For many years the KANSAS CITY school system had no 8th Grade. There was 7A (8th equivalent) and 7B. This meant that students went from 7th to 9th Grade or their "Freshman" year. There were also students known as "Sub-Freshmen" and "Mid-Year Sophomores" if you want a little more confusion.
Then one day, someone came up with the idea of having an 8th Grade, instead of a 7A and 7B or Sub-Freshman. Not since EINSTEIN came up with his Theory of Relativity had anything so brilliant been announced to the World. It was kind of a, "Why didn't we think of that before" moment. The 8th Grade was introduced during the 1945-46 school year. This meant that 1944-45 was the last year that students went from 7th to 9th. Those students entered 9th Grade in 1945-46, 10th in 1946-47, 11th in 1947-48 and 12th in 1948-49.
Students in the 7th Grade in 1945-46 entered the 8th Grade in 1946-47, 9th in 1947-48, 10th in 1948-49, 11th in 1949-50 and 12th in 1950-51.
Because of all this switching around and other things, there were only 80 seniors who graduated NORTHEAST in 1950. Since the graduating class was so small, it was deemed too expensive to have a NOR'EASTER for that year. I don't think this was right. I'm sure that the generous people of the NORTHEAST area would have gladly donated the funds so the kids could have a yearbook. Despite the fact that there was a small Senior Class, there were still hundreds of Sophomores and Juniors and a lot of school life that could have been expounded upon. The 80 Seniors were given a special section in the 1949 NOR'EASTER and I'm showing their pictures below.
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"THERE WILL BE NO 1950 NOR'EASTER"
"A few years ago the Kansas City Board of /Eucation decided to add an eighth grade to the school system. In order to do this, certain changes had to be made in the grades, which resulted in our having only a few seniors in Kansas City high schools in the 1949-1950 school year. Northeast will probably have a hundred seniors instead of the usual five hundred. Since much of the financial support for the Nor'easter always has come from the large graduating class, we felt it would be wiser to include in this year's book both the 1949 and the 1950 classes and not go to the expense of publishing a book in 1950."
1949 NOR'EASTER
CHARLOTTE ELESE ANDERSON
MARY MARGARET ANDERSON, MARY ANN ANDREWS, JOHN WILLIAM BARNHOUSE, BARBARA LEE BELLER, ROBERT EMMETT BENNETT
Row 2
GENE BENSON, BETTY JUNE BIGGS, FRANK EUGENE BLASCO, BETTY JEAN BLUE, ANTHONY JOSEPH BONAVIA, ROBERT THOMAS BOND
Row 3
ROBERTA JANET BONNER, MILDRED VEONA BRENNER, WANDA LEE BRINKLEY, CLAUDIA DEAN BRODERICK, MARILYN KAY CLARKIN,
BARBARA ANN COLEMAN
ZULA COX, CHARLES EUGENE DUMSKY, DOROTHY OPEARL EFINGER, PATRICIA ANNE ESKER, GLEN EDWARD FISHER, HULDA SUE FRANCIS
Row 2
JACK CRAIG FRAZIER, LAVEDA GRACIE GARDNER, DIANE GASH, JOHN WALTER GIESE, DORIS ANN GORE, ERNETS PETER, HALEY, JR.
Row 3
ZADA ELLENA HUFFAKER, DOROTHY JOAN HUNTINGTON, LOIS NATALIE KATZ, SHIRLEY ANN LIEN, GEROGE LEROY LONG, DONNA LOU McCARTNEY
KATHRYN ANN POLLARD, MARY ANGES OVALA, DONALD RAY POWELL, BARBARA GAY RISING, JULIA THERESA RYAN, JAMES ELMER SAWYER
Row 2
DeLOMA LaVAUNE, LARRY DALE SHERIDAN, NORMA JEANNE SHIPLEY, WARREN BENJAMIN SKINNER, JAMES EVERETT SPENCER, MARIE LOUISE SPANO
Row 3
FRANK ELDON STARK, IRENE FRANCES STARKEY, GREGORY JOSEPH STERVINOU, JACK STITES, TRUMAN THOMAS, JR., JOE RUSSEL VANDEVENTER
NORMA JUNE McVAY, SHIRLEY ANNE MADDEN, BETTY ANN MANNERS, WANDA GERALDINE MANSFIELD, RALPH ANSON MARCOM, MINA ROSE MATHIASCH
Row 2
CHARLES WILLIAM MIDDLETON, ROBERT EUGENE MILLER, ROSALIE MILLER, RAMOTH FRANCES MILLIN, MAYCILLE LOUISE MONTGOMERY, THOMAS ODEN MOODY
Row 3
ROBERT NAGAMOTO
GENEVIEVE NEIDERLAND, LOUELLA LEA NELSON, JOHN CHARLES O'RENICK, ORA PENINGTON, FAYE DONNA PETERS
ROSE MARIE VUTICH, CHARLES HUGH WATKINS, MARY ELLEN WAY
Row 2
CHARLES LESLIE WEST, ANN WILLIAMS, WILLIAM RUSSELL WILLIAMSON
Row 3
RONALD DENTON CASH, CURTIS LEO SULLIVAN