The History of Lattimore School

The history of Lattimore school dates back to 1880.  Classes were held in a one room log building called the Durham School.  Mr. Will Gidney taught children of all ages in this one room school.  There was a large fireplace on one side where logs were burned to furnish heat during the summer months.

The first school, after the town was named Lattimore in 1895, was housed in one of the buildings discarded by a railroad camp.  It was also a one room school building and only one teacher was employed.  This was a subscription school with pupils paying a tuition to attend the three or four month term.  Mrs. John Carlton and Miss Estelle Purcell were two of the first teachers.

Later, a two room structure was built.   Ten years later, two more rooms were added, thus making a two story building.

During the early 1900’s the enrollment increased and a staff of several teachers and a principal were paid by local and county funds.  Some of the men who served as principal were Chivous M. McSwain, B.H. Bridges, Captain W.T.R. Bell, and Bunyan Harrill.

In 1921, this building housed one hundred and forty students and four teachers.  The parents believed the building to be unsafe due to the way it was constructed.  They decided to build a brick building and extend the term from seven to eight months.  This was done by voting a special tax upon themselves.

In the summer of 1923, the building was completed.  The community was proud of the new brick, three-story building with sixteen classrooms, an auditorium, and a science laboratory.  This was an accredited high school and in 1924, four girls were its first graduates.  Mr. Lawton Blanton was principal and served two different terms for a total of fifteen years.  During his first term, Lattimore High School was recognized as having a superior program, and many out of district students attended; some boarding in the community and others driving in.  The county began to operate buses in 1926.

By 1928, this school was consolidated with all of three and half of two other school districts, namely Double Springs, Cabaniss, Pleasant Ridge, Padgett, and Rehobeth.

Federal funds helped finance the building of a gymnasium and agriculture department in 1930.  Enrollment continued to increase and more space was needed.  In 1936, with the help of Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds, a separate building for the high school was constructed on a site close by.  This building had ten classrooms and an auditorium.  WPA funds paid the cost of grading the playground.  For twenty-five years, two buildings were used; one for the elementary grades and one for the high school.

In 1945, Mr. Chivous Padgett became principal.  During this time, many changes occurred in the organization, enrollment, and facilities of Lattimore School.  In 1946, Zion (a small primary school) was moved to Lattimore.  In 1953, a Home Economics room and a new gymnasium were added to the school building.  A large cafeteria, eight elementary classrooms, and shower rooms for the gymnasium were added in 1950.  By 1960, an addition of two more classrooms made it possible to abandon the three-story building which was no longer considered safe.  This building was sold and has now been demolished.

The class of 1959 was the last class to graduate from Lattimore High School.  The following fall, grades ten, eleven, and twelve were moved to Boiling Springs and consolidated with those grades from Boiling Springs and Mooresboro to form Crest High School.  When the building for the present Crest High School was completed in the fall of 1967, the ninth grade was assigned to Crest, leaving grades one through eight at Lattimore.

Racial integration began in 1962 with the enrollment of four negro students.  The first negro teacher, Mrs. Mary Gleaves, was assigned in 1965 and was accepted without a problem.  Total integration of all Cleveland County Schools in the fall of 1969 brought further changes.  Grades seven and eight were consolidated with those of Boiling Springs, Mooresboro, and Green Bethel, forming a junior high which was named West Cleveland housed in the former Green Bethel School in Boiling Springs.  New district lines were drawn and a small section was lost to Dover School.

Lattimore school with twenty teachers now served children in grades one through six with an enrollment of 533 students.

The academic program was enriched at Lattimore when the PTO hired a resident of the community, a capable musician, to teach music. Mrs. Mary Lattimore was employed in 1958 and taught classes each week until 1989.  At this time, the music program was taken over by the county.

A speech remediation teacher was hired in 1968 by the school system to help elementary children with speech problems.  Lattimore students were included in this program.

With the help of federal funds under the Title I program, classroom aides were employed for the primary grades beginning in 1968 to assist the teachers with clerical duties, thus enabling the teachers to give more time to the teaching of reading.  The following year, the tutorial reading program was begun in order to provide one-on-one help for children with beginning reading problems.  In 1976, a reading lab was set up to help third and fourth grade students with reading problems.  In 1977, the North Carolina legislature funded the Primary Reading Program which eventually provided and aide for each first, second, and third grade classroom in an effort to facilitate the teaching of beginning reading.

Under the leadership of the Cleveland County Superintendent Walter Thomas, the faculty and staff conducted the first self-study to meet the requirements for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools during the 1970-71 school year.  Accreditation was granted in 1971.  A second self-study was done in 1981 in order to maintain accreditation status.

Nineteen seventy-three was the year Mr. Chivous C. Padgett retired after twenty-eight years of service to the Town of Lattimore and the surrounding areas in the capacity of school principal.  He was an honored, respected, and beloved member of the community.  Mr. Padgett passed away on December 9, 1987.  Richard Harris succeeded Mr. Padgett as principal of Lattimore School.

In 1973, the old shop building was renovated for the addition of a kindergarten class.  However, this space had to be used for three first grade classes due to the increased enrollment.  The initial kindergarten class was postponed one year and the full kindergarten program began in 1975.  Dressing rooms in the gymnasium were converted to classrooms to accommodate the fourth class of first graders.

The enrollment grew in 1974 necessitating the location of two fourth grade classes in the gymnasium and the other two fourth grade classes joining them the following year.

Physical Education teachers were hired in order to provide a sequential physical development program beginning in kindergarten.  However, after three years, limited funds forced the program to begin with the fourth grades.

The federally funded Headstart Program had been a summer program with a center at Lattimore School from 1965 to 1975 when the program was changed to nine months and redesigned to serve qualifying four year olds rather than five year old children.

The Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) provided federal funds to provide on-the-job training for unemployed people in the mid-seventies.  The schools gained several clerical and janitorial assistants through this program. 

The opening of Crest Junior High School in 1976 influenced another change at Lattimore.  West Cleveland School was made a fifth and sixth grade for the students in the Lattimore and Boiling Springs districts.  This made Lattimore a kindergarten through fourth grade school.

Another change in 1976 was the moving of the district lines.  Mooresboro School was closed and part of the area served by that school was added to the Lattimore district to the south.  The northern limit of the Lattimore district was also moved, reducing the area in that direction.

In the spring of 1976, Representative James Broyhill visited and presented Lattimore School a United States  flag which was flown over the nation’s Capitol in Washington DC.   Another US flag was given to the school in 1984 by State Representative Jack B. Hunt. 

As a part of the Primary Reading Program, which started in 1977, the annual testing program was expanded from the benchmark years (grades 3,6, and 9) to include the first and second grades with a criterion referenced test (this was changed to a standardized test in 1984).  Shortly thereafter, the fourth grades were included in the annual standardized testing program.

In 1978, Ronal Wilson was assigned the principalship of Lattimore Elementary School.  During his five years in this capacity, classroom observation of teachers by the principal became a part of the teacher evaluation program.  A computer literacy program was begun during this period with computers being purchased for classroom use.

Harold P. Watts became principal of Lattimore School in 1983. 

The CODAP (Community Organization for Drug Abuse Prevention) Self-Concept Program for the fourth grade began in 1983.

The following year, in 1984, the elementary classes for the hearing impaired, the behaviorally/emotionally handicapped, and the educable mentally handicapped In the Cleveland County school system were moved to Lattimore.  The hearing impaired class was moved to Polkville School the following year.

In 1985, a program for the gifted and talented was started in grades two, three, and four.

The 1985-86 school year at Lattimore was exciting as renovations in the gymnasium and media center were made in preparation the return of the fifth and sixth grades in the fall of 1986.

In 1985-86, there were 296 students enrolled with a faculty and staff of 48 which included 22 teachers, 13 aides, and 13 bus drivers, lunchroom workers, and custodial help, plus a principal and a secretary.

In 1988, The Basic Education Plan became a part of the regular school program.  At this time, kindergarten and first grade students were provided instructions in Spanish.  The following year second graders were added.  Currently first and second grades are being served.

Mr. Harold Watts retired at the end of February 1988.  Mrs. Linda P. Hendrick, kindergarten teacher, became principal.

[During] the following years, modern technology entered the school.   The WICAT computer program was introduced to the staff and students.  Students continue to visit the computer lab twice weekly.  IN 1990-91, another modern invention became part of the school – SIMS which replaced the teacher register.

In August of 1990, sixth graders from Lattimore School were moved to Crest Middle School, making Lattimore School kindergarten through fifth grade with an enrollment of 382 students and a faculty of 48 members.

Lattimore School has for one hundred and eleven (111) years served the educational needs of the children in its school district, adjusting and adapting the curriculum as necessary to provide the children the best instructional program possible.

(This article was taken from an Alumni Day booklet published on April 21, 1989)