Pawnee High School is part of the

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

system located in Pawnee, Oklahoma. There are three schools in the system: an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, a

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

and a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. The school colors are red, white, and black. The mascot for the high school, middle school, and elementary school mascot is the Black Bear (Bruno). As of 2023, the superintendent is Stacy Womack, and the principal is Tammy Hixon.

History

Early builders used native sandstone to construct the first school buildings. The original Pawnee High School had only eight classrooms. Local contractor T.M. Grant, completed it in 1900. A three-story building replaced this structure April 1912. It held first- through twelfth-grade classrooms, administration offices, a 700-seat auditorium, and a gymnasium. So large and imposing, it was known locally as the Capitol Building and served the community until 1962. The school published its first yearbook in 1919. A student who worked on it,

Chester Gould Chester Gould (; November 20, 1900 – May 11, 1985) was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the ''Dick Tracy'' comic strip, which he wrote and drew from 1931 to 1977, incorporating numerous colorful and monstrous villains. Ear ...

, became famous for creating the

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...

comic strip in the 1930s. In 1943, the Works Project Administration built a new elementary school using rocks from the first school building. Reflecting the segregationist politices of the era, the community built a separate school for African American students in September 1948. In 1972, Pawnee joined with the Morrison, Glencoe, Stillwater, Mulhall-Orlando, and Guthrie school districts to form a vocational-technical school to help students pursue vocational trades after high school.

Meridian Technology Center Technology Centers, in Oklahoma, are Career and Technical schools which provide career and technology education for high school students in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The students generally spend part of each day in their respective schools purs ...

continues to serve these communities. The newest building project for the Pawnee Public School system is the 8,000-square-foot domed tornado shelter located in the middle of the elementary school campus. Completed in early 2015, the shelter can fit the entire school population of more than 1,000 people.

Present day

Currently, the school system includes an elementary school for kindergarten through fifth grade, a middle school for grades six through eight, and a high school for grades nine through twelve.

Notable alumni

Hellen Linkswiler Hellen M. Linkswiler (January 5, 1912 – June 24, 1984) was an American dietitian and nutrition scientist who researched human mineral requirements and amino acids. She was a professor of foods and nutrition at the University of Wisconsin–Mad ...

(1932), dietician and nutrition scientist

References

Public high schools in Oklahoma Schools in Pawnee County, Oklahoma Pawnee, Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-school-stub