Old Dock Elementary School has been a vital part of the Old Dock community since 1926. Since 1977, the school has seen great growth and change. In December 1980, Old Dock was fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The main building was renovated. Plaster was removed from the walls and replaced by paneling. The floors were carpeted and all bathrooms were modernized. All teachers worked extra hours to get the school ready for the accreditation. Norma Suggs and Sandra Ward represented Old Dock in New Orleans to accept the certification. In 1984, a multi-purpose building was added. It now houses our two second grade classes and our Prekindergarten class.
Old Dock, along with the other elementary schools in Columbus County, competed in Cultural Arts Shows in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Grades four through eight participated in the shows that showcased the talent of the students. A committee of teachers and administrators would travel throughout the county to attend shows and judge them. Sandra Ward, Carolyn Suggs, Helen Smith, and Wayne Canady directed the productions at Old Dock. The first year, Old Dock presented a show named “Carolina Patchwork.” This show presented facts about North Carolina through the presentations and displays of quilts loaned to the school by community members, parents, and patrons. Old Dock won the county competition for shows several times. Winners, including Old Dock, would perform acts from the show at the NC Strawberry Festival in Chadbourn. Students in the production also traveled to Raleigh to perform in from of the state Capitol.
In the 1990’s, Columbus County Schools began offering elective classes to middle school students. These classes included: chorus, art, band, and careers. Old Dock shared elective teachers with Guideway and Williams Township.
Also in the 1990’s, Old Dock was chosen as one of two locations to receive a Higher Order Thinking Skills Lab. The lab consisted of eight Mac computers and Sandra Ward was trained to operate the lab. Test scores improved during the five years that the lab was in operation.
In 2006, a mobile unit was acquired to add an additional kindergarten class. However, in the summer of 2008, the mobile unit was moved off of the campus due to the extra space created when the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders merged with the same grades from Guideway Elementary School to form Nakina Middle School.
In addition to merging with Guideway to form the new Nakina Middle School, the student body had to determine a new mascot for Old Dock. The mascot would replace the long-used Braves mascot. In May 2008, a committee of students was chosen to represent Old Dock for the purpose of the selection of a new mascot. The committee presented three options to the student body. On May 9, 2008, the students in grades K-5 voted by ballot and selected Colts as the new mascot.
In August 2008, Old Dock began a new year with students in grades PK-5. We have halls that are painted lounge green, giving them a more spacious and calming effect. Cassandra Cartrette took over the reins if Old Dock when Richard Gore became principal at Nakina Middle School.
Old Dock has rich history of being academically successful. In 1996, Old Dock became a school-wide Title I school. Under the ABC School Improvement Program, exemplary status was obtained in 1996 with sixty-five percent of the students performing on grade level or above on End-of-Grade testing. The same status was once gain obtained in 1998 with seventy-five percent of the students on grade level or above. Old Dock has achieved high or exemplary growth since the inception of the ABC’s program. When No Child Left Behind was established, it set forth goals for school to reach Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Old Dock can proudly say that is has maintained AYP consistently with the exception of the 2010-2011 school year.
Construction of a new building to replace part of the current main building began in April 2012. The six classroom pod building was completed in December 2012 and currently houses grades 3 through 5.
On January 7, 2015 around 6:15 in the morning the main building was totally engulfed in flames. In June of 2015, Bordeaux Construction began to rebuild our school. We continue to look forward to the endless opportunities that lie ahead of us!
With strong community, parent, faculty, staff, and student support, Old Dock continues its legacy of being an impressive school. The current student population of two hundred eighty maintains the excellent reputation that Old Dock has always had and looks forward to many more prosperous years.