Asheville’s Claxton Elementary School celebrates 100 years of educating children

By Kimberly King

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Generations of families celebrated 100 years of education at a beloved Asheville City Schools elementary school on Saturday, April 13.

Claxton Elementary is turning a century old, and plenty of elementary students are celebrating getting to go to the historic school. Parents and school staff organized a huge block party event that included a performance by the Claxton Centennial student choir.

Claxton opened in 1924 and was renovated 20 years ago. Inside, students decorated the halls for tours.

Fourth grader Grea Brown proudly showed off his art class collage of the state of North Carolina.

“My favorite things about the school is I have lots of friends and, um, each class is specifically picked for different kids and that’s all,” Brown said.

Great proudly took News 13’s Kimberly King for a tour of Claxton.

School leaders talked about the school’s history — most importantly, integration of Black students coming to Claxton in 1962. Prior to that, it was a whites-only school.

The staff echoed the sentiment that they are proud of where the school has come and look forward to another century with great kids.

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