McGarity Elementary School opened in 1987 to serve a newly growing community in the Hiram area of Paulding County. There has always been a strong sense of community and family at McGarity. Through the years, teachers have instructed the children of their former students. Whole families have educated their youngsters at McGarity and the older children who are now in middle or high school and college still enjoy visiting McGarity and their "old" teachers during special evening programs and during holiday times. Despite this wonderful sense of family, the McGarity community has changed in part due to economic reasons. McGarity is a feeder school for East Paulding High School. Each May, the McGarity teacher of the year walks with the faculty of East Paulding High School in the commencement ceremonies. This brings closure for teachers who get to see their students graduate from high school and it makes the K-12 initiative all the more meaningful. The community at this time has a lot of families new to the area who do not have ties to Paulding or to McGarity and do not look at the school with nostalgia, but look at the school for the services it can provide. Many of these families include parents who commute long distances to work and are unable to take part in activities at the school, either during the day or after school.

McGarity Elementary School is named after May Belle Hitchcock McGarity.  May Belle was the granddaughter of pioneer settlers in Paulding County and was born in the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Community.  She started her education career in the one room Mt. Olivet School at the age of five.  She graduated from Dallas High School in 1907 at the age of fifteen.  She then took the teacher’s examination and went to High Shoals School where she taught the four lower grades on one side of a large church building. In 1907 she attended the Georgia Normal and Industrial College [Georgia College of Milledgeville] and graduated in 1910.  After she graduated from college she went to High Shoals as principal. In 1911-1913, she taught sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in Dallas School.  But in 1914 the Dallas schoolhouse burned, so in 1914-1915 she taught English and History in Georgia High School.  She later enrolled at Oglethorpe University and in 1940 she received a degree in Education. She retired in 1959, with 28 years of teaching experience. She was a member of the First Methodist Church of Dallas and taught Ladies Sunday School class. She organized the Dallas Garden Club, the Dallas Study Club, the Dallas Junior Woman’s Club, and the Dallas Woman’s Club, serving as president of the latter for 14 years.  Mrs. McGarity was the first woman in Paulding County to register to vote. She was a member of the Dallas PTA for 28 years and assisted in organizing PTA groups in several Paulding County Schools.  She was a Charter Member of the Paulding County Library Board and the president of the Board 1946-1971.  She was a Charter Member [past president and Seventh District] of Paulding County Retired Teachers.

262 Rakestraw Mill Road

Hiram, GA 30141

Administration

Principal: Karla Dodgen

Assistant Principal: Jackie Thomason

Front Office: 770-445-9007

Fax: 770-445-6691