Dr. Rob Jackson spent a day in Eagle country with a full day of Listening and Learning at Community High School (CHS) on Friday, March 17th. It was a pleasure to host Dr. Jackson and welcome him back to the school he attended as a young man. Some history of the school:
Community High School was built in 1926 and known then as Swannanoa High School. It was built to replace the former high school building which had burned to the ground. It is currently the oldest school building in the Buncombe county school system still in operation. The high school students were moved to the newly constructed Owen High School in 1955. The school then operated out of the original building until 2019 when it underwent a dramatic facelift to renovate the old building and to combine it with a new school building that would merge the triumphant past with the promise of the future.
“Community High School is a public, alternative high school of approximately 140-200 students,” said Principal Jan Greenhoe. “Here at Community High we are a school of alternatives, and we meet each and every student where they are when they get to campus. We accept students from across our county. At Community High, we pride ourselves on our attention to the whole student. Our class size average is quite small. We offer credit recovery courses so that students can recoup the credits they have lost for various reasons and graduate with their peers on time. We also engage students with a variety of clubs (Dungeons and Dragons, Drum Ensemble, Arts and Crafts, Games and Service, and Cosmetology, to name a few) to provide students with a wide variety of student-led learning experiences. Our entire faculty is committed to the success of each and every student.”
CHS students are committed to developing their academic knowledge base, learning new work/life skills, and graduating from high school with a plan for the future. We all work diligently to remove student barriers and to help students recognize and seek success, despite life’s amazing challenges. Students and staff at Community High prioritize growth, and we all look for ways to both engage and improve our community together.
