Cleveland County Schools history

Two articles of early 1887, mention Miss E.A. Draughton as an assistant at the Shelby School.

Little information is available on public schools in Shelby prior to 1901, when all the records burned.

The first graduating class exercises in the history of the school were held on April 28, 1905.

At the beginning of the term in 1906, the higher grades were housed in the court house.

The new Shelby Grade School building which was constructed at a cost of $30,000 was opened around January 1, 1907.

Shelby Grade School operated as a grade school 1-10 until 1923.

Superintendent Ben L. Smith and the Shelby Board of Education began discussions in 1931 regarding their desire for a new high school building.

When Superintendent Smith resigned on August 16, 1936, he named the erection of a modern high school building as one educational objective he had hoped to attain before leaving Shelby.

On January 31, 1938 the new building was inspected and plans for a formal opening were discussed.

Grades 10-12, moved to its new location on Dixon Boulevard in 1960.

Parker Street School opened its doors in January 1995 for the Spring 1995 semester.

In, the fall of 1998, the alumni of Davidson School petitioned the Kings Mountain School board to change the name in honor of their former school.

The school underwent another name change in the summer of 2009 as it became Turning Point Academy.

In the spring of 2012, Turning Point Academy held its first graduation as seven students graduated on the differentiated (21 credit diploma track).

In the summer of 2013, Turning Point Academy moved into an renovated space behind the new Central Offices of Cleveland County Schools providing for the first time a cafeteria and an onsite gym.

The PASS program was created in December of 2014 and placed on the TPA campus.