• The History of the Joyce Zotz Education Center

    Joyce Zotz joined GPISD as a business teacher on May 10, 1956.  Over the next 47 years she held numerous positions ranging from teacher to campus principal. Ms. Zotz had a vision for better meeting the needs of students who did not seem to fit the mold of regular classroom. She advocated for those students who often "marched to the beat of a different drum."

    She was persistant and in January 1994 the GPISD School Board opened the doors of the Accelerated Center of Education (ACE). Since is opened its doors in 1994 thousands of students received their High School Diplomas through ACE, the majority of whom may have simply dropped out of school if not for Ms. Zotz' vision.

    In 2003, GPISD named the entire complex on Hollypark Street that housed all of the district's alternative educational programs as well as its professional staff development department, The Joyce Zotz Education Center in her honor.