Cherokee County Schools manages the 13 schools in Cherokee County, North Carolina, United States, with an enrollment of 3,081 students and a 12.7:1 student-to-teacher ratio.
The School Superintendent is Dr. Keevn Woody.
Schools & Facilities
Elementary schools
Andrews Elementary serves Pre-K through 4th grade. For 2021-22, the fifth grade will return to Andrews Elementary. The school has an enrollment of 335 students and a capacity of 390 students. Murphy Elementary School serves grades Pre-K-5 and has an enrollment of 521 students and a capacity of 547 students. Peachtree Elementary has an enrollment of 161 students and a capacity of 190 students.
Elementary-middle schools
Hiwassee Dam Elementary Middle School is a primary school offering grades K-8 located in Murphy, North Carolina. It has an enrollment of 124 students and a capacity of 199 students.
Martins Creek Elementary School is a primary school with an enrollment of approximately 183 students and a capacity of 287 students. The 61-acre campus includes playgrounds, hiking trails, mountain biking trails and a multi-functional gymnasium. The school has received numerous awards and distinctions including being in the top 25 Schools of Excellence in the North Carolina ABC program, a School of Distinction, a School of Exemplary Growth and was included in PC Magazine's Top 100 Wired Schools in the nation. It is also one of the few schools in the state to be recognized as achieving exemplary growth every year since the ABCs Program began
Ranger Elementary Middle also offers grades K-8 in Murphy, North Carolina. It has an enrollment of 262 students and a capacity of 424 students.
Middle schools
Andrews Middle School in Andrews, North Carolina serves grades 5-8 but the fifth will move back to Andrews Elementary and is one of only four middle schools in the Cherokee School District. As of 2023 it had an active enrollment of 194 students and a capacity of 390 students. As of 2007 it had a full-time teaching staff of 24 teachers.
Murphy Middle School is a middle school located in Murphy, North Carolina. It serves grades 6-8, and enrolls approximately 301 students. It has a capacity of 332 students.
High schools
Andrews High School has an enrollment of 221 students and a capacity of 530 students. Murphy High School has an enrollment of 431 students and a capacity of 746 students. Hiwassee Dam High School has an enrollment of 147 students and a capacity of 361 students. On May 28, 2020, the Cherokee County Board of Education voted to build one high school, expected to open by 2025 next to Tri-County Early College, an alternative middle/high school. The new school would replace Andrews High, Hiwassee Dam High School, and Murphy High. A $15 million grant from the state of North Carolina would help with the cost.
On September 21, 2022, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction awarded Cherokee County Schools a $50 million grant for building a new high school facility from state-lottery funds. The funds reached $300 million and were shared among 9 county school districts.
(Update: The entire consolidation project was canceled and the $50 million grant was returned.)
Other schools
The Oaks Academy is a middle-high alternative school in Murphy, North Carolina. The school was located at the former Marble Elementary School until 2023. The school had an enrollment of 39 students in 2023. Cherokee County Schools of Innovation. This new school holds The Oaks Academy, Tri-County Early College, and a new Career Academy. This is the newest school in the county.
Former Schools
Marble Elementary School located in Marble, North Carolina. Unaka Elementary School located in Murphy, North Carolina.
Other Facilities
The Cherokee County School Bus Garage located near Murphy Middle maintains all school buses for the school district. Cherokee County has 41 yellow school buses and 13 activity buses, a total of 54. The first bus was purchased in 1926, serving the Andrews community. School activity buses for the district were purchased in 1950 by Andrews City Schools, 1966 by Hiwassee Dam School, and 1969 by Murphy City Schools (the individual districts merged into CCS in the 1980s).
Cherokee County Center for Applied Technology
Superintendents
Lloyd Hendrix (1939-1969) John Jordan (1969-c.1973) Dr. Jeana Conley (2014-2022) Dr. Keevin Woody (2022-present)