History
A Brief History of the School of Champions
East Coweta opened in the 1954-55 school year and housed grades 1-12 for many years. The first graduating class was in 1955. Later the school became a 6-12 campus until 1988 when Coweta County began the middle school concept.
When the new East Coweta High School opened in 1988, the former campus became East Coweta Middle School. Students were pulled from Senoia, Haralson, Turin, Sharpsburg, Moreland, parts of Newnan, and even parts of Palmetto. Added to the original campus for the 1987-88 school year was a separate building that included a chorus room, band room, media center, art room, teacher workrooms, student restrooms, and nine classrooms. This group of classrooms housed the sixth- grade. Seventh and eighth-graders were housed in the original building and gymnasium area, and all were able to take advantage of facilities such as the science laboratory, home economics room, and woodshop classrooms.
The next five years were years of great transition for East Coweta Middle School. In the school year 1992-1993, the teaching staff numbered 55 members and the student population was around 800. All available space was utilized.
The next year, 1993-1994, ten portable units were stretched across the back of the school property, housing most of the eighth-graders and the special education department. The staff was at 65 members, and the students numbered around 1100. The cafeteria had to be enlarged that year, and the staff patiently waited for Ellis Arnall Middle School to be completed.
The 1994-1995 school year did see the opening of Ellis Arnall Middle School, and our students from Moreland, Sharpsburg, east Newnan, and Palmetto enrolled at the new school. The large faculty was also divided, and nearly half of the teachers transferred to Arnall. The teaching staff at East Coweta Middle was now at about 36, and student enrollment was around 500.
A Brief History Continued...
As the next school year approached, East Coweta High School was seriously overcrowded and Northgate High School was nearing completion. Plans were made to turn East Coweta Middle into a ninth-grade campus for East Coweta High, and the area middle school students would be redistricted to Central Middle, Arnall Middle, and Northgate, which would serve as a middle school for a few years. Faculty members were distributed among the three schools, with many choosing to stay together and go to Northgate as a group. Northgate Middle School opened in August 1995, in the back yards of Arnall Middle School and White Oak Elementary School, using empty classrooms from both schools and approximately 23 portable units. Northgate’s building was ready after Christmas, so students and teachers packed up and moved again.
The next year, 1996-1997, found East Coweta Middle School back in operation at its original campus as the county’s fifth and “newest” middle school. The student population from Haralson, Senoia, Turin, and Sharpsburg numbered 570. Almost one-third of the faculty members who had taught at ECMS in years past returned from Northgate, and the new staff of 36 included 11 first-year teachers and three second-year teachers.
The 2000-01 school year at ECMS saw the faculty grow to over 50 certified staff members with a student population of over 820 students. A new building was added in the spring of 2001 on the east side of the campus with six classrooms. The “old gym” was renovated in the summer of 2008, adding seven classrooms for the 2008-09 school year.
Even though many of our former students attended schools at three different campuses and teachers have been moved from school to school, there is still a sense of unity and loyalty found among the community, students, staff and administration at ECMS. Change has made us strong.