Meet Sylvia Conrad

JUNE 18, 2014 – Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the consolidation of the city and county school systems. As part of that, we’re recognizing people who are a product of the school system who now work for the school system.

Lafayette Cook

Sylvia Conrad, who was one of 10 finalists for 2014-15 Classified Employee of the Year, is the great niece of Lafayette Anderson Cook, the man for whom L.A. Cook Elementary School is named.

“When the city and county schools merged, the school was known as Carver Crest Elementary,” Conrad said.  “My uncle became the first principal of the school (1951) and remained the principal until his death in 1968.  Prior to becoming a principal, he was a teacher and assistant principal at Kimberley Park Elementary School from 1949-1951.

“He was associated with several professional and social organizations including the NAACP and at the time of his death, he was the President of the Elementary Principals’ Association.  Although he only saw the beginning of the integration of the schools, his niece Selena Nichols (librarian) was transferred from Fairview Elementary (now known as Ashley) to Northwest Middle School as the media coordinator from which she retired. Selena’s husband, Joseph Nichols, Sr. (sixth-grade teacher) was transferred from Diggs Elementary to Kimberley Park Elementary where he remained until his sudden death in 1979. Now 50 years later, his great niece, Sylvia Conrad (Family Engagement Coordinator Mineral Springs Elementary) and grandniece, Meisha Conrad (Family and Consumer Science at Parkland High School) are continuing his legacy of education.

Conrad, who graduated from Bishop McGuinness High School in 1971, started school at 14^th Street Elementary, which has since been demolished. She went there from the first through the sixth grades, and to East Winston Junior High School (now John F. Kennedy High School). 

Sylvia Conrad and Meisha Conrad

“Prior to East Winston Junior High School being built, students remained at 14^th Street Elementary until the eighth grade.  From 14^th Street, you went to Atkins from the ninth through 12^th grade. 

“During segregation, my vivid memory is receiving discarded books from the white schools.  Some were in good condition but most were torn, dirty, and had derogatory comments.  However, our teachers did their best with the materials available to them.  No matter the weather, we walked to school, and friends joined the walking groups along the way.

“Children walking to school was the norm. My mother, a 1947 graduate of Atkins High, often talks about walking to school and remembering her teacher, Miss Essie O. Donoho saying, ‘Take all of your books when you leave so people will see you have been to school.’  My daughter, a 2007 graduate of Carver High School, never walked to school.  She rode the bus to Sedge Garden Elementary and was a car rider in middle and high school.

“I started working for the school system in 2012 after my retirement from Forsyth County Department of Social Services as a Child Protective Services supervisor. My journey into education was inevitable since the majority of my family members have been educators. A lot of people who have participated in workshops that I presented or observed me teaching Vacation Bible School at my church say, ‘You missed your calling. You should have been a teacher.’

“Being a Family Engagement Coordinator reminds me of my great uncle’s connection to his students and families.  He had the ability to deal sensitively and tactfully with families of all socio-economic groups. If a student was having a problem, the principal or teacher would visit your home in a ‘heart beat.’  My husband (Mike Conrad) attended Carver Crest when my great uncle was the principal. He remembers my great uncle running a ‘tip-top school’ and the staff, students and parents respected and trusted him. 

"For me, having a great uncle as a principal and parents as educators was an incentive for me to do and be the best that I could be.”