JUNE
18, 2014 – Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
is celebrating the 50th 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 14th
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 |
“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.”
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