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Created page with "right|thumb|250px|The former Newellton High School now houses Newellton Elementary School. Image:Newellton Elementary School of LA..."
[[Image:Newellton High School of LA.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The former Newellton High School now houses Newellton Elementary School.]]
[[Image:Newellton Elementary School of LA.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Newellton Elementary School (pre-K through grade 8)]]
[[Image:Newellton High School gym and auditorium.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Newellton gymnasium and auditorium (renovated 1976)]]
'''Newellton High School''' was a [[rural]] public high school in Newellton in northern Tensas Parish in northeastern [[Louisiana]] located near the [[Mississippi River]]. NHS operated throughout most of the 20th century until its closure in 2006 because of declining parish population and student enrollment. Located at 400 Verona Street adjacent to Depot Street, the NHS campus is now the site of '''Newellton Elementary School,''' which houses pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools.aspx/q/page=sp/sid=28744|title=Newellton High School|publisher=schoolmatters.com|accessdate=December 31, 2010}}</ref>
==Background==
Newellton High School was twice renovated. A second structure was completed in 1957 under Superintendent A. E. Swanson.<ref>Plaque at Newellton High School, H. H. Land Architects, 1957.</ref> Another major renovation followed in 1976, as parts of the preceding facility were torn down and rebuilt, and the gymnasium/auditorium was refurbished. During its existence, NHS first served grades one through eleven. In 1948, the twelfth grade was added throughout Louisiana.
During the 1960s, Newellton High School won two district football championships and was the runner-up at the state competition in its division. Later Mayor [[Edwin Preis]] and another businessman, Orrice R. Barnes (1921-1996), the then Western Auto dealer,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> were the announcers for the home football games.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=edwin-g-preis&pid=152797628|title=Edwin G. Preis|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate''|date=July 29, 2011|accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref>
In August 1970, NHS was [[Segregation|desegregated]] by federal court order, following the ruling by the [[United States Supreme Court]] that public school segregation was unconstitutional. By the 1970s and 1980s, kindergarten and pre-kindergarten were added.
==Reasons for closing==
At the close of the 2005-2006 academic year, there were only seventy-four pupils in the high school grades. On May 18, 2006, the Tensas Parish School Board voted by a four-to-three margin to keep Newellton High School open for at least one additional year. However,the then parish Superintendent Carol Shipp Johnson had proposed that Newellton grades 9-12 be reassigned to the parish seat of St. Joseph, where they would attend Joseph Moore Davidson High School, which served grades 7-12 and also had a low enrollment. Grades 7-8 attend Tensas High School except for the pupils in those grades in Newellton, who remain with the elementary campus there. The former Davidson High School was named for Joseph Moore Davidson (born 1894),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/tensas/church/birth001.txt|title=Edith Ziegler, Tensas Parish Archives|publisher=usgwarchives.net|accessdate=January 6, 2011}}</ref> who died in battle shortly before the armistice was signed in 1918 ending [[World War I]].
Ultimately, financial considerations compelled the consolidation of Newellton and Davidson schools into the rearranged Tensas High School at the Davidson campus in St. Joseph. It is located across the highway from the St. Joseph Baptist Church and near the central office of the school board. Violence broke out at the consolidated school on November 2, 2006, and fourteen male students were arrested by the office of Sheriff Rickey Jones.<ref>''The Monroe News Star,'' November 3, 2006: [http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061103/NEWS01/611030317]</ref>
Newellton High School had a relatively new facility and the board was reluctant to abandon a structure still in good condition, even though enrollment numbers were too low. The athletic teams known as "The Bears" drew enthusiastic support from the community for many years. The football teams usually played rivals at Davidson High School or other schools in Tallulah, Mangham, or Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/_oOSShw0DUill3TBSJeHtA/newellton-bears/football-fall-05/home.htm|title=Newellton Bears Football|publisher=maxpreps.com|accessdate=December 31, 2010}}</ref> For years, Edgar Allan "Jack" Poe (1916-1994) of Newellton wrote the "Our Bears" column in the parish weekly newspaper, ''The Tensas Gazette.''
Citing low enrollments, the school board had already closed Waterproof High School, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/la/Tensas/state.html|title=National Register of Historic Places: Louisiana, Tensas Parish|publisher=nationalregisterof historicplaces.com|accessdate=January 10, 2011}}</ref> and Lisbon Elementary School, both in the economically depressed town of Waterproof in the southern part of Tensas Parish.
In 2011, the remaining Newellton Elementary School, which is 85 percent African American, enrolled 219 of the approximately 760 public school pupils in Tensas Parish. Every child in the school is eligible for federal Title I assistance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.localschooldirectory.com/public-school/36347/LA|title=Newellton High School: Overview|publisher=localschooldirectory.com|accessdate=January 4, 2010}}</ref>
==Notable alumni==
*Charlton Bath "C. B." Forgotston, Jr. (Class of 1962 (1945-2016)), [[attorney]] and state political watchdog.
*Phil Preis (Class of 1968), Baton Rouge attorney and Louisiana gubernatorial candidate in 1995 and 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classmates.com/directory/public/memberprofile/list.htm?regId=333576341|title=Phil Preis|publisher=classmates.com|accessdate=January 20, 2011}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newellton High School}}
[[Category:Louisiana]]
[[Category:Schools]]
[[Image:Newellton Elementary School of LA.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Newellton Elementary School (pre-K through grade 8)]]
[[Image:Newellton High School gym and auditorium.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Newellton gymnasium and auditorium (renovated 1976)]]
'''Newellton High School''' was a [[rural]] public high school in Newellton in northern Tensas Parish in northeastern [[Louisiana]] located near the [[Mississippi River]]. NHS operated throughout most of the 20th century until its closure in 2006 because of declining parish population and student enrollment. Located at 400 Verona Street adjacent to Depot Street, the NHS campus is now the site of '''Newellton Elementary School,''' which houses pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools.aspx/q/page=sp/sid=28744|title=Newellton High School|publisher=schoolmatters.com|accessdate=December 31, 2010}}</ref>
==Background==
Newellton High School was twice renovated. A second structure was completed in 1957 under Superintendent A. E. Swanson.<ref>Plaque at Newellton High School, H. H. Land Architects, 1957.</ref> Another major renovation followed in 1976, as parts of the preceding facility were torn down and rebuilt, and the gymnasium/auditorium was refurbished. During its existence, NHS first served grades one through eleven. In 1948, the twelfth grade was added throughout Louisiana.
During the 1960s, Newellton High School won two district football championships and was the runner-up at the state competition in its division. Later Mayor [[Edwin Preis]] and another businessman, Orrice R. Barnes (1921-1996), the then Western Auto dealer,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref> were the announcers for the home football games.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=edwin-g-preis&pid=152797628|title=Edwin G. Preis|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate''|date=July 29, 2011|accessdate=August 2, 2011}}</ref>
In August 1970, NHS was [[Segregation|desegregated]] by federal court order, following the ruling by the [[United States Supreme Court]] that public school segregation was unconstitutional. By the 1970s and 1980s, kindergarten and pre-kindergarten were added.
==Reasons for closing==
At the close of the 2005-2006 academic year, there were only seventy-four pupils in the high school grades. On May 18, 2006, the Tensas Parish School Board voted by a four-to-three margin to keep Newellton High School open for at least one additional year. However,the then parish Superintendent Carol Shipp Johnson had proposed that Newellton grades 9-12 be reassigned to the parish seat of St. Joseph, where they would attend Joseph Moore Davidson High School, which served grades 7-12 and also had a low enrollment. Grades 7-8 attend Tensas High School except for the pupils in those grades in Newellton, who remain with the elementary campus there. The former Davidson High School was named for Joseph Moore Davidson (born 1894),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/tensas/church/birth001.txt|title=Edith Ziegler, Tensas Parish Archives|publisher=usgwarchives.net|accessdate=January 6, 2011}}</ref> who died in battle shortly before the armistice was signed in 1918 ending [[World War I]].
Ultimately, financial considerations compelled the consolidation of Newellton and Davidson schools into the rearranged Tensas High School at the Davidson campus in St. Joseph. It is located across the highway from the St. Joseph Baptist Church and near the central office of the school board. Violence broke out at the consolidated school on November 2, 2006, and fourteen male students were arrested by the office of Sheriff Rickey Jones.<ref>''The Monroe News Star,'' November 3, 2006: [http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061103/NEWS01/611030317]</ref>
Newellton High School had a relatively new facility and the board was reluctant to abandon a structure still in good condition, even though enrollment numbers were too low. The athletic teams known as "The Bears" drew enthusiastic support from the community for many years. The football teams usually played rivals at Davidson High School or other schools in Tallulah, Mangham, or Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/_oOSShw0DUill3TBSJeHtA/newellton-bears/football-fall-05/home.htm|title=Newellton Bears Football|publisher=maxpreps.com|accessdate=December 31, 2010}}</ref> For years, Edgar Allan "Jack" Poe (1916-1994) of Newellton wrote the "Our Bears" column in the parish weekly newspaper, ''The Tensas Gazette.''
Citing low enrollments, the school board had already closed Waterproof High School, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/la/Tensas/state.html|title=National Register of Historic Places: Louisiana, Tensas Parish|publisher=nationalregisterof historicplaces.com|accessdate=January 10, 2011}}</ref> and Lisbon Elementary School, both in the economically depressed town of Waterproof in the southern part of Tensas Parish.
In 2011, the remaining Newellton Elementary School, which is 85 percent African American, enrolled 219 of the approximately 760 public school pupils in Tensas Parish. Every child in the school is eligible for federal Title I assistance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.localschooldirectory.com/public-school/36347/LA|title=Newellton High School: Overview|publisher=localschooldirectory.com|accessdate=January 4, 2010}}</ref>
==Notable alumni==
*Charlton Bath "C. B." Forgotston, Jr. (Class of 1962 (1945-2016)), [[attorney]] and state political watchdog.
*Phil Preis (Class of 1968), Baton Rouge attorney and Louisiana gubernatorial candidate in 1995 and 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classmates.com/directory/public/memberprofile/list.htm?regId=333576341|title=Phil Preis|publisher=classmates.com|accessdate=January 20, 2011}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newellton High School}}
[[Category:Louisiana]]
[[Category:Schools]]