Oyster Bay High School

Oyster Bay High School
Oyster Bay High School
	Oyster Bay High School in June, 2005
Location
	Wikimedia \| © OpenStreetMap
	150 East Main Street; Oyster Bay, New York 11771; United States
Information
Type	Public school
Established	1929
School district	Oyster Bay – East Norwich Central School District
Principal	Sharon Lasher
Faculty	72.70 FTEs
Grades	7-12
Enrollment	730 (2019-20)
Student to teacher ratio	10.04
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Purple and Gold
Mascot	The Baymen
Newspaper	Oyster Bay Harbour Voice
Website	www.obenschools.org/Domain/10

Oyster Bay High School is a public high school located in Oyster Bay, New York, United States. The school is a part of the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District.

As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 759 students and 69.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.0:1. There were 115 students (15.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 18 (2.4% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.^[1]

History[]

The present high school building was built to replace the older one, and was completed in 1929. Though this school has been primarily used as a high school it was originally built to house grades K through 12. This imposing brick and stone building with its Art Deco styling, has some interesting details in the original facade, including gargoyle-like eagles and the letters “B” and “G”. These letters indicate separate doors for the girls and boys to enter the building. In February 1929, the children did just that, carrying their books and personal belongings from the old school building to this one.^{[citation needed]} The new school had many modern features, including classroom loudspeakers, an auditorium with a balcony and projection booth, a central vacuuming system, and one of the most modern gymnasiums in Nassau County.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986, after many years of being an "open campus" (students allowed to leave during free periods), Oyster Bay began to phase into being a "closed campus" (students not permitted to leave during free periods).^[3] Sidney Freund, the superintendent, said that the district was responsible for students while they were in school, so they needed to stay in school.^[3] Ninth graders, who came in from the eighth grade, were not allowed to leave, followed by each subsequent grade, and, as such, "open campus" was being grandfathered out.^[3] Freund said that, in this manner, the new students did not feel that they had lost a privilege, since they never had it.^[3]

Though it was modern in its day, after more than 70 years, the school's gym had become outdated; it was the oldest in Nassau County when the district replaced it in 2000 with a new, state-of-the-art gymnasium, dedicated to Howard Imhof. The 2000 additions also included a new library-media center with 18 computer stations, ushering the district's Art Deco high school building into the new century.^[4]

Notable alumni[]

Marie Colvin (Class of 1974), journalist who worked for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. She died while covering the siege of Homs in Syria
John Knowles, novelist, transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy
Ken Labanowski (Class of 1977), American-Israeli basketball player
Jackie Martling, comedian, starred on the Howard Stern Show
Heather Matarazzo, actress^[5]
Thomas Pynchon (Class of 1953), novelist of Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49 once awarded "student of the year."
Lee Ranaldo (Class of 1974), musician and writer, co-founder of Sonic Youth.
Ken Rosenthal, baseball sportscaster and journalist
Tage Thompson, professional hockey player