Baker High School - Nugget Yearbook (Baker City, OR)

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RISE 5.1151 PPUQFESS of ll'lE BEHEI' 50110013 fCOHllHU6d tom Precedmg Pagel After thirty five years of constant service the old Central Buildmg had become obsolete and was 1nadequate for further use and the constant de mcmd for more space for the 1un1or h1gh school program prompted the school d1str1ct to make plans for the razmg of the old Central School and erecting a new lumor high school bu1ld1ng on the site These plans were accomplished m 1934 when the Helen M Stack Iunlor High School bu1ld1ng was dedicated It was appropriately named after Bakers pioneer educator Helen M Stack Improvement of the curriculum continued on through the thirties to the early forties when a state of war suddenly began to take its toll of peace time endeavors and ambitions It was during the early forties the war years that school population in Baker declined many education leaders went away into the services and of course all training programs were founded on one objective win the war Baker schools however were not casualties of the war W1th the war ended and won Baker like the nation began to survey its educational needs and requirements There was ev1dence ot an ever increasing school popula lation and this led to investigation of the facilities for provldmg for this host of school children The facilities proved to be totally inadequate During the administration of Superintendent Iames R Evans a consolida established a pattem of efficient and compact d1str1ct was effected and it IS this type of d1Sl1'1Cl that is now being advocated for the entire state The madequate facilities to provide for this new d1str1ct were alarming and when the issue was presented to the people agam it was the will of the people to provide the best for the1r children and a long range bu1ld1ng pro gram was approved This building program will provide for a new high school plant with stadium and pool with playground and farmland all to be completed 1n 1951 and 1952 a new T1edemann School building to replace the obsolete fifty year old structure in south Baker a new Brooklyn School building to replace the aged 1901 school on the east site a complete remodelmg of the North Baker school functional improvements for the Haines School and the Church hill School a renovation of the 1916 High School to provide a central elemen tary school bu1ld1ng to house the fast growing school population Again it may be sa1d that this enthusiasm 1n school bu1ld1ng construction IS not inspired by the desire of a prosperous community to erect monumental archltecture to be remembered by but rather it is 1nsp1red by the desire of the people to provide the best educational fGC1lllleS for the training of the children and young men and women of the area The rise and progress of the Baker City Schools has been characterized by dynam1c development founded on a past history of good sound planmng and a future history from positive realistic foreslght. Page B . I , tion in 1949 of fourteen districts which unified the area served by Baker and

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RISE and PPUQPBSS of lllB BHHBI' SCllUUlS CContnued from Pr C dng Pagel Thus was the progress ol the Baker schools at the turn of the century but the next hlty years and the1r penods of contmual development were to come and w1th such sound establlshment and fars1ghted organ1zat1on the school program had all assurances ol pOS1l1Ve growth Durmg the adm1n1strat1on of Supermtendent I A Church1ll lor the next th1rteen years the expans1on of the publ1c schools 1n populatlon 1n curr1culum rehnement 1n bu1ld1ng construct1on was such as to create statewlde 1nterest 1n the most progress1ve school program m the state Besldes the construct1on of the Central School Bu1ld1ng 1n 1888 and the East S1de School fBrooklynD 1n 1901 there was put up the South Baker School CT1edemannl and a few years later the North Baker School and before the departure of Supermtendent Church1ll for state educatlon work there was grow1ng a need for a new h1gh school bu1ld1ng for whxch plans were started It IS obvlous that w1th the need for more hous1ng for the schools there was need for more well tra1ned quahhed teachlng personnel and the best was ever secured because remember the Baker school system was among the best 1n the state To assure the ava1lab1l1ty of good teachers 1n sympathy w1th and lam1l1ar w1th the needs of the youth of the area Supenntendent Church1ll 1nst1tuted the Teachers Trammg Course 1n the h1gh school curr1culum The teacherettes who completed th1s course were qual1l1ed to teach 1n most of the elementary schools 1n Oregon and the success of the teacherettes 1n the held proved the w1sdom of the 1naugurat1on ol the course that was un1que 1n the pubhc schools of the state The h1gh degree of perfectlon of the curr1culum was mamlested by the exceptlonally h1gh ratmgs won by graduates as they proceeded m schools ot hlgher educatlon The decade iollowmg the Church1ll admlmstratlon was charactenzed by almost as fervent growth as the school populatlon contmued 1ncreas1ng and as the educatlonal needs for twentxeth century 11v1ng were more demandmg The new h1gh school bu1lt from local stone was erected 1n 1916 and the latest elementary school bulldmg was bu1lt 111 1923 We must by the way always keep 1n mmd that th1s constant bu1ld1ng construct1on was not to SGl1SfY a whlrn ol a prosperous communlty to have p1les of xmpresslve arch1tecture upon whlch to look w1th false prlde but rather 1t was the w1ll of the people to prov1de 1n the very best way posslble the very best adequate lac1l1t1es lor the educatlon of 1ts boys and glrls and xt has been that pos1t1ve publ1c sp1r1t that has made the Baker publ1c school system outstandmg among school systems It was 1n the m1d twentles that the Junlor h1gh school program was set up At hrst the seventh and elghth grades composed the junxor h1gh school and they were housed 1n the Central School along w1th lower grades but by the end of the decade 1t was becomlng necessary to cons1der agam the rncreased enrollment and proper hous1ng for 1t tcommu d on Ne 1 Pug J Page 7 u 1 eel 1 1 1 1 1 . 11 1 . ,, 1.. . 1 1 - l 1 1 . .. . I 1 1 1 1 .1 11 . .. . - .1 11. 1 . 1 1 . . . . ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . . . . . . . ' 1 . . . . . 1 . . I 1 . , e x e

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Mrs. UHIIJIBBIII First Teacher in Baker 1865 ThE Baker CIW Schools The most vital product ot the national lile is the American public school. Upon its preservation depends the vitalizing agency in our American order of public and private affairs. To train the whole people ior an effective manhood and womanhood is the first duty ot a republic: and a system which places all classes on the one plane oi universal brotherhood: which recognizes no distinction between wealth and poverty, where ancestry wields no influence, is the ideal system for America. Under our present system of national expansion, widely-extended interlacing oi national interests have an ethical element that comprehends all humanity. At no other time in our nation's history did the rising generation need the knowledge of rules lor human guidance that have developed with the race and that contains the result oi human experience, than it does now. Upon the enlightenment of this generation depends the correct solution oi problems that are to mete out justice, equity and honor in the iuture. Now the education oi public opinion is a necessity urging every patriot to action. A German maxim KConcluded on Reverse Pagej ADMINISTRATION