The Piedmont School was founded in 1982 by educator and parent, Pat McDonald Shahrokhi at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in High Point, North Carolina. The school's founding purpose was to provide intense, proven educational support for struggling ADHD/LD students. While the original mission has changed very little over the past three decades; enrollment, faculty, and programming have grown and expanded steadily to better serve our population of students throughout the Piedmont Triad region.
For the first 14 years of operation, The Piedmont School provided a half day program. In 1996 the school moved to B'nai Israel Synagogue and added a full day program. During this period, the Board of Trustees began plans to build a new school on 15 acres on Old Mill Road in High Point, In August 1999, a 10,000 square foot facility opened its doors to 45 students grades 3-8 with primary grades K-2 being added later. Today, The Piedmont School serves over 80 students annually in a full day academic program that includes all aspects of school life including music, art, drama, athletics along with a liberal array of clubs and activities. In the fall of 2014, The Piedmont School began providing classes for 9th grade students. Since then, the high school program has grown quickly and culminated with the first graduate in May of 2017. It was then announced that the high school program would be renamed to become its own entity at The Piedmont School. The John Yowell Academy at The Piedmont School was officially christened with its new name, new logo, and first graduate. JYA was named in homage to the late John Yowell who was a driving force and benefactor in the development of The Piedmont School.
The Piedmont School also offers a wide range of academic and enrichment summer programs and professional development opportunities for educators are also offered.