Couch Middle School

     Couch Middle School opened its doors in 2009, serving students in the Grayson Cluster MS. The school is named for the Couch family... a family that lived in the area.

     The Couch family, Isham and Jimmie Belle Couch and their children, moved to Grayson in 1937. They took up residence on Sand Road and became an integral part of Grayson’s local farming community, growing cotton for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Couch had eleven children, all of whom graduated from Gwinnett County Public Schools, giving their household the distinction at one time of having the most GCPS graduates in any one family!

     When they first moved to the county, the Couch family consisted of parents, six sons, and five daughters. Throughout the years, the Couch siblings contributed to the Grayson community as farmers, funeral home owners, telephone company employees, contractors, and entrepreneurs.

     Roy Couch, who was president of the Grayson Alumni Association when the school opened, remembers the early days: “When we moved to Grayson there were no cars, no paved roads, no sewers, no fire station. It was a little farm town. The first school I attended was a four-room schoolhouse. The school went from grades one to eleven. Schools didn’t have grade twelve back then. There were 342 students in the whole school. My high school class consisted of 20 students— 10 boys and 10 girls.”

     Humble beginnings, indeed, considering the fact that Couch Middle School opened its doors boasting a state-of-the-art facility and an enrollment of more than 850 students! In 2016, enrollment at the school has grown to more than 1,000 students. Couch Middle School bears witness to how much life, culture, and education have changed in Gwinnett County throughout the years.

     Since its opening, Couch Middle School has been fortunate to have Couch family members continue to be involved in the school. Roy Couch voiced his family’s pride at having the Couch family name thus commemorated: “There is no greater honor than to have a building, especially a school, named after a family."