CES kindergarten teacher Sally Tillman works with a class reading group.

Vision, Mission & Guiding Principles

Established in 1886, the award-winning Carrollton City School System consistently produces high-level educational opportunities through a process of continuous improvement, creating a quality educational community that meets the intellectual, physical, social and emotional needs of all students.

The school system not only serves the children of Carrollton, but others who may enroll as non-resident, tuition-paying students. In fact, roughly a third of the system’s enrollment is made up of these students who have opted to become part of the tradition of excellence the school system has enjoyed for more than a century.

Among the school system’s amenities is a centralized 130-acre campus that houses four schools serving about 4,800 students: Carrollton High School (9-12), Carrollton Junior High (7-8), Carrollton Middle School (4-6) and Carrollton Elementary (PreK-3).

Carrollton City Schools also enjoys a seamless connection to the community. Business partnerships, including the recent launch of the Southwire Engineering Academy at CHS, and parental involvement are at an all-time high. Local support of a school sales tax continues to be strong and has allowed the system to build some of the best public school facilities in the state. Dedicated in May 2010, the Joshua R. Mabry Center for the Arts is the largest performing arts venue in the county while other recent SPLOST-funded projects include a completed addition at CMS and a renovation and expansion of the CHS gym.

Carrollton High School, a Georgia School of Excellence, in recent years has received state and national recognition for its efforts in STEM, an academic focus on science, technology, engineering and math. Adding to this rigor to afford students even more educational opportunities, CHS was authorized as an International Baccalaureate school effective the 2012-2013 school year. In addition to the relationship with Southwire Company, other significant business partnerships are under development and collaborations with nearby University of West Georgia and West Georgia Technical College allow students the opportunity to earn college credit before they graduate high school.

Carrollton Junior High School, a Georgia School of Excellence and National Blue Ribbon School, serves seventh and eighth grades and is the physical site of the school system's new Performing Learning Center, a non-traditional school serving primarily high school students. CJHS also boasts a focus on STEM and continues its decades-long tradition of providing strong feeder programs for arts and athletics. In the end there is a rigorous academic program, validated by high standardized test scores, plus a wide offering of classroom experiences that enhance the overall curriculum.

Carrollton Middle School opened its doors for the first time in the 2005-2006 school year and served fourth and fifth grades before the addition of sixth grade in 2012-2013. CMS already has earned a reputation as a school devoted to the fine arts, with strong music and visual arts programs well in place. Its academic reputation is just as strong; the school received the Governor’s Gold Award school in 2007 and has been named a Title I Distinguished School every year since opening. Tying in with the school district's focus on STEM K-12, CMS has a STEM lab, science lab, and robotics and science clubs.

Opened in 1992, Carrollton Elementary School provides teachers with instructional tools that bring learning to life. Though one of the largest elementary schools in the state, strong administrative support creates a smaller-school atmosphere that is more conducive to learning. In fact, CES has been recognized for improving academic achievement, garnering attention from the governor's office and state school superintendent. The lower elementary grades at CES are not immune to the district's STEM focus, either; in fact, CES has been so successful in STEM implementation that the school received state Department of Education STEM certification in 2013, one of the first elementary schools in the state to receive it.

The Carrollton City Schools philosophy is to encourage students to participate in extracurricular programs to round out their educational experiences. Championship athletic teams, nationally acclaimed band programs, chorus, drama and debate teams, ROV and robotics clubs and other student organizations offer a niche for everyone. In fact, the school system encourages students to be committed to excel in all “three A’s” – academics, arts and athletics –  all components of a classic, comprehensive education.

The school system provides transportation for students who reside in the city limits. Other systemwide programs include those for children with special needs, learning disabilities, behavior, vision or speech problems, multi-handicapped and hospital/homebound.

For more information about the Carrollton City Schools, contact the superintendent’s office at 770-832-9633.

Carrollton's first public school building on College Street.

The award-winning Carrollton City School System continues the tradition of excellence that began with its founding in 1886.
 
Carrollton's first public school on College Street opened its doors in 1887 at the same location of its private predecessors, Carrollton Seminary and the Carrollton Masonic Institute. A new brick building for the school system was constructed on the same site in 1897. Its name was Carrollton Public School.

In 1913, another school was constructed on Maple Street and a school for African American children was built on Pearl Street.  West View School, a school for mill children built by Mandeville Mills and rented by the Carrollton City Schools, had 79 students in 1917. For the 1922-23 school year, the school board voted to allow the mill children to attend Maple Street School, a signal that school segregation was not only based on race, but class.

Carrollton High School was built in the 1921-22 school year and Carroll County Training School, which served African American children, opened in 1932.
 
Fire destroyed Maple Street School's original building in 1947. Students attended double sessions in the annex until a new school on the same site was built. College Street's original building suffered disrepair and was razed in 1954.

Also in 1954, Carver High School was constructed near the old Carroll County Training School, which became an elementary school. Both served African American children until desegregation in 1969.

In 1962-63, a new high school was built at the southern end of Oak Avenue. The old high school on South White Street became the junior high. Westside Elementary on High Street was constructed to serve African American children in grades 1 through 3 in 1963-64.

With desegregation came change for all city schools. Children of all races attended the schools under the following organization: City Kindergarten (formerly Westside Elementary); Maple Street, grades 1 and 2; College Street, 3 and 4; Alabama Street, 5 and 6; CJHS, 7 and 8; CHS, 9 through 12.

A new CJHS site was constructed near the high school in 1986. The former high school and junior high building became the Carrollton Community Activities Center, later renamed the Tracy P. Stallings Community Center in memory and honor of Carrollton's former mayor and long-time school board member.

In 1992, Carrollton's three elementary schools consolidated to create a new kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school that until 2005 housed about 1,600 students, making it one of the largest elementary schools in the state. The bell from the original Carrollton Seminary building that warned townspeople of the proximity of Federal troops during the Civil War was pulled out of retirement and mounted in the cupola of this building.

Built next to CES is Carrollton Middle School, which opened the 2005-2006 school year. With fourth and fifth grades moving to CMS from CES, the prekindergarten program formerly housed at Maple Street School moved to the elementary school.

All former schools are in use today. Maple Street School was sold to a private developer in 2004 and portions of the buildings are rented by various organizations and businesses, including the Boys and Girls Club of Carroll County. Alabama Street School (formerly Carver High School)  is home to the school system's alternative school program, New Horizons, and a regional institution serving students with psychological disorders called the Burwell Center. College Street School was sold to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners in the 1990s and currently serves as administrative offices for local government. The Westside Elementary/City Kindergarten building is one of two federal Head Start locations in Carrollton.

Superintendents who have served the school system are: Ronald Johnson, 1887-88; J.E. Witherspoon, 1888-89; W.W. Roop, 1889-90; T.E. Hollingsworth, 1890-97; J.L. Caldwell, 1897-1903; C.K. Henderson, 1903-07; H.B. Adams, 1907-20; J.N. Haddock, 1920-22; Knox Walker, 1922-27; W. Fred Gunn, 1927-33; M.C. Wiley, 1933-44; F.M. Chalker, 1944-66; H.M. Fulbright, 1966-81; Thomas S. Upchurch, 1981-94; Ronnie A. Williams, 1994-2001; Thomas A. Wilson, 2001-10; and Dr. Kent Edwards, 2010 to present.

The landscape of the school system and the student body it serves have changed dramatically over the years. Today, a 130-acre campus located off Highway 27 and the 166 Bypass is home to four schools and a massive athletic complex. About 4,600 students are enrolled now, a far cry from the 752 recorded in an annual report published in 1904.