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Head Elementary |
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R. D. Head Elementary, located at 1801 Hewatt Road in Lilburn, Georgia, opened its doors for the first time in August of 1979. R. D. Head is part of the Brookwood cluster of schools. After leaving R. D. Head students attend Five Forks Middle School for grades 6-8 and then move on to Brookwood High School for grades 9-12. The school was named for long-time Gwinnett County school administrator Ralph David Head. Mr. Head served 35 years in education until his death. A little history...due to the rapidly increasing population growth in the Snellville-Lilburn school district in the late 1970's, a combination of allocated state funds and a bond referendum authorized the construction of a school to relieve overcrowding in four neighboring schools - Gwin Oaks, Centerville, Knight and Britt elementaries. As a result, the site for Head Elementary was selected in the general area of the growth pattern. The enrollment for the initial opening of R. D. Head in 1979 was 850 students, which surpassed the facility capacity of 750, creating a need for two portable classrooms. During the Fall of the first school year, students submitted suggestions for a school mascot. Many ideas were suggested and the list was narrowed down to a few choices. In the final vote, students chose Hurricanes as the school mascot. R. D. Head was known as the Hurricanes until the 1997-1998 school year. In the Fall of 1997, in an effort to promote spirit throughout the cluster, the school nickname was changed to Mustangs. Within five years, the schools enrollment had increased to 1,200. In order to house the large enrollment, 13 portable classrooms were needed. To meet the demands of an ever-increasing student population, a relief school, Brookwood Elementary, was constructed in 1985. The school year 1988-89 brought an addition of seven classrooms, a workroom, storage space and an adult bathroom. This addition was made possible through another bond referendum. The schools enrollment for 1988-89 was 937, Five portable classrooms remained to house these students in addition to the regular classrooms. By the 1997-98 school years, the enrollment at our school had dropped to around 750 students. In the years from 1997 through 2008, the enrollment has ranged from 650 to 775 students. The 2007-2008 school year marked the 29th anniversary for R. D. Head. Our school has been under the leadership of eight principals in its 29 years of existence. Hugh D. May opened the school in 1979 and served as principal for five years. Virginia Crowley was named principal in 1984 and served for three school terms. Betty Robinson was appointed in 1987 and served for six years until she left in 1993 to take over the principalship at Simonton Elementary. At that time, Paula DeWeese was named principal. Mrs. DeWeese served as principal from the 1993-94 school year through the 1996-97 school year. When Mrs. DeWeese was named as principal of the new Mason Elementary School in 1997, Mrs. Mary Ray was appointed as principal for the 1997-98 school year. Mrs. Ray served as principal for three and half years before before being named principal at Simpson Elementary School half way through the 2000-01 school year. In January 2001, Yvonne Frey was appointed as principal and held the position for two and one-half years. After Ms. Frey was appointed as the first principal at the new Ivy Creek Elementary School, Michelle Farmer was appointed as the principal at R. D. Head to begin the 2003-2004 school year. Mrs. Farmer served as R.D. Head principal for five years until she was appointed as the first principal of the new Puckett's Mill Elementary School. Leigh Westcott was appointed as the principal at R.D. Head for the 2008-2009 school year. Mrs. Westcott serves as principal at the present time.
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