History
Timeline of public school openings in Conyers/Rockdale County, GA
1800s – 1870s
Area opened to western settlement 1816
Trail of Tears 1830s
Georgia Railroad – 1833-1845
Town of Conyers incorporated – 1854
Civil War 1861-1865
Rockdale County created out of Henry and Newton - 1870
1880s – 1910s
Act creates Public School System in Rockdale County – 1889
Conyers Institute (public) – January 1894 (180 students, grew to 225 in first year; location of current 954 N. Main Street)
Many one-room one-teacher rural church schools
- In 1905: 14 white schools, 14 black schools
- In 1910: 17 white schools, 15 black schools
Callaway Cotton Mill - 1905
1910s – 1930s
WWI, Prohibition, Great Depression
Milstead Public School – 1915 (80 children of mill employees, built by Callaway Mills; 4 teachers, 3 classrooms; Up to grade 9)
Conyers Institute/High rebuilt with brick after it burned down - 1915 (Up to grade 10)
Library started in Conyers/Main Street School - 1920
Bryant Street School – 1930s–1950 (Originally named Conyers Consolidated Colored School; Up to grade 10)
1940s
WWII, Trappist Monks arrived/establish Monastery.
Four larger schools, many smaller one-room one-teacher schools.
School bus routes begin, two routes.
1950s
One-room one-teacher schools phased out.
J.P. Carr School (formerly Bryant Street School) – 1950 ($50,000 bond passed by voters; Up to grade 12)
Vocational education buildings added to main brick building at 954 N. Main Street by Callaway Mills – 1952.
Rockdale Hospital – 1954
Brown vs. Board of Education – 1954
Conyers and Rockdale County schools systems merged – 1956
Rockdale High School/Conyers High School merged – 1956
Milstead Public School closed – 1957
Rockdale Elementary (renamed Pine Street Elementary) – 1957
1960s
Lithonia Lighting opens Conyers plant – 1956
Callaway Mills closes – 1960
Construction of I-20
Major business development
School Integration
1965 Freedom of Choice
1969 Full Integration
Rockdale County High – 1965
J.H. House Elementary – 1967
C.J. Hicks Elementary – 1969
1970s
Middle grades at 954 N. Main Street and at J.P. Carr
Main brick building at 954 N. Main Street of former Conyers Institute/Conyers High torn down, vocational education buildings left – 1970
Flat Shoals Elementary – 1972
Honey Creek Elementary – 1974
Heritage High – 1976
G.L. Edwards Middle – 1978.
Conyers Middle – 1978.
M.G. Barksdale Elementary – 1978.
1980s
8,700 students
954 N. Main Street former vocational buildings renovated to Administrative Offices/Central Office – 1980.
Hightower Trail Elementary – 1989.
D.L. Sims Elementary – 1988.
1990s
Salem High – 1992
Memorial Middle – 1994
Alpha Academy – 1994
Shoal Creek Elementary – 1994
Lorraine Elementary – 1997
2000s
Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology – 2000
Peek’s Chapel Elementary – 2003
Rockdale Career Academy – 2006
General Ray Davis Middle – 2007
Rockdale Open Campus – 2008
2010s
C.J. Hicks Elementary – 2010 (new location across the street from old location)
Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology – 2011 (new location, renovated former C.J. Hicks Elementary building)
Pine Street Elementary – 2018 (new location on Sigman Road)
Late 2010s to 2020s
16,500 students
COVID-19 pandemic – 2020.
J.H. House Elementary – 2021 (new location on Zingara Road).
Consolidate RCPS offices to new RCPS Central Office administrative building at former Pine Street Elementary location – 2021.
Repurpose former J.H. House Elementary building at 2930 Ga Highway 20 into EPIC Campus to house Open Campus, Alpha Academy, Rockdale Virtual Campus programs – 2021.
Repurpose 954 N. Main Street to house Georgia Military College (GMC) Rockdale campus – 2022.
Superintendents of Rockdale County Schools:
1894 - W.P. Fleming and Buell Stark
1898 - B.P. Glenn
1899 - J.D. McLendon
1908 - Ralph O. Powell
1912 - G.W. Glausier
1920 - G.W. Crumbly
1925 - Violet F. King
1933 - G.W. Crumbly
1933 April - C.J. Hicks
1949 - Ernest Holmes
1951 March - Charles E. Rich
1953 - H.C. Eddleman
1955 June - J.H. House
1967 July - Herbert Glover
1968 - Charles Kennedy
1977 December - Don Joiner
1984 -
John Phillips
(1991/1992?) - Kathy O'Neill
(by 1996?) - Dr. Ellis Dunbar
(by 1999?) Dr. Donald A. Peccia
(by 2000?) - Ruel M. Parker
2005 - Dr. Samuel King
2012 - Richard Autry
2018 - Dr. Terry O. Oatts