OCS Facilities
About us
Did you know that the Onslow County School System is the 12th largest local education authority (LEA) within the state of North Carolina?
We operate 40 diverse schools, 2 specialized instructional campuses and are currently in the process of adding an additional elementary school to bring our total instructional facilities to 43. Our newest facility, Woodland Elementary school which is still in-progress but projected to be completed in 2025 to allow an opening for the 2025-2026 school year while our oldest facility, New Bridge Middle School was built in 1942.
Currently, there are about 28,000 students enrolled in Onslow County Schools but this numbers continues to grow exponentially as each new year passes. On average, our district increases by about 300 students per year. To address this rapidly increasing growth, OCS opened a virtual elementary school as well as Onslow virtual secondary school in the fall of 2021 to provide an online learning option for our community. Additionally, our local board of education committee have worked closely with Onslow County Commissioners on crucial funding which allowed for two new elementary schools, built simultaneously in 2021; Coastal Elementary School of Holly Ridge and Clearview Elementary, located just outside of Richlands.
Facility Assessments & Capacity Projections
Simply put, the purpose of our Facility Assessments and Capacity Projections are to document statistically-valid third-party research on the student population. This allows an exhaustive but complete inventory of existing facilities which allows a crucial comparison of independent research to determine the following:
1. Student population sizes for each school for each of the next ten years...
2. When, specifically, individual school facilities reach their maximum student capacity...
3. What possible building renovations or campus expansions are possible at each existing school locations...
4. What deferred maintenance items exist for each school...
These documents assist our Onslow County Board of Education members with developing specific plans for meeting the needs of our students. It is the responsibility of the Onslow County school system, county officials and our local community to determine the appropriate manner and schedule for meeting the needs identified and it is the responsibility of the Board of Education and local government to create a plan which meets Onslow’s unique needs. The documents provided on this site provide detailed information about local planning efforts and future endeavors.
Planning for facilities is not new to the school district. Onslow County Schools have published Long Range Facility Needs Assessments (LRFNA) in 2000, 2005, 2009 and the most current LRNA in 2012. Information in the 2012 LRFNA was used to identify several funding needs that were incorporated into the 2013 Joint Educational Funding Policy of the Onslow County Board of Commissioners and the Onslow County Board of Education.