OUR SCHOOL HISTORY 

Ground breaking for the Occupational Education Center South was in the spring of 1976. Plans were made to have the first phase completed by October of 1977. The cost of the facility was approximately 1.8 million dollars with another one-half million dollars allotted for equipment.

The Occupational Education Center (OEC) South is the continuation of a joint plan between the DeKalb County Board of Education and the Georgia State Department of Education. The plan was to build, maintain, and operate an Occupational Center in the northern and southern sections of DeKalb County. The OEC facility was to consist of ten large lab/classroom areas, two main hallways, two office areas, four restrooms, and an audio visual room which would serve as a counselor's office. The Occupational Education Center South temporarily opened on August 29, 1977, holding it's first classes at DeKalb College South Campus.

The first programs were: Auto Body, Child Care, Construction, Cosmetology, Electro-Mechanics, Graphic Communications, Health Occupations, Metalworking, and Transportation. Three weeks later on September 19, 1977 all classes officially moved into the new facility. The first new program was added in August 1996. We started academic classes and math was the first academic class to be offered. English classes were started in September of 1996 and social studies was added in May of 1997. The first new vocational program, Criminal Justice, began in the fall of 1998 and Video Broadcasting began in the fall of 1999. Construction was re-added in 2008-09.