Northampton Area High School - Amptennian Yearbook (Northampton, PA)

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Experienced teachers and guides, THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE iii ' nmnnwsw me sm From left, seated, Albert L. Henry, Superintendent, Joseph Smida, Lehigh Township, Charles Hahn, Bath, Russell Becker, Moore Township, Paul Balliet, Allen Township, David Olson, Assistant to the Superintendent, standing, Guy Rice, Lehigh The chain reaction to the revolution in education touched off by Sputnik is still in progress. The radical changes in curriculum and teaching methods, the conversion to meet the novel de- mands of the dawning age of technology with its Conants and Rickovers, are by far the better known aspects of the educational revolution. But they are by no means the only facets. One of the most important innovations is the emphasis, at first voluntary but since required by law, accorded the consolidation of school districts, based on the premise that larger school districts would make possible more equal educational op- portunity for all, regardless of whether the area was rural or urban in character. One of the result- ant chain reactions was a state-wide wave of school construction - schools with facilities for developing the youthful mind which heretofore had existed only in the cities. Another was an emergent new kind of school administration, streamlined to fit the needs of new district orga- nization. Township, Ralph McCandless Jr., Moore Township, Howard McMurry, Lehigh Township, John Dreisbach, Carl Shoemaker, and George Bennis, all Northampton, Sherwood Mann, Chap- man Quarries, and George Henninger, East Allen Township. Both of these chain reactions have been re- flected here. They occurred almost simultaneously and the spark that touched them off came on July l, 1950, when the school districts of Northampton and Bath Boroughs, and East Allen, Lehigh, and Moore Townships signed a historic contract to pool their students and resources. This Jointure, as it was designated, affected secondary education only, or the grades from seven to twelve. On January 26, 1954, as the result of a district reorganization study by county superintendents for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruc- tion, a meeting of all the individual school boards of the iointure together with those of Allen Town- ship and Chapman Quarries Borough - these be- ing indicated by the study as logically forming a part of the jointure - was held to discuss the fu- ture of this organization. Another need which was becoming more and more apparent was that for a new high school, and plans were initiated to study this problem as well. Page eight

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Whose guiding 'wisdom THE INTERIM COMMITTEE From left, seated, Charles Hahn, Bath, Earl White, East Allen Townshipy Guy Rice, Lehigh Township, Russell Becker, Moore Township, John Dreisbach, Northamptony standing, Paul Balliet, Events moved in swift succession, on December 8, 1954, a plot of nearly twenty acres was turned over to the Jointure for a new school by the Uni- versal Atlas Cement Division of United States Steel Corporation through its local plant manager, the late L. J. Boucher, as a contribution. Two months later, on February 9, 1955, a new iointure contract, now including Allen Township and Chapman Quarries, was signed. Planning for a new senior high school building was immediately initiated, and on March 16, 1958, ground was broken. Although hindered by difficulty, the building was opened for its student population by September 19, 1960, and it was dedicated on April 9, 1961. However, it was soon apparent that the popu- lation had already outgrown its housing, and a new wing, which solved this difficulty, was com- pleted for occupancy by September of 1964. Allen Township, Jacob Seiple, East Allen Township, Robert Jones and Woodrow Lindenmoyer, both Northampton. Meanwhile, as the reorganization of the school district progressed, so did its administration. Indi- vidual school boards designated a School Commit- tee to handle all matters except budget approval. As of May 2, 1962, the iointure contract, which had formerly applied to the iunior and senior high schools only, was expanded to include all grades from kindergarten to twelve. Paralleling this ex- pansion in the physical sense was the opportunity to acquire an additional tract of twenty-six acres of land from the Universal Atlas Cement Division of United States Steel Corporation. The transfer was accomplished on March 21, 1966. Still another parallel was the compliance with a state law mandating the merger of iointures into permanent unions as of July 1, 1966. Now in its final transitional stage, the School Committee passed out of existence, to be succeeded by an Interim Operating Committee, at annual reorgani- zation proceedings on Monday, December 6, 1965. Page nine