[6] The Chicago firm of Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton designed the 1914 high school for Pontiac.
The school district used high salaries to recruit teachers as the automobile industry economy prospered.
In August 1971 several school buses were bombed with dynamite, and ten men were indicted in charges related to the incidents; one of them was an ex-Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon in the state.
[12] By December 2008, administrators were making plans to consolidate Pontiac Northern and Central high schools.
[15] On Wednesday July 3, 2013 the state of Michigan conducted a preliminary review of the district, and the result was an indication of "probable financial stress".
Governor of Michigan Rick Snyder stated that he was going to have a full review of the district conducted by a team appointed by him.
Voters in the district passed a $147 million bond issue in 2020,[18] and the 2023-2024 school year saw another rise in enrollment.
A principal of an elementary school, Mattie McKinney, stated to the Associated Press that, in the agency's words, "The district's poverty is unusually striking this school year", and she directly stated that she had encountered more poverty in her students than she had previously.