for Black and white students.
- Charlotte Hawkins Brown opens the Palmer Memorial Institute as a mission school in Sedalia for Black girls after hosting concerts and other fundraisers.
1904
- Revolution (Cotton Mill) School opened by the mill to serve the children of its white employees.
1905
- In Lowery v. School Trustees of Kernersville, the Supreme Court of North Carolina overturns Hooker decision requiring equal funding for Black and white students.
1907
- Guilford County Board of Education announces the locations of the first high schools for white students. Jamestown, which would serve the western area, and Pleasant Garden, which would serve the east. Two more are added in 1908 and 1911.
- County provides some high school courses for Black students.
- January – Report to Greensboro school board notes low attendance due to families making children work during the holiday season.
1911-1914
- Dorms are added to the Jamestown and Monticello schools for white students because transportation is so difficult.
1913
- About 40-50 percent of all Guilford County children attend school, only slightly better than prior to the Civil War. The county school board lobbies the state General Assembly to make school attendance compulsory. Later that year, state law passes requiring all children 8-12 years old attend school for four months each year.
1915
- School enrollment is up to 74 percent of all children, and attendance is up to 70 percent.
1916
- Possibly the first “bus” routes begin in the county. The county board hires a driver to transport children from the Sunnyside community to the Bessemer school. By 1933, the county school system operates 107 trucks for busing about 5,000 students. It was the largest fleet in the state.
1920s
- Four schools in the High Point township, known as “free schools,” operated by the county join High Point City Schools. Mechanicsville, Oak Hill, Welch and Highland. Springfield school remains under county school board. City schools opening include Emma Blair School, Leonard Street School and Ray Street School.
1921
- Lindsay Street School PTA opens first school cafeteria in the state.
1921 – 1925
- Busy period of new school construction for the county school district. New schools for white students included Alamance, Busick, Colfax, Gibsonville, Guilford, McLeansville, Nathanael Greene, Rankin, Stokesdale, Sumner, Summerfield, while Woodyside, Brown Summit and Gibsonville opened for Black students.
1924
- Schools in African-American communities include Oak Ridge, Goshen, Stony Hill, Mt. Tabor, Red Hill, Florence, Jamestown, Poplar, Zion Hill and Jonesboro..
1926
- Greensboro Public Library launches first bookmobile in the South.
1926
- April - Greensboro Board of Education requests a merger with the county board. The merger works as a system within a system, and the city schools retain their own superintendent. Many families from both school systems protest the move, and by June 1927 the merger is dissolved.
1927
- Black schools of Florence, Jamestown, Poplar and Zion Hill consolidate with the opening of the brick Florence school, among the first such structures in the state to serve Black students.
1928
- Proximity community opens a second school, the most modern school in the county.
1931
- Emancipation Day celebration includes a downtown parade and pageant at Dudley High School.
- Bessemer School gets the first gym in the county.
- The Great Depression sets in, straining the school districts. Superintendent Andrews warns the High Point school board they may not be able to meet payroll for the year. The Greensboro and High Point school systems pay teachers in scrips, essentially vouchers that draw interest from businesses that accept them.
1934
- Greensboro School Board creates vocational education program for the unemployed.
1935
- Ceasar Cone Elementary School opens to serve the children of mill employees.
1936
- April 1-2 Deadly tornado rips through Greensboro, killing several and injuring as many as 144 people and causing millions of dollars in damage, including extensive damage to Washington Street School.
1939
- The Rock Gym at Allen Jay School is built as a Works Progress Administration project using rocks gathered by local residents and wooden beams. In 2012, the gym is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1940
- Greensboro Schools Superintendent Ben L. Smith defends widely-used textbooks written by Dr. Harold Rugg. Some, including many business leaders and chambers of commerce, claimed the textbooks were subversive and promoted communism.
1941 – 1945 World War II
- Perhaps as an indication of how unprepared the nation was for just how extensive our involvement in World War II would be, in April, the Greensboro Board of Education approves a measure allowing students to postpone graduation as long as it doesn't cause classes to be congested
- In January 1942, just weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the school board approved a written request to Selective Service asking that a man's occupation be considered when drafting into the military because so many teachers and principals were being taken.
- Classes directed at the war effort are incorporated, including wartime citizenship, pre-flight training, and military drill.
1943
- Greensboro school board approves awarding high school credit to students for military training.
1944
- Auto mechanic shop class created at Dudley High School as part of the war effort
1945
- Cone Mills community annexed – by request – into Greensboro City Schools. Schools included Proximity, Ceasar Cone, Edgeville and East White Oak.
1947
- Class developed for disabled children at Cloverdale School in High Point. It is the first of its kind in the state.
- High Point Rotary, city and PTA fund drivers’ education program at High Point Senior High School. Possibly the first driver’s education program in North Carolina.
Late 1940s – Early 1950s
- A period of busy construction, with amenities like gyms, athletic fields, cafeterias, auditoriums and additional classrooms added. Schools included Sumner, Gibsonville, Bessemer, Summerfield, Guilford, Colfax and Brightwood.
Desegregation: 1950-1976
1950
- Cerebral Palsy School (now Gateway) opens in Greensboro.
- Six Greensboro city elementary schools for white children are among only 10 accredited by the state.
- Several Greensboro city schools for Black children, particularly Dudley High School, are considered among the best in the state for children of color.
1951
- Edward M. Burke of Gibsonville becomes the first woman elected to Guilford County’s Board of Education.
1953
- Hallie Bacelli, the county district's director of libraries, begins an effort to establish a library in all county schools.
- 1954
- May, 17 – Brown v. Board of Education declares “separate but equal” schools unconstitutional.
- The City of Greensboro Board of Education adopts a resolution to implement the Supreme Court decision.
- Greensboro city schools do not desegregate until under federal court order in 1971.
1955
- Bond approved for major construction plans including the Lucy Coffin Ragsdale High School in Jamestown. This is the only million-dollar school construction project in the county system. The school opens in September 1959 for white students only.
1956
- September 8 – North Carolina voters in all 100 counties approve referendum on the Pearsall Plan, which provides publicly funded “freedom of choice grants” for white parents and their children to attend private schools rather than desegregated public schools. The plan also legalizes the closing of public schools.
1957
- Six African American students attend previously all-white schools for the first time in Greensboro. Josephine Boyd enrolled in Greensboro Senior High School (Grimsley High) and Harold David, Elijah Herring, Jr. and Russell Herring entered Gillespie Junior High. Brenda Kay Florence and Jimmie B. Florence enrolled in Gillespie Elementary.
- Greensboro's Superintendent Ben L. Smith had a cross burned on his lawn and Josephine Boyd endured considerable ridicule.
1959
- Miriam Lynn Fountain, 11th grader at High Point Senior High School, and her sister Brenda Jean Fountain, at High Point Junior High, are the first Black students to attend a white school in High Point. Other African-American families requested transfers but were denied. The Fountain sisters were escorted to school after the school day began and through a side entrance by Superintendent Dean Pruette, Rev. J. Elton Cox and their cousin Dr. Perry Little. Little would later serve as a High Point school board member.
1960
- Four NC A&T State University freshmen, including two Dudley High School graduates, begin sit-in protest at Woolworth's lunch counter, launching change across the South; local counters desegregate on July 25. Dudley High School students joined the protest on Feb. 2.
- Students at William Penn High School (formally the High Point Normal & Industrial Institute for black students) hold first sit-in led by high school students at a local Woolworth's.
1962
- Northeast, Northwest and Southeast high schools open, consolidating several high school programs and meeting with extensive popular opposition.
- 19 black students attend formerly all-white schools in Greensboro.
1963
- More than 200 Black students now attend formerly all-white schools in Greensboro.
1964
- Civil Rights Act enacted, strengthening desegregation of schools by denying federal funds to school districts that refuse to integrate schools.
1965
- The U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) determines that Greensboro’s school desegregation plan is “inadequate” but “negotiable.” Plan is ultimately approved.
1966
- High Point school board votes to close the all-black William Penn High School, moving the students to newly opened Northeast Senior High (now T. Wingate Andrews High) in an effort to promote integration.
1967-1968
- Only two schools in the county school system had entirely white student bodies, but several all-Black schools remained. There are no entirely Black faculties.
- Sam Buford, an African-American principal of Penn High School, named principal of Andrews High, but not without public opposition.
1969
- Protests over student body elections at Dudley High School spread to NCA&T State University campus; National Guard called in and one student is killed.
- The U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare determines that Greensboro City Schools are out of compliance with Brown; District Court rules that High Point must desegregate.
- Greensboro Superintendent Philip J. Weaver refuses to write an integration plan, arguing that the district is in compliance. The school board appeals HEW’s ruling; local NAACP leaders call for Weaver to resign.
1970
- George Simkins and 10 other African-American parents file lawsuit demanding immediate school desegregation against the Greensboro city school system. GCS later names a new school in his honor in 2014.
- City of High Point public schools are ruled in compliance with Brown.
1971
- Greensboro integrates public schools through federal order, becoming one of the last five cities in North Carolina to do so. A massive crowd turns out against the effort at a May school board meeting.
- Future astronaut Ronald McNair graduates from NC A&T State University. McNair later dies in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion. In 2011, the school board names Ronald McNair Elementary School in his honor.
- Greensboro City Schools are ruled in compliance with Brown v. Board of Education.
- In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that busing may be used to desegregate schools.
1974
- Walter Johnson becomes first African American to chair Greensboro Board of Education.
- Racial tensions lead to disruptions at Grimsley High School.
1975
- High Point voters approve referendum to end school board appointed by city council and elect the board instead.
1976
- Safety Town program launched to teach children traffic safety.
Merger & Choice: 1978-2007
1978
- Discussion begins about a possible merger between the three public school systems (City of Greensboro, City of High Point, Guilford County) serving Guilford County.
1979
- William Penn School in High Point added to the National Register of Historic Places.
1981
- Computers added at all four county school district high schools and several elementary and middle schools.
- Northeast High History teacher and former Philadelphia Eagles player Bob Owens creates first Students Against Drunk Driving chapter in Guilford County.
1982
- Debate about merging the county, Greensboro and High Point school districts intensifies with the appointment of a 20-person committee by the Guilford County Commissioners to research the impact of funding the three separate systems.
- James Mebane becomes the first African American elected to the Guilford County Board of Education. He would later become the first African-American chairman of the board.
1983
- A Greensboro News & Record poll finds 59 percent of city residents oppose merging the county's three school systems. 80 percent opposed the idea in High Point, and 78 percent of residents outside of the cities opposed it.
- A North Carolina school finance study commission hears from Jay Robinson, Charlotte-Mecklenburg superintendent, who notes, if not for the merger …” we’d have had a black city school system and a white county school system.”
1987
- NCCJ launches AnyTown ® youth leadership program to combat bias, bigotry and racism. GCS students participate.
- High Point and Greensboro school boards present a merger plan to County Commissioners. The county school board rejects the plan, but merger efforts continue into the next decade
1991
- November - Guilford County voters approve merger of three school systems.
1993
- Guilford County Schools is created by merging Greensboro City Schools, High Point City Schools and Guilford County Schools. The new school system encompasses 645.7 square miles and includes 11 cities and towns, and seven universities and colleges. The merger is later considered the most successful such effort in the United States.
- Children of color become the majority of students served in the combined district.
1995
- Grimsley High begins the county's first International Baccalaureate program. High Point Central offers the program the following year.
1996
- Guilford County Schools is featured in a New York Times article about the district's efforts to improve education.
1997
- Hundreds of families vie for seats in one of the county's 11 magnet school programs.
- With crowding at some schools reaching unmanageable levels, redistricting planning cranks up.
- The Joseph M. Bryan Foundation of Greater Greensboro awards the school district a $1 million grant to expand Paideia teacher training. Guilford County schools have for years embraced Paideia teaching, 31 of the 50 Paideia schools in the country are in Guilford County at the time.
1998
- School district officials and families struggle with meeting court orders for racially balanced and neighborhood-focused schools as neighborhoods and communities remain identifiable by race and class.
1999
- Terry Grier is named Superintendent of Schools and oversees the rapid expansion of visionary programs, including magnet schools, middle/early colleges, the growth of Advanced Placement courses and the creation of more International Baccalaureate programs.
2001
- Guilford County Schools opens the first middle college high school programs in the state at GTCC and Greensboro College.
2002
- Guilford County Schools opens Early College at Guilford (College), the state's first early college high school.
2003
- Guilford County voters approve $300 million schools construction package. The bond approval ends a 30-year drought in which no bonds were passed to support school facilities in the three districts (City of Greensboro, City of High Point and Guilford County) prior to merger and during the first 10 years following merger.
2004
- Academic improvements at Hunter Elementary are touted as an example of what can be done when a community comes together. Dozens of volunteers work at the school including parents, retirees and college students. In 2002-2003 school year, more than 88 percent of students pass state tests.
2006
- President George W. Bush delivers speech at Falkener Elementary School promoting No Child Left Behind.
- Guilford County Public School enrollment numbers total 68,722 and the district’s graduation rate is 74 percent.
2007
- Representing the world’s diversity, GCS’ 70,409 students speak more than 70 world languages or dialects.
- The district’s student poverty rate, as measured by the percentage who qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program, is 48.65 percent.
- Businesses for Excellence in Education donates nearly $500,000 to support GCS schools.
- Reedy Fork Elementary’s construction and amenities represent some of the most advanced environmentally “green” technology implemented in school construction in the country.
- GCS starts Home Field Advantage program to provide more stability in school assignment for homeless students.
Points of Pride: 2008-2016
2008
- Voters approve historic $457 million bond proposal to improve existing school facilities and build new schools. The package contains 27 projects, which include five new schools and more than 6,500 new student seats. Thirteen schools will receive major renovations and additions. Of the prioritized list of projects, 93.5 percent of the request relieves overcrowding, 3.5 percent targets repairs and renovations and 3 percent is for district-wide improvements to heating and air conditioning systems.
- Maurice “Mo” Green, a Duke University-trained attorney and former deputy superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, is named Superintendent of Schools. Green is the first African-American and first non-educator to serve in this capacity.
- The Great Recession begins, resulting in mid-year budget cuts in state funding to local public schools.
2009
- President Barack Obama plans to deliver a speech specifically to the nation's children using technology. Every Guilford County public school tunes into the speech. Some parents refuse to send their children to school or insist on alternative assignments during the speech rather than have their children hear from President Obama.
- Superintendent Green rolls out the district’s first strategic plan after conducting a countywide listening and learning tour. The plan focuses on improving academic achievement, character and service, parent engagement and operations.
- Superintendent Green reorganizes the district into regions while carving over $1.6 million from central office expenditures.
- As part of its strategic plan to expand visual and performing arts opportunities for students, the district creates its first Summer Arts Institute.
- $265.8 million in bond projects are completed or underway.
- The district launches Energy Wise to encourage students to analyze and reduce school energy consumption, and the program is replicated statewide and nationally.
- GCS celebrates the first graduates of its Alternative Certification Track (ACT) program. GCS ACT is the only program in the state to offer lateral entry candidates an in-house teacher preparation program that leads to licensure.
- Weaver Academy, The Middle College at GTCC-Jamestown and The Early College at Guilford are three of only seven schools in the state to reach 100 percent graduation rates.
- The Early College at Guilford ranks No. 19 and Weaver Academy ranks 81 on Newsweek's top 100 high schools.
2010
- The Schott Foundation for Public Education finds GCS had one of the 10 best graduation rates for Black males in the nation among large school districts, according to data from the 2007-08 school year.
- The space shuttle Endeavour carries an experiment designed by nine Mendenhall Middle School students. The experiment studied the effects of weightlessness on the growth of brine shrimp. Private funding underwrote the costs.
- The State Board of Education approves an allocation of $16.8 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) for GCS as part of the federal stimulus legislation, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). GCS starts work on 28 maintenance projects in 24 schools not included in the 2008 bond program. Funding includes $3 million for window and door replacements, $3 million for roof repairs/replacements and $10.8 million for HVAC system improvements.
- GCS opens the Meredith Leigh Haynes – Bennie Lee Inman Education Center, a state-of-the-art facility for children with disabilities.
- State Superintendent June Atkinson presents Triangle Lake Montessori teacher Kimberly James with the 2010 Milken Family Foundation Educator Award. James is one of only 55 teachers nationally in 2010 to receive the award.
- GCS students, teachers, administrators and central office employees raise $50,759.95 for the district’s Operation HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere) campaign. The campaign supported disaster relief after a devastating earthquake in Haiti.
- Five GCS choice schools are recognized nationally by Magnet Schools of America. Johnson Street Global Studies is among a select group named Schools of Excellence. Jones Spanish Immersion Elementary, The Early College at Guilford, Weaver Academy and Washington Elementary were named Schools of Distinction.
2011
- Student enrollment reaches 72,196 K-12; the student poverty rate is now 55.15 percent. Schools serve students from 100 different countries who speak more than 123 world languages or dialects. About 40.8 percent of students are Black; 37.9 percent are white; 11.2 percent are Hispanic; 5.7 percent Asian. The rest identify as multi-racial, American Indian or Pacific Islander.
- Thanks to $860,000 in private funding, Guilford Parent Academy debuts with nearly 2,000 parents registering on the website and about 5,000 attending events in its first year of operation.
- Volunteers log more than 367,000 hours of service to GCS, contributing $7.8 million at an estimated rate of $21.36 per hour. Community partners contributed more than $1.4 million in goods, services and donations to support school initiatives.
- For the first time, the district honors students who completed 50 hours of community service tied to academic content. 440 students earned the inaugural Service-Learning Exemplary Award.
- The U.S. Department of Education selects Brown Summit Middle as a 2011 National Blue Ribbon School.
- Kirkman Park Elementary wins the prestigious statewide “Spirit of North Carolina” award by the United Way for its outstanding campaign. The district and its schools will go on to win honors from the United Way in the years to come.
- The Middle College at Bennett receives the North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s Lighthouse School Award.
2012
- The district is awarded a record-breaking $35.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support personalized learning in 24 middle schools and related strategic plan initiatives.
- Montlieu Academy in High Point receives $750,000 in funding from business and community leaders to pilot one-to-one learning.
- The U.S. Department of Education names The Academy at Smith and The Middle College at Bennett as 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools.
- The STEM Early College at N.C. A&T welcomes its first class, thanks in large measure to $1 million in private funding secured by Chancellor Harold L. Martin and Superintendent Green.
- GCS Teacher of the Year Karyn Dickerson earns Regional and State Teacher of the Year recognition.
- Guilford Parent Academy hosts its first Family Fun Day at Camp Weaver; more than 5,000 participated, representing a 900 percent increase in attendance from its successful 2011 family event.
- WFMY TV partners with GCS to start Read2Succeed, which promotes reading for fun and learning through a weekly program and high-energy school visits. PSA debuts during local Super Bowl broadcast.
- Patrice Faison, principal of Oak Hill Elementary, is named the North Carolina Principal of the Year.
- GCS creates its second early college, The STEM Early College at N.C. A&T State University.
2013
- Students post more than 638,000 hours of service learning and more than 400 students earn Service Learning Diplomas. In the coming years, GCS is lauded as a stand-out district for service hours.
- The Ellison Foundation and Philips Foundation pledge $1 million to support the creation of a new magnet school in High Point that uses movement, chant, rhyme, music and other creative techniques to engage students in learning. The new school, the Allen Jay Middle School: A Preparatory Academy, opens later that school year in temporary quarters while awaiting bond-financed renovations to its permanent home.
- The district partners with Children’s Defense Fund, Greensboro College and the McAlister Foundation to start a Freedom School to stem summer learning losses.
- In January, Pat McCrory (R), a graduate of Lucy Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, is sworn in as North Carolina’s 74th Governor after winning the election in November of 2012.
- Community members, parents, foundations and philanthropies donate $4 million in private contributions and in-kind donations to support GCS students and schools.
- 15 students are named National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists; 19 members of the Class of 2013 received their high school diploma and an associate degree.
- Grimsley High teacher Karyn Dickerson is named North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
- Thanks to funding from the Cemala Foundation and Philips Foundation, the district launches a new partnership with Teach For America to place 30 new recruits in high-need secondary schools.
- The Middle College at N.C. A&T joins the elite ranks of the nation’s highest-performing schools as a 2013 National Blue Ribbon School.
- The Guilford County Board of Education approved a list of priority construction projects totaling nearly $80 million.
- GCS opens two new schools to serve exceptional children formerly attending the McIver school: Herbin-Metz Education Center in Greensboro and Chris Greene Education Center in Jamestown.
2014
- GCS graduation rate reaches 88.5 percent, and exceeds the 2014 state average of 83.8 percent. Seven schools post 100 percent graduation rates, the most of any other district statewide.
- The African-American Male Initiative starts in three schools – Parkview Village Elementary, Ferndale Middle and High Point Central High – to focus on improving academic achievement in reading and reducing disparities in discipline, particularly in and out of school suspensions.
- The district debuts North Carolina’s first Advanced Placement Capstone Academy, located at Western Guilford High School.
- 15 high schools make the 2014 Washington Post’s America’s Most Challenging High Schools list. GCS schools also took 4 of the top 10 spots in the state.
- All four of North Carolina’s 2014 State Schools of Character come from GCS: Colfax Elementary, Southern Middle, Southern High and Southwest Middle. Colfax Elementary, Southern Middle and Southwest Middle also earn 2014 National Schools of Character recognition. GCS schools will go on to win Schools of Character awards in many subsequent years.
- The Guilford County Board of Education files a lawsuit in Guilford County Superior Court, alleging the state legislature’s retroactive invalidation of contractual teacher tenure rights granted by GCS and other local school boards is unconstitutional. In May, a Wake County judge rules in the board’s favor.
2015
- The district is named the next Say Yes to Education community after local philanthropists and foundations pledge more than $45 million to provide “last dollar” tuition scholarships for college for graduating seniors from Guilford County public high schools.
- Approximately 67 percent of GCS students are considered low-income based on Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) data as well as the number of students who qualify for free and reduced meals.
- Duke University’s prestigious Trinity Scholarship is awarded to only three students in North Carolina – all from GCS.
- More than 530 graduating seniors qualify for the district’s annual Cool to Be Smart celebration by earning passing scores on at least five AP/IB exams or a B or better in at least five qualifying college courses.
- The graduating class earns more than $156 million in scholarship offers and grants.
- An outside financial review by Schoolhouse Partners and Say Yes to Education indicates that 95.9 percent of total district spending from 2011 to 2015 focused on program expenses, including providing direct services to students, training or supervising teachers, curriculum purchases and development, and operating and managing school campuses.
- The Guilford County Board of Education joins dozens of other North Carolina school districts that are suing the state for more than $46 million that should have gone to public schools from certain motor vehicle violation fines.
2016
- GCS serves 71,747 students K-12 and 73,306 PreK-13 during the 2016-17 school year. GCS students now speak more than 105 world languages. The top five languages other than English include Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese and Karen.
- The district serves 2,640 homeless students; approximately 62.3 percent of all students are considered economically disadvantaged; 2,640 are homeless. Students of color (66.6 percent) make up the majority of those enrolled. The graduation rate is 89.4 percent.
- GCS operates 127 schools in 340 school and administrative buildings with an average age of 51 years.
- The number of nationally board-certified teachers reaches 774, ranking the district ninth in the country.
- Sharon L. Contreras, Ph.D., is named Superintendent of Schools. A former teacher, principal, chief academic officer and superintendent with experience in multiple states, Dr. Contreras becomes the first woman of color and first Latina to serve in the district’s top post.
- GCS and High Point University win an $888,116 grant to create a Principal Leadership Academy for aspiring school leaders.
- Bond projects at Dudley High, Northwood Elementary, Northwest High, Allen Jay Middle and Southeast High are completed. Construction begins on the last four of nine original priority projects at Smith High, Dudley High, Western High and Guilford Middle.
Bibliography
Arnett, Ethel Stephens. For Whom Our Public Schools Were Named, Greensboro, North Carolina. Greensboro, N.C.: Piedmont Press, 1973.
Batchelor, John E. The Guilford County Schools: A History. Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, 1991.
Chafe, William H. Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom. Oxford University Press, New York, 1981.
Greensboro Historical Museum. 130 Summit Avenue, Greensboro, N.C. Phone: (336) 373-2043.
Guilford County Schools. 712 North Eugene Street, Greensboro, N.C. Phone (336) 370-8100.
Annual Reports 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016.
Hawkins, K. & Dowell, C. “Desegregation and Integration of Greensboro’s Public Schools, 1954-1974,”Retrieved from www.uncg.edu
High Point Enterprise. 210 Church Avenue, High Point, N.C. Phone: (336) 888-3500.
News and Observer, “School Mixing Total in 43 NC Counties,” August 8, 1968.
High Point Museum. 1859 East Lexington Avenue, High Point, N.C. Phone (336) 885-1859.
Love, Bayard. “Groundwater Analysis: Examining the Prevalence of Racial Inequity in Guilford County Schools.” Prepared for the Guilford County Board of Education’s Achievement Gap Committee. Greensboro, NC, 2017.
News & Record (Greensboro). 200 East Market Street, Greensboro, N.C. Phone: (336) 373-7000.
Noble, M.C.S. A History of the Public Schools in North Carolina. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1930.
Pierce, Michael G. History of the High Point Public Schools 1897-1993. Charlotte, N.C.: High Point Public Schools, 1993.
Stockaru, Sallie W. The History of Guilford County. Guilford College. 1902.
Tabor, Mary B.W. “In Era of Smaller Schools, One County Finds Improvement From Consolidating.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 June 1996, www.nytimes.com/1996/06/12/us/in-era-of-smaller-schools-one-county-finds-improvement-from-consolidating.html.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Civil Rights in Greensboro, www.uncg.edu