Baker Elementary School

Baker Elementary School was located at 136 Baker Street on the eastern edge of the city of Sparta. Opening in 1957, it initially served grades kindergarten through fourth before being consolidated to form Woodland Park Elementary School in 1987. The school building still exists; it is used as the offices of the White County Board of Education.
==Early years==
August 31, 1954, Dorothy B. Rosenstengel, Rosa V. Baker, and Rhea W. Baker, the remaining heirs of G.W. Baker, sold a 25 acre lot to the Mayor of Sparta (Bailey Bockman) and the Board of Aldermen for $5000. This land was intended for use as a school, but it also would feature a park, playground, and public swimming pool.
Baker School had a dedication ceremony July 28, 1957, and classes started the next day. Arless Wilson was the first principal, and the school served 165 students from the eastern neighborhoods of Sparta.
In 1968, the establishment of White County Junior High School led to Baker adding the fifth and sixth grades. More changes came in 1970, when the Sparta school system was merged with the larger White County system, though the two had always been separate entities.
==Consolidation==
In 1987, the Board of Education decided to close Baker as well as East and West Sparta Schools, merging them into the brand-new Woodland Park Elementary. Woodland Park opened August 10 of that year.
==List of teachers==
*Ruby Haston Andrews
*Janice Hagewood Brogden
*Willa Dean Lowery Carter
*Marilyn Clark
*Sandra Stewart Copeland
*Geneva England Cotten (1966)
*Betty Dabbs
*Lera Laverne Davis
*Marsha Hutson Green Dixon
*Elizabeth Dodson
*Gina Harris
*Jane Bradley Cooper Butler Harrison
*Ruby Broyles Hayes
*Keeble Hearld
*Mrs. Hembree (1959)
*Karen Hyder LaFever
*Glenora Winton Milton
*Wilma Moore
*Mary Jo Weaver Mullican
*James Rascoe
*Sue Hatfield Rogers
*Linda Rogers Ryan
*Myra Smith Edmonds Nordahl Sloan
*Debbie Spriggs
*Rose Sherrell Stewart
*Mary Beth Welch Swindell
*Cleo Passons Walker
*Doris Watkins
*Arless Enoch Wilson (1957)
==Photo gallery==
Baker school 1.png|Baker School, date unknown
baker school 2.png|Baker School, date unknown
Baker school 1966.png|1966: Baker School's first grade class. Teacher: Geneva Cotten, assisted by Mrs. Richard Jones
baker school 3.jpg|1959: Baker School's third grade class. Teacher: Mrs. Hembree
==References==
*"About Us" Woodlandparkelementary.org. 2013. Web. Accessed 28 September 2014.
*"If you grew up in Sparta Tn, you remember......" Facebook.com. 2 September 2014. Web. Accessed 28 September 2014.
*White County Retired Teachers' Association. Schools of White County Tennessee 1806-2006. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2006.
Category:Defunct Sparta schools