Brief History:

The town of Red Oak is believed to have gotten its name because of the many groves of red oak trees, some of which still stand on the current school’s playground providing shady areas for play and discovery learning. Red Oak is a rural community strongly influenced by community members who are proud of the school and consider it a hub of the Red Oak community.

The first school to be built in Red Oak was situated where the current Baptist Church now stands, directly beside the existing Red Oak Elementary campus. This one room schoolhouse was erected in 1838 and was donated by early landowners for the purpose of "free learning and worship".

In 1870, a two-acre plot was granted by the Hilliard Estate and thus began the Red Oak School system.

In 1901, a local minister, Rev. G. W. May established a boarding school for girls in Red Oak.

In 1907, state public high schools were established through an act of the NC General Assembly. High schools were to be established by petition to the State Board of Education through the County Board of Education. Red Oak was the second school in the state that applied for and received funds offered under this act, thus becoming a public high school in 1907.

Today, Red Oak Elementary School is located on 15 acres of land. The school mascot is the bear and many of our activities or communications share the Bear theme as evidenced by Bear Day (field day), Red Oak Bear Facts Newsletter (our parent newsletter) published quarterly, the Bear Board (our professional bulletin board, and the Bear sign, our new sign board in front of the school.

In 2001 our school created a website to be used by our parents, staff, students, and community. This is a valuable tool to find information concerning all aspects of our school for current parents as well as prospective parents moving to the area.  Some of the information located on this site include student recognition, school events, online Bear Facts Newsletter, staff email addresses, parent information, Accelerated Reader book titles, educational links, online handbook, quick facts about our school, history of our school, and school recognition.