Anson County Schools is a PK– 12 graded

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

serving

Anson County, North Carolina Anson County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,055. Its county seat is Wadesboro. History The county was formed in 1750 from Bladen County. It was named for George Anson, Ba ...

. Its 11 schools serve 3,845 students as of the 2010–2011 school year.

History

Attempts at common schools began in Anson County as early as the mid-1700s. The Revolutionary War and its aftermath halted progress in this area for a while. Later, many academies and subscription schools abounded in the area. One of the first in the area was Wadesborough Academy which was authorized by the state legislature in 1791. Fundraising was often done by state-authorized lotteries. Although no records exist that show when the first public schools were officially formed in the county, by 1899 there existed 50 schools for white students and 37 for black students. At that time, the school year was only about three to four months long. They still had 87 schools by 1912 with over 100 teachers. The school year was expanded to six months in the 1920s. School consolidation began after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, culminating in the merger of Wadesboro City Schools into Anson County Schools in 1960, shortly after the consolidation of Anson High School. Bowman High School, named for former long-time superintendent J. O. Bowman opened as an integrated school in 1967, after originally being built to be a segregated school. Through the 1930s to the 1950s, Anson County Schools was governed by a five-member Board of Education and was divided into six school districts. Each of these districts had a committee authorized to hire their own principals and teachers, as well as set district calendars. During this time the split year schedule was developed because of the rural, farm family demographics of the school students. The school year would start in early July and last for several weeks taking a break in mid August until after harvests were finished. The regular, longer school year would then start in late October.

Student demographics

For the 2010–2011 school year, Anson County Schools had a total population of 3,845 students and 248.47 teachers on a ( FTE) basis. This produced a student-teacher ratio of 15.47:1. That same year, out of the total student population, the gender ratio was 50% male to 50% female. The demographic group makeup was: Black, 59%; White, 32%; Hispanic, 3%; Asian/Pacific Islander, 2%; and American Indian, 1% (two or more races: 3%). For the same school year, 76.59% of the students received free and reduced-cost lunches.

Governance

The primary governing body of Anson County Schools follows a

council–manager government The council–manager government is a form of local government used for municipalities, counties, or other equivalent regions. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States along with the mayor–council govern ...

format with a nine-member

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

appointing a

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

to run the day-to-day operations of the system. The school system currently resides in the

North Carolina State Board of Education The North Carolina State Board of Education, established by Article 9 of the Constitution of North Carolina, supervises and administers the public school systems of North Carolina. The board sets policy and general procedures for public school syst ...

's Sixth District.

Board of education

The Anson County Schools Board of Education elects seven members by district to four-year staggered terms. Two others are elected as at-large members. The board generally meets on the last Monday of each month. The current board is: ; District members * Daniel Wilson (District 1) * Bobbie Little (District 2) (Vice-Chair) * Beulah Pratt (District 3) * Lisa G. Davis (District 4) (Chair) * Russell Sikes (District 5) * Michael Livingston (District 6) * Carol Ann Gibson (District 7) ; At-Large members * Marilynn Bennett * George Truman

Superintendent

The current superintendent of Anson County Schools is Howard McLean . He has been superintendent since May 2020.

Member schools

Anson County Schools has eleven schools ranging from

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

. Those eleven schools are separated into four

high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, one

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

, and six

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

High schools

* Anson Academy ( Wadesboro) * Anson County Early College ( Polkton) * Anson High School (Wadesboro) * Anson New Technology High School (Wadesboro) * Anson County Career Connect Program (STEM) (Wadesboro)

Middle school

Anson Middle School
(Wadesboro) * A new 165,000 square foot two-story middle school is set to be built adjacent to Anson High School. The official date for construction to begin is currently unknown. The estimated cost for the new school is said to be $52,688,803 with construction cost to be around $45,497,485.

Elementary schools

Ansonville Elementary School
( Ansonville)
Lilesville Elementary School
( Lilesville)
Morven Elementary School
( Morven)
Peachland-Polkton Elementary School
(

Peachland Peachland is a district municipality in the Okanagan Valley on the west side of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1899 by John Moore Robinson, although the region had long been home to the Okanagan people. Peachland is ...

)
Wadesboro Elementary School
(Wadesboro)
Wadesboro Primary School
(Wadesboro)

References

External links

* {{Anson County, North Carolina Education in Anson County, North Carolina School districts in North Carolina