Founded in 1977, Morganton Day School (MDS) serves children from Kindergarten to Eighth Grade. With very low teacher to student ratios and a dedication to our students' success, MDS gives your child the individualized attention to help them achieve their maximum potential.

PHILOSOPHY
Morganton Day School, previously known as The Children’s School, has made a commitment, reaffirmed daily, to be an institution of learning. The School is dedicated to a philosophy of experiential education, parental involvement, and a concern for the uniqueness of the individual as a member of a global community. Exceptional academic goals are met without compromising the child’s spirit, human dignity, or self esteem. The interrelated curriculum encompasses math, science, social studies, communication skills including language arts and computer skills, visual and dramatic arts, foreign language, music, and physical education. Founded in 1978, Morganton Day School (MDS) serves children from Kindergarten to Eighth Grade. With very low teacher to student ratios and a dedication to our students' success, MDS gives your child the individualized attention to help them achieve their maximum potential.
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HISTORY OF OUR SCHOOL
In June 1978, four founding couples opened the school. Azmi and Maha Jarrah, Joyce and Darrell Ferguson, John and Janice Branstrom, and Kevin and Ita Kilbride were described as parents "wanting the best possible education for their children." These parents first approached the local school system to explore the possibility of starting an alternative school within the public school system. Although the local school board was interested in the idea, and interested in the philosophy that the parents described, the public school system found it was "just not practical to uniformly adopt this approach."  School Board members also felt an alternative school was "geographically unfeasible to start in the system right now."

The founding parents decided that some alternate form of education was within their means. Although beginning a school brought feelings of fear and frustration and required a high tolerance for risk-taking, the families agreed to start The Children's School in the fall of 1978.

Founding families originated from throughout the world .... Syria, Palestine, Ireland, the British system of schooling, and the United States. Each background brought different assumptions about the nature of education and the learning process. Each background brought something special, as well, a common and sincere interest in quality education for children. These parents wanted to volunteer time, build furniture, clean up the building and grounds, work in the classrooms ... quite simply, to be involved. Even more importantly, the founding families wanted a caring atmosphere of give and take, and of open communication. The work was difficult, but the parents were committed and determined.

Finding space for the program was a difficult task. Grace Episcopal Church Foundation offered, "The Elms," a two-story brick home formerly used as nursing quarters for Grace Hospital, at 306 South King Street, for the first and subsequent twelve years of operation.

The school opened in the fall of 1978 with 16 students paying $600 each. All tuition moneys were used to purchase supplies for the program; all staff members volunteered their time. The founding board acquired a bank note for $3,000 to pay utilities, field trip expenses, and other operating costs for the experientially based program.

In the second year of operation, the enrollment grew to 32. Volunteer staff members worked successfully in the first few years of the school's history; however, all staff members are now salaried.  As The Children's School has grown since opening its doors in 1978, the founding members have realized that not only was the addition of the school to the community feasible, but the school is also a healthy educational alternative.

Students, staff, and families of The Children's School moved into the new (current) building in August 1990. The current 9000+ square foot building is designed with the uniqueness of the program in mind. In 2001, with enrollment strong, the Middle School moved to a new mobile unit on campus. Another mobile unit was added in 2003.

During the summer of 2006, The Children’s School changed its name to Morganton Day School and a third mobile unit was added for the Middle School and Media Center.
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