Staff and parents started Shamrock’s garden programs as part of an ongoing effort to provide a rich and vibrant education to students from all walks of life, challenging the economic segregation that marks so many Charlotte schools and the narrow focus on standardized test scores that has done so much damage to American education.

Shamrock opened in 1954. Segregation was the order of the day, and the school educated white children from recently built neighborhoods that included Country Club Heights and Plaza Shamrock.

In 1971, when Charlotte desegregated its schools, Shamrock was paired with historically black Oaklawn Elementary. Students from both feeder areas attended Shamrock for grades K-3, and Oaklawn for grades 4-6.

The 1980s and 1990s were tough years for the school. Many of the city’s better-off families headed for the suburbs, making it difficult to maintain racial and economic integration. Attention focused on building schools in the rapidly growing suburbs, while older schools such as Shamrock were left to deteriorate. Desegregation efforts lagged. By 1997, Shamrock had become one of the poorest, most dilapidated and lowest-performing schools in the state.

Soon afterwards, however, concerted efforts on the part of the district, the school board, the Shamrock staff, and a handful of families living in nearby neighborhoods started a revival. Behind that effort lay the belief that the best way to improve struggling, high-poverty schools was to reintegrate them racially and economically.

These efforts produced heartening results. The teaching staff stabilized, test scores rose for every student group, and activities such as the garden programs offered every student the kind of rich, varied education that all children deserve, but too many never get.

Shamrock’s beautiful, Mid-Century Modern building greatly enhanced our gardening endeavors. Almost every classroom opened onto a plant-filled courtyard, and expansive windows meant students could watch the gardens and their many visitors at all times.

Despite these many improvements, which have made Shamrock the school of choice for far more families, the school’s challenges are far from over. Racial and economic reintegration raises new issues even as it helps address old ones. Gentrification has brought additional concerns. More work is needed. More work is always needed.

Change can also be painful. We lost Shamrock’s beloved building, along with all our gardens, when the school was demolished to make way for a newer, larger, but far less distinctive structure, designed to meet present-day concerns such as energy efficiency, cyberconnectivity and – sadly – the security concerns raised by a society saturated with firearms of all kinds. But children keep learning, and new gardens grow.

More about Shamrock and its history can be found in the following links.

Seen from the ‘Rock  – Blog written by parent and education activist Pamela Grundy that chronicles activities at Shamrock, 2009-12.

Beyond the Test Score Bump At Shamrock – UNC Charlotte researcher Amy Hawn Nelson takes a close look at Shamrock’s achievements.

#OneDayTA – Former State Senator Jeff Jackson’s chronicle of a day in the life of Dot Futrell, Shamrock teaching assistant extraordinaire.

Risk We Took Was Great Choice – Almost a decade after her son started kindergarten at Shamrock, Pamela Grundy explains what the school means to her family.

The real story of how a failing North Carolina school became a success story – Article in the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” blog about the key roles played by building community and creating enrichment programs in school improvement.

Shamrock in the News – Articles in the Charlotte Observer about the campaign to improve Shamrock.