History of Guest Primary

In 1922 the Guest School at 10825 Fenkell, was built replacing the John Meyers School. The new school was to be called Edgar A. Guest Elementary School, and was built at the corner of Meyers and Fenkell ave. By the late 60s the original Guest school had became the center of protests as white parents fought the district for allowing black students to be bussed and attend, school like Guest. After DPS was found to be involved in illegal segregation, it began to restructure many of its schools into primary units into the early 70s, Guest Primary was just that. Educational theorists and administrators of the time, increasingly relied on the separation of early childhood and early elementary education into dedicated "primary units," isolating younger cohorts from older students to provide specialized, concentrated instruction. It’s small size at just 17,834 Square Feet allowed for early childhood students to adapt to school life without the size and challenging environments of the original Guest school. In 1977 both Guest (Original) and Guest Primary changed their name to Mary Mcleod Bethune School. To better match the demographic of the area. Mary Mcleod Bethune was a black educator known for advancing education for black students in the south. While the Original Guest school used the name Bethune Elementary School, the annex/primary school used the name Bethune Academy in its later years. By the early 2000s both Bethune schools, had seen serve declining enrollment, and closed in 2010, with some sources claiming Bethune Academy closing in 2005. In its final year it only had 22 students. It was later used by a church till around 2018.