Oyster Bay High School

Oyster Bay High School
Location
150 East Main Street Oyster Bay, New York United States
Information
Type	Public School
Established	1929
School district	Oyster Bay – East Norwich Central School District
Principal	Dr. Dennis O'Hara
Grades	7th through 12th
Enrollment	715 students (as of September 2010)
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Purple and Gold
Mascot	File:OBHS Logo.jpg The Baymen
Website	http://obenschools.org/high_school/

Oyster Bay High School is a high school located in Oyster Bay, New York. The school is a part of the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District. A more comprehensive history may be found on the school's website.

History

The first schoolhouse in Oyster Bay was built before the American Revolutionary War by Thomas Youngs, a short distance up Cove Hill from his homestead in Oyster Bay Cove. It was replaced in 1802 by the Oyster Bay Academy on East Main Street, led by the Reverend Marmaduke Earle. The first public school began in 1845, in a small wood building on South Street where Valley National Bank is currently located.

It is no mistake that a street on the hill near St. Dominic’s Church is called School Street; its name was changed from Petticoat Lane when a much larger public schoolhouse was built in 1872. By the 1890s it too had become overcrowded forcing some classes to meet in the dank basement and even in private homes. This led to the construction of Oyster Bay’s first high school completed in 1901 on Anstice Street.

The present high school building was built to replace the older one, and was completed in 1929. Though this school has been primarily used as a high school it was originally built to house grades K through 12. This imposing brick and stone building with its Art Deco styling, has some interesting details in the original facade. See if you can find the gargoyle-like eagles and the letters “B” and “G”. These letters indicate separate doors for the girls and boys to enter the building. In February 1929, the children did just that, carrying their books and personal belongings from the old school building to this one. The new school had many modern features, including classroom loudspeakers, an auditorium with a balcony and projection booth, a central vacuuming system, and one of the most modern gymnasiums in Nassau County.

In 1986 after many years of being an "open campus" (students allowed to leave during free periods), Oyster Bay began to phase into being a "closed campus" (students not permitted to leave during free periods). Sidney Freund, the superintendent, said that the district was responsible for students while they were in school, so they needed to stay in school. Ninth graders, who came in from the eighth grade, were not allowed to leave. Then each subsequent grade would be not allowed to leave. Therefore "open campus" was being grandfathered out. Freund said that, in this manner, the new students did not feel that they had lost a privilege, since they never had it.

Though it was modern in its day after more than 70 years the gym had become outdated; in fact it was the oldest in Nassau County when it was replaced in 2000 with a new, state-of-the-art gymnasium, dedicated to Howard Imhof. The 2000 additions also included a new library-media center with 18 computer stations, ushering their handsome Art Deco building into the new century.

Notable alumni

• Marie Colvin (Class of 1974) journalist who worked for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. She died while covering the siege of Homs in Syria
• John Knowles, novelist, transferred to Philips Exeter Academy
• Jackie Martling, comedian, starred on the Howard Stern Show
• Thomas Pynchon, novelist of Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49 once awarded "student of the year."
• Ken Rosenthal, Baseball sportscaster and journalist
• Heather Matarazzo, actress

See also

• List of Town of Oyster Bay Landmarks
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Nassau County, New York
• Oyster Bay History Walk

External links

• Oyster Bay East Norwich School District