Newberg Area Historical Society

By Barbara Doyle This is part six of a multi-part series on the history of Central School, look for new installments in the weeks to come! Installments in this series are adapted from Barbara Doyle's book on this topic: From Then 'till Now: Schooling in Newberg, Oregon. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Seven Oregon law prefers surplus public property remain in the public domain.   So Newberg’s Mayor, and the Superintendents of the Newberg School District and the Chehalem Parks and Recreation District [CPRD] met frequently to discuss ways to reach that goal. The school district did not want to keep that dilapidated building. It   was put up for sale at $1,000,000. There were no buyers.   The Mayor briefly considered moving City Hall and the Police Department into the school building. Meeting the building code requirements for the Police Department were too expensive.   The City lost interest. CPRD did not. At a May 1997 meeting, the School District Board

By Barbara Doyle This is part five of a multi-part series on the history of Central School, look for new installments in the weeks to come! Installments in this series are adapted from Barbara Doyle's book on this topic: From Then 'till Now: Schooling in Newberg, Oregon. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Six Part Seven Part Five: Central School Closes Photo courtesy of CPRD. There wasn’t space in the schoolyard for another addition. So the old wooden gymnasium was razed in 1959 and a new brick one was attached to the northwestern side of the building. Any additional work on Central School fit into the maintenance/repair category and that work was postponed as long as possible. Asbestos removal could not be ignored. A few portable classrooms were gradually placed in the playground area. Student population continued to increase, special student needs had to be recognized and accommodated, kindergarten was added. All of these increases led to increased costs which led to