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Home
About PPS
Budget
Contact Us
Directories
Administrative Phone Directory
Addresses for Administrative Offices
Directory of Offices & Services
School Principal Directory
Freedom of Information Act
Departments
Division Leadership
Graduate Profile
School Quality Profile
Strategic Plan
Superintendent
Families
Attendance Zones & Bus Routes
COVID-19 Supports
Here to Help - Mental Health Resources
Online School Payment Portal
Parent Portal
Scholarship Information
School Hours
Virtual Learning
School Safety
Weapons Detection System
Schoology
Special Education Parent Resource Center
Student Registration
Online Registration Forms
Registration FAQs
Supporting Military Families
Planning Your Arrival to Portsmouth Public Schools
Preparing Your Move from Portsmouth Public Schools
Academic Planning for Military Families
Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities
Special Needs Navigation and Parental Rights
Exceptional Family Member Program
Virtual Learning
Students
Career Programs
Code of Conduct
Dress Code
Library Media Services
Reading List
Scholarship Information
School Meal Menus
Student Portal
Technology
Virtual Learning Days
Attendance Matters
ALL In Tutoring
Jobs
Staff
Employee Benefits
VRS and Retirement Information
Legal Resources
COREBRIDGE FINANCIAL
Email Access
Resources
Accelify
Online Training
PowerSchool
PowerSchool Admin
PowerSchool General Access
PowerSchool Learning
PowerTeacher Pro
SearchSoft ATS
TalentEd
Timekeeping and Leave Requests
AESOP/Frontline
MUNIS ESS
AsureForce
Staff Website
Shining Light Awards
Community
How to Get Involved
School and Building Rentals
ACCESS College Foundation
Portsmouth Schools Foundation
Portsmouth Council of PTAs
School Board
Meetings and Information
BoardDocs Meeting Agendas & Information
Code of Conduct for School Board Members
Archived Meeting Agendas and Information
School Board By-Laws
Meeting Dates
Meeting Minutes
Watch a Live or Archived Meeting
Policies
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Portsmouth Public Schools
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History
A Brief History of Public Education in Portsmouth
1848-1960
I – Historical Background
The present public school system of Portsmouth came into being as the result of an act of the General Assembly, 1869-1870. Prior to this time, however, a system of primary schools had been established in the City as a result of an act of the General Assembly in 1846. This act established a system of “free education for all classes”, but required the assent of two-thirds of the electorate of a county or city before it could be put into effect. In 1848, Portsmouth took advantage of this act by organizing a system of public education and electing a Board, which was given entire control of its affairs. The members of this first School Board were Captain Samuel Watts, William Cocke, Stephen Cowley, George Chambers, Henry Phillips, Joseph Porter and Robert Scott. Most of these men who comprised this board were prominent in the business, social and civic life of the City. The Reverend Dr. Thomas Hume, Pastor of Court Street Baptist Church was elected superintendent for both Norfolk County and Portsmouth Schools. These schools, like suffrage, were open to all whites under certain conditions. A small tuition was required of all who were able to pay, the poorer children being cared for by funds received from the sale of the Glebe lands.
There were two broad divisions in these schools corresponding somewhat to our present primary and grammar grade departments, with each further divided into male and female sections. The primary section was taught in the basement of the old Court Street Baptist Church on the same site upon which the present church stands. The second or grammar grade section was taught in the Masonic Temple, which occupied the site upon which the present Masonic Temple stands.
Superintendent Hume evidently was a progressive educator, as we have a record of his attending the National Teachers’ Meeting in Philadelphia in 1850 in an effort to glean new ideas and to become informed concerning the best practices of the time.
The schools of Norfolk County and Portsmouth were without doubt operated along the most progressive lines of the times, as William Maddox in his book “The Free School Idea in Virginia Before the Civil War”, tells us.
“The Free School Systems established in Norfolk, Elizabeth City, Princess Anne, Northampton, King George, Albemarle, Accomac, Washington, Ohio, Kanawha and Jefferson Counties and in the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Fredericksburg and Wheeling were typical of the best American education development of the times.”
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