Rising eleven stories high, North Atlanta High School dominates the skyline. It’s a far cry from its humble beginnings. Originally, North Atlanta High School was two separate entities: Northside High School and North Fulton High School. In the 1991-1992 school year, these two schools merged, creating the North Atlanta High School we know today. This merger made North Atlanta High School unique. It became the only high school in the Atlanta Public Schools system to house two magnet programs. These were the International Studies Program and the Performance Arts program. Though the Performance Arts program is no longer officially a magnet program, North Atlanta High School continues to nurture its students’ artistic talents.
Northside High School, one of North Atlanta’s predecessors, opened in 1950. It stood where Sutton Middle School’s 7th and 8th-grade campus is currently located. The school’s colors were purple and white, and its mascot was the Tiger. In 1969, Atlanta Public Schools opened a planetarium on the Northside campus, one of only three in the district. The planetarium could hold 110 people. A performing arts magnet program was added in 1972. North Fulton High School, the other half of North Atlanta’s lineage, had a rich history of its own. Though details are scarce, its merger with Northside shaped the future of education in the area.
The merger of Northside and North Fulton took place in the early 1990s. The Atlanta Public Schools board voted to merge the schools in 1990, closing Northside’s campus. The newly formed North Atlanta High School temporarily occupied North Fulton’s campus until 1994 while Northside underwent a $15 million renovation. In 1998, North Atlanta High School earned the distinction of being a Georgia School of Excellence. The school’s population grew significantly after the 2001-2002 school year when West Fulton High School and Harper-Archer High School closed. Students who would have attended those schools, including those from the Hollywood Courts and former Perry Homes areas, were rezoned to North Atlanta High School.
North Atlanta High School’s current campus has a fascinating story. Atlanta Public Schools acquired a former IBM office building on Northside Parkway, complete with a sprawling 56-acre wooded campus. This eleven-story building, once home to 5,000 IBM employees, was transformed into the modern North Atlanta High School. The campus includes a retention pond and a parking deck. A building deemed unsuitable for the school was imploded in 2012 and rebuilt as a theater and gymnasium. This impressive campus opened for the 2013-2014 school year. The total cost of the new campus reached a staggering $147 million, making it the most expensive public high school in Georgia’s history. Today, North Atlanta High School is a bustling center of learning, with over 2,300 students. It stands as a testament to its rich history, its innovative programs, and its commitment to providing a quality education.