Skip to main content

Narvie Harris Elementary

Dekalb County Schools

THE LEGEND

Mrs. Narvie Jordan Harris







Narvie J. Harris Traditional Theme School is named for Mrs. Narvie Jordan Harris. She is the first living, African American female for which DeKalb County has named a school. Mrs. Harris began her career in 1939 teaching in various school systems before coming to a segregated DeKalb County School System as a "Jeanes Supervisor" (Black Superintendent). In 1969 the system desegregated and Mrs. Harris became the coordinator for elementary school instruction. In 1983, Mrs. Harris retired from the system but, educators continue to live by one of her best known mottos "Teach from your feet, not your seat".