History of William Shaffner Neal High School

 

     W. S. Neal received its name from Mr. William Shaffner Neal, who at one time was Superintendent of Education of Escambia County. Mr. Neal saw the need for state supported secondary schools during his tenure as Superintendent of Education and was successful in getting a bill passed through the Alabama legislature, which appropriated money for this purpose. Mr. Neal saw the need for public schools in order to educate the common person. The first such school in the State of Alabama was located in 1898 in Atmore, Alabama. Other counties immediately followed suit and our present secondary school system developed from this first measure, which was sponsored by Mr. Neal. In recognition for this and other services that he rendered to the schools of Escambia County, the Escambia County Board of Education adopted a resolution to name the school in East Brewton, W. S. Neal School. Before this time the school had been called East Brewton School.      

    Even though the school may be considered small by today’s standards, it is still much bigger than it was when it was first constructed.  It started out with only a few rooms, and gradually expanded over the years.  It began its life solely as a high school, but as buildings were added on, this began to change.  A few of the first add-ons were for elementary level learning.  The school kept expanding, and it is interesting to see when the buildings were originally built.  A lit football field and dressing rooms were built for the football team in 1946.  Construction for the then new elementary school began in 1947, and it was ready for use in 1948.  Other buildings came into being regularly after this until the school came to be what it is today. 

    W. S. Neal School became a consolidated high school in 1928-29. Previous to this time it had been an elementary school, and junior high school. The county building program in 1928, which promoted the building of six brick school buildings, also included the high school buildings, which Neal now uses. The last wing of this building, at present houses the library and rooms 12 and 13, which were added at a later date.

    At the time the high school building was built, O. C. Weaver was Superintendent of Education and the following men were members of the County Board Of Education; Dr. A. P. Webb, President, C. J. Merriweather; J. F. Douglas; E. D. Espy; and W. W. Hinote. The school trustees were; C. M.  Williamson, J. D. Weaver, and W. M. Watson.

    Three Principals have served as administrators of the Neal School. They are W. O. Barrow 1928-1940; J. M. Mays 1940-1946; and Harry L. Weaver 1946.

    During Mr. Barrow’s administration, the school expanded in spite of the many difficulties due to the depression. In addition to the high school building and its library section, a two-room frame building was constructed in order to house two elementary classrooms. The boys and Mr. Barrow also built a frame building to house the N. Y. A. shop which operated until the outbreak of war. An adequate drainage system, at that time, was installed to drain the campus. A school newspaper was begun in 1928 called the Spectator. It is still published weekly by the students.

     When Mr. Mayes became principal at Neal the athletic program was started. For the first time teams in three sports: football, basketball, and baseball donned the colors of blue and gold and competed with neighboring schools. School spirit during these years probably reached a higher pitch than ever before or since. In 1945 the lunchroom was put in the old N. Y. A. shop and a large percentage of the students in elementary and high school participated in this lunch program. A dental clinic was provided for and put into operation.

     During the years 1946-1949 the building program at W. S. Neal expanded more than and previous period. This was due in part to lack of any type-building program during war years 1941-1945.

    In 1946 a lighted football field and dressing room were built for the football teams.  In 1947 construction of a new elementary school got under way and the new building was ready for use in the fall of 1948 with eleven modern classrooms. This building also housed a new lunchroom, which accommodates all students in elementary and high school.

    The Vocational building was finished in January 1949 and students of vocational agriculture and home economics now have one of the finest buildings in the State of Alabama for this type of work. It is also one of the best-equipped buildings of this type and the department has two very excellent instructors in Mrs. Sallie Childers and Mr. K. C. Ezell.

     A band was organized in 1948.[1]