By Jessica Gorman

The 1970s saw the implementation of a new type of school, the nongraded, open-concept school. The second school of this type in North Louisiana was built in Webster Parish, Apollo Elementary in Bossier City being the first. J. E. Harper Elementary School opened on Germantown Road in Minden on 7 September 1971.

The school was named in memory of Mr. J. Elmer Harper who passed away in April of that year while attending the National School Boards Convention in Philadelphia. Mr. Harper became principal of Minden High School in 1924, president of Minden Bank in 1934, was the first president of the Minden Lions Club, and also served as president of the Louisiana Bankers Association.  He was a member of the Webster Parish School Board from 1946 to 1958 and again in 1965 and served as school board president from 1951 until 1958.

Three years of planning went into the development and construction of Harper Elementary School. The bond issue was approved in December 1968 and the contract for construction of the school was awarded to McInnis Brothers in January 1970. The school, with its open concept, was designed around the instructional style that had been developed. It was set to serve an attendance zone basically bounded by Country Club Circle, Gladney Street, Fort Street, and East Union/Highway 80.

The basis of a nongraded school is just what the name implies. No grade levels were to be used which also meant that there would be no promotion or failure. Instead, students would determine their own rate of progression with a focus on continuous progress. Students could remain with their peer group while being placed in a particular level to receive instruction based on their educational needs.

The main floor of the school building was primarily one big open room with the library at the center. No walls separated the classrooms. The office was separated from the rest of the school by glass. When I was a student there, from 1984 to 1990, first through fifth grades were all on the main floor of the school. Kindergarten was housed on the lower floor. The classrooms were only separated by chalkboards and low shelving.  If anything very exciting happened during the school day, everybody knew about it, and if somebody got sent to the principal’s office, it was no secret.

Mr. Joe Windham was principal. He was serving as Elementary School Supervisor when it was decided that Minden needed a new elementary school. Tasked with development of this new school, he chose the innovative new approach that was put into place. Mr. Windham spent 23 years as principal of Harper, retiring in 1994.

Harper Elementary became a model to be followed by others. The school and its methods of teaching were studied by school districts across the country. In 1974, officials from Little Rock visited the school and left with plans to implement the same system in the open concept schools they were building. Of all the schools they had visited, they were most impressed with what they saw at Harper.

The building no longer houses an elementary school. It is now the J.E. Harper Pathways to Excellence Center and provides dual enrollment opportunities for high school students in partnership with Northwest Louisiana Technical College. In addition, offices for school board personnel are also located there.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)