Clay County Schools (CCS) is the school district in North Carolina, that manages the county's public school system. It is the only school system in Clay County, with about 1,200 students attending a total of 4 separate schools, located on a central campus in Hayesville, North Carolina. The system covers all of Clay County.

The district is run by the Clay County School's superintendent. The current superintendent is D. Scott Penland. The present school board has five nonpartisan members who are elected by popular vote and are limited to a four-year term.

Because of its county-wide coverage, there are some students in the system that have an hour-long bus-ride to and from school.

Schools
Hayesville primary, elementary, middle and high schools are all located in a central campus in Hayesville, North Carolina. There are no separate busses for grade levels, and all students are dropped off at the same time. The schools' colors are Black and Yellow, and their mascot is the Yellow Jacket.

Primary
Hayesville Primary covers Pre-K thru 2nd grade and has an enrollment of approximately 340 students. The $14 million school opened in 2020 on the former site of the high school baseball field.

Elementary
Hayesville Elementary covers 3rd thru 5th grade and has an enrollment of approximately 625 students. The current building was constructed in 1990.

Middle
Hayesville Middle covers 6th thru 8th grades and has an active enrollment of around 450 students. HMS was created in 1989. When a new high school facility opened in 1991, the middle school moved into the former high school building, which was constructed in 1950 and renovated at the time of the move.

High
Hayesville High covers 9th grade thru 12th grade and has an enrollment of nearly 400 students. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The current two-story brick facility on the east end of campus was constructed in 1991. In the late 1990s, a new gymnasium and an outdoor classroom was built.

Test scores
According to the Clay County School System's Website, "Test Scores are consistently in the top 10% of all schools in North Carolina." Every year, since the inception of NC's ABC program, Hayesville Elementary has been rated exemplary and Hayesville Middle School has been classified as a School of Distinction or Excellence. Hayesville High School has had the best SAT scores of any school in the area.

History

In the 1850s, one-room log cabin pay schools opened in Tusquittee, operated by John O. Hicks. By 1869, Clay County had an examiner to certify teachers in the county. After Hicks was elected as the first representative from Clay County to the North Carolina General Assembly, he purchased land near Hayesville on Aug. 12, 1870, to establish a school, Hicksville Academy. Hicksville Academy boarded students and charged tuition in a framed, two-story building.

Sometime after 1870, Clay County developed a board of education. School board members were appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly for nearly 100 years until they were elected by the local population in a general election.

In the early 1880s, Clay County operated nine white public schools and one “colored” public school serving 884 white students and 36 “colored” students.

In the 1880s, Hicksville Academy's name was changed to Hayesville Academy. In 1891, Hayesville Academy was renamed to Hayesville Male and Female College and courses were offered from the first grade through college.

Clay County’s first recorded school superintendent was T.H. Nancock, who served during the 1898-99 school year. The county had 16 teachers at the time.

The county had as many as 18 public schools operating in the early 1900s, most of them one-room schoolhouses that provided instruction through only the seventh grade. 

Sweetwater School existed by 1906. Oak View School (commonly known as “Chigger Hill School”) existed by 1908. By 1909, Elf High School was in operation with 41 students. Around 1910, high school classes were offered at Ogden School. One-room schoolhouses also existed in Bristol Camp and Carver Gap. Downings Creek School existed by 1915. Fires Creek School existed by 1926. Pisgah School, Buck Creek School, Pinelog School, Upper Tusquittee School, Shooting Creek School, Curtis School (also known as Lick Skillet), Lower Tusquittee School, and Hayesville Colored School also operated as early as the 1920s.

Hayesville Academy continued to board students through the 1909-10 school year and sometime prior to 1909 the name of the school was changed to Hayesville High School. At that time the school had an enrollment of 108.

Consolidation and construction
Student attendance in the county hovered around 1,200 between 1906-1918. Hayesville High School received accreditation in 1924, the same year its two-story wooden frame building was demolished. Downings Creek School closed around 1925. Pisgah and Buck Creek Schools were closed after 1926, consolidating with Ogden and Shooting Creek respectively. 

During the 1920s, all Clay County schools still had outdoor plumbing. In the 1920s, as many as five school pickup trucks transported students to schools, with some having a canvas cover tied over the truck bed to shelter students from the weather. Attendance in Clay County schools grew from around 1,000 to more than 1,500 during the 1920s.

Hayesville High School fielded a football team in 1929.

Pinelog, Lower Tusquittee, and Curtis schools were consolidated in the 1930s. In 1937, Elf School burned down and the high school students were transferred to Hayesville. When the Elf School was rebuilt, it consisted of only an elementary school. From 1937 on, Hayesville was the only high school in the county.

During the 1940s, Clay County further consolidated from eleven schools to four, with Hayesville, Ogden, Elf, and Shooting Creek remaining. The Hayesville Colored School located on the old Mauldin Place was closed in 1945. As schools were still racially segregated, Clay County’s African-American students were bussed daily to Murphy, North Carolina on a pickup truck to attend an all-black school in the Texana community. If an African-American student in Clay County wished to attend high school, they were assigned to Asheville City Schools, approximately 100 miles to the east. Other closings included Upper Tusquittee in 1941, Oak View in 1946, Fires Creek in 1948, and Sweetwater in 1948.

Most consolidations were welcomed as they provided students an opportunity to attend high school. However, the closing of Sweetwater School was hotly contested by the citizens of that community as they did not wish for their children to attend the Hayesville School.

In the 1950s, new schools were constructed at Hayesville and Shooting Creek and renovations occurred at Ogden and Elf Schools. Elf school closed in 1967, followed by Ogden in 1975, and Shooting Creek in 1978, each consolidating with Hayesville schools.

In the late 1950s a gym was built for the high school. When a new high school gym opened by 2000, the former one was occupied by Hayesville Middle School. The current cafeteria was built in 1966.

Hayesville Middle School was created in 1989. Until that time, Hayesville Elementary served kindergarten through 6th grade and Hayesville High School served 7th grade through 12th grade. After the creation of HMS, the middle school consisted of grades 5-8. Following the construction of the Hayesville Primary School in 2020, Hayesville Elementary now serves grades 3-5 and Hayesville Middle serves grades 6-8.

The rock gymnasium was renovated in the early 2000s.
 Until 2005, the superintendent’s office was located in an old house next to campus. The house was the former Base Penland homestead, moved around 1941 from the Elf community to Hayesville to spare it from flooding during the creation of Chatuge Lake. In November 2005, the superintendent’s office was moved into the former vocational building.

The old elementary school building was demolished in 2021. In May 2022, Clay County Schools announced plans for a new structure that will house grades 3-8; a new gym for Hayesville Middle School; a cafeteria to serve grades 3-12 and a new performing arts center.

Superintendents

 T.H. Nancock (1897-98)
 G.M. Flemming
 Col. Green Henderson Haigler
 D.M. Stalling
 T.C. Scroggs (1916-21)
 Allen J. Bell (1921-56)
 Hugh Scott Beal (1956-73)
 Ed Phillips (1973-76)
 Kyle Beal (1976-80)
 D. Scott Penland (1980-19)
 Dale Cole (2019-23)
 D. Scott Penland (2023-present)

References

External links

School districts in North Carolina
Education in Clay County, North Carolina