Jefferson Middle School history

Common schools developed in Oklahoma after the Oklahoma Constitution of 1907 mandated a free, public education for all children.

Arapaho District 35 Common School, Custer County, 1910(11254.2, Lucille Snider Parks Collection, OHS).

The effect of school consolidation in Oklahoma is revealed in numbers: In 1918 there were 5,783 total districts, of which 5,178 were rural one-school districts, 408 were rural consolidated or union graded in rural areas, and 197 were independent districts in cities.

In 1923 the Oklahoma Legislature enacted a tax levy to pay each common school a fee per child, if a district was too poor to provide the necessary elements of a Model School.

Frank D. Northrup, "First Consolidated School Law," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 27 (Summer 1949).

In 1955 ten acres of ground was purchased on North Spencer Road from Mr.

Seven classrooms, a principal’s office, kitchen and cafeteria were built and ready for occupancy by October 1956.

During the year 1958-59 the school was officially named Star-Spencer High School, navy blue and white was the school colors, and a Bobcat was the mascot.

The first class graduate from Star Spencer High School was May 1959, with 25 graduating seniors.

Oklahoma City (originally filed on October 9, 1961), the Oklahoma City Public School District was ordered to adopt a plan of public school integration.

The year 1967-68 was a winning year for the baseball team who won the state championship.

Dawkins worked for expansion and beautification of the campus area in 1968-69.

However, the use of bus transportation to achieve school integration arose principally after the 1971 United States Supreme Court decision in Swann v.

Arcadia High School students were transferred to Star-Spencer for the school year 1972-73.

In the fall of 1973 Dungee High School was closed and the students were transferred to Star-Spencer.

The 1975-76 school year created a sad memory when the Pep Club bus chartered for the Guymon-Star-Spencer game overturned on the way home.

The year 1976-77 had for its motto, “The Shape of Things To Come.” Star-Spencer was in a three-way tie for first place in the football Capitol Conference with Southeast and Douglass and another State Championship was earned by the Bobcat basketball team.

The school year 1977-78 started out with a new principal, Doctor Leon Edd and several new classes including Carpentry, Child Care and Horticulture.

Kenny A. Franks and Paul F. Lambert, The Legacy of Dean Julien C. Monnet: Judge Luther Bohanon and the Desegregation of Oklahoma City's Public Schools (Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1983).

In 1989, when the legislature passed the Voluntary School Consolidation Act, Oklahoma had 609 districts, rural (all grade levels) and urban combined.

Jennifer Jellison, Resegregation and Equity in Oklahoma City (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Project on School Desegregation, 1996).