EDUCATION
Henderson County Public Schools serve more than 13,500 children ages five to 18.
Excellent Schools Whether you’re looking into schools for your children or are thinking of going back to school yourself, Henderson County and the surrounding area offer a variety of educational opportunities. Preschools Parents with small children will find numerous choices when it comes to child care and preschools. Many churches offer weekday programs and many private and publicly funded child care centers operate throughout the county. For a current list of what is available in Henderson County and what each offers, contact Mountain Child Care Connections at 877-752-5955 or childcareinfo@swcdcinc.org or visit the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education at ncchildcare.nc.gov. Henderson County Public Schools
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for All Ages
For children five years of age to 18, Henderson County Public Schools offers 23 schools—four high, four middle, 13 elementary, the Henderson County Career Academy and the Henderson County Early College. All are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The Career Academy and the Early College (together, the Innovative High Schools) are housed in the Molly A. Parkhill Building on the Blue Ridge Community College campus. The Career Academy offers Art, Automotive, Business & Finance, Fire Fighting, Food Service and Mechatronics academies to high school students pursuing direct, specific career goals unavailable in a traditional high school setting. The Early College gives many first-generation college students the opportunity to complete high school and college coursework through Blue Ridge Community College in five years and graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.
The system is the second largest in the Western North Carolina region and 27th largest in the state, serving more than 13,500 children with a staff of more than 3,000 instructional and non-instructional employees. Twenty-one of the schools operate on a traditional schedule (four nineweek grading periods). Bruce Drysdale Elementary and Hendersonville Elementary operate on a flex schedule of four nine-week grading periods with three-week inter-sessions. North Carolina legislation requires that schools begin no sooner than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end no later than the Friday closest to June 11. HCPS is consistently rated among the best in the state for academic excellence. In 2017, HCPS ranked sixth out of 115 public school districts in North Carolina for its overall proficiency. The system has a total of 195 National Board Certified Teachers. The mean Scholastic continued on page 90
Hendersonville Magazine 2018–2019