"I think the principal has a most important place in the community. He's a leader for teachers, for pupils, for parents. He can't be too well trained."
- Elmer Garinger on the importance of principals.
Elmer Garinger was a professor at Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn. in the summer of 1921 and planned to move to New York City to work with adults when Charlotte City Schools superintendent Harry P. Harding recruited him as principal of the white Alexander Graham High School in the fall of 1921.
In 1923, Alexander transitioned to a middle school (the state’s first) and the new Central High School building opened for white students. His wife, Elizabeth, joined the Central faculty as an English teacher.
Garinger remained principal at Central High until 1945, when he was named associate superintendent of Charlotte City Schools, heading the secondary program. He became the district’s superintendent when Dr. Harding retired in 1949. When the city and county school systems consolidated in 1960, he led the new Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district. He retired in 1962.
Central High students dedicated the 1927 edition of Snips & Cuts yearbook to their principal, Elmer Garinger.
When Dr. Garinger moved to Charlotte in 1921, there was one library uptown. He made sure every school had access to a librarian and believed a school should revolve around the library. M.L. Englehart, a consultant for the school system, pushed the idea before the Charlotte school board, telling them “I’ve always had a notion that a school should have books in it” (as recalled in a 1968 observer article).
Among his other contributions:
Team teaching – a process he initiated in the 1930s while principal at Central High.
Programs for students with disabilities
Guidance counselors and social workers
Educational television in schools
School music and art programs
Advanced Placement courses
Foreign Language courses for elementary children
Robust teacher training
The pupil accident insurance plan, started in 1946 and adopted by many school systems in North Carolina.