Teaching Museum Opens at Former Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs

Students are returning to the former Spalding Drive Elementary School in Sandy Springs, where Fulton County Schools has opened a teaching museum and archives following the neighborhood school’s closure.

The museum began receiving student groups Oct. 1, and the district held a community showcase Oct. 14. Its opening brings a new educational use to the building while renewing disagreement over whether it should have remained a school.

History Inside the Classrooms

Exhibit rooms explore Georgia geography, World War II, Anne Frank, Creek and Cherokee history, and the American frontier. A preserved 1960s-style classroom and school memorabilia retain connections to Spalding Drive’s own past.

One central project, Untying the Knot, examines the segregation and integration of Fulton County’s public schools through firsthand accounts, historical records and oral histories.

The project includes a documentary about students at the all-Black Eva Thomas High School who fought to preserve their school community during desegregation. An accompanying online exhibit connects local experiences with national court decisions and the civil rights movement.

The Teaching Museum’s work extends beyond its exhibits. Its programs connect school subjects with performances and creative activities, including language learning through flamenco and science lessons through improvisation. Programs can take place at schools, community venues or the new Spalding Drive location.

Programming is free for Fulton County Schools. The district says transportation is also covered for selected museum-funded trips. Its current offerings include elementary programs and opportunities for eighth graders and high school students to study school integration through the museum.

A School Closure Still Divides the Community

The school board voted 4–3 in February 2025 to close Spalding Drive Elementary at the end of that school year. District leaders cited declining enrollment and the expense of maintaining school buildings.

Former Spalding Drive students were reassigned to Heards Ferry and Woodland elementary schools under a broader Sandy Springs redistricting plan. Parents opposing the closure argued that those changes would break apart an established neighborhood school community.

Some families continued organizing after the closure. Their effort led to state approval July 29 for Spalding Academy for Innovation and Learning, a separate public charter school expected to open in fall 2027.

The State Charter Schools Commission says the planned K–8 school would serve students from Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb counties. Its current directory lists the location as undetermined.

The museum’s arrival has drawn sharply different responses. Save Spalding Committee board chair Raymond Grote criticized the building’s conversion in an interview with Rough Draft. Former Spalding Drive assistant principal Janet Arias welcomed its continued educational use.

“Glad to see the building used to continue teaching our kids,” Arias told the publication.

Visiting Information

The Teaching Museum is at 130 W. Spalding Drive in Sandy Springs.

The Teaching Museum hosts scheduled field-trip programs rather than ordinary public walk-in visits. School visits are arranged through the district, and its classrooms and exhibits are designed around those programs.