Dennis School (formerly Foster School)

Dennis, Tishomingo County, Mississippi

 

Superintendent N. L. Phillips called the County School Board together in July 1912, and it was decided to move the Foster School to the Village of Dennis, Mississippi. The name was changed from Foster School to Dennis School. The County School Board was composed of the following members:  J. F. Oaks, G. W. Bishop, W. H. Lindsey, W. T. Storment, and E. F. Parnell. The following were appointed as trustees of the newly created Dennis School:  R. Young, J. P. Lindsey, and G. P. Deaton. The first teachers of the Dennis School were B. A. Brumley, Principal; and Ruth Kirk, Assistant. 

In 1919, new territory was added to the district; the Dennis School then became a common consolidated school. 

In July 1922, the Neil Public School was abolished and this was added to the Dennis Consolidated School. Miss Ollie Bickerstaff stated that she had 82 pupils in the first and second grades in 1922. By 1924-25, the enrollment had increased until two of the school’s teachers, Mrs. S. T. Storment and Miss Ollie Bickerstaff, had to teach their classes in the Methodist Church. 

In July 1926, a part of the Pittsburg district was added to the Dennis Consolidated School. 

The Dennis School had grown to an eight-teacher school in 1928-29, and was doing Junior High School work. The following year high school work was discontinued. 

At the beginning of the Depression, the school enrollment began to decrease. As it grew more intense and the methods of farming changed, people began to seek employment in other areas. Thus, the Dennis School became a five-teacher school for several years.

(Source: 1954 Memoirs yearbook (Dennis, Miss.); transcribed by RaNae Vaughn on Jan. 19, 2010.)

RaNae Vaughn is president of the Tishomingo County Historical Genealogical Society-TCHS and a board member of the Tishomingo County Archives and History Museum.