Newport News was located in Warwick County, which is now extinct. It was established as a town in 1880 and incorporated as a city by act of the General Assembly in 1896, without ever having been incorporated as a town. The Newport News (Va.) Board of School Trustees was established in 1896 when the city was incorporated. It was replaced by the School Board in 1921. Newport News was enlarged by consolidation with the city of Warwick in 1958. The Newport News City Public Schools District was established in 1958 when the Old City of Newport News and the former city of Warwick (Warwick County prior to 1952) were consolidated.
During World War II, the federal government supported a nationwide program of child-care centers, intended to boost war production by freeing mothers to work. The centers had a peak enrollment near 130,000 children in 1944. The federal subsidy ended in February 1946. During World War II, the federal government offered grants for child care services to authorized community groups that could demonstrate a war-related need for the service. The program was justified as a war expedient necessary to allow mothers to enter the labor force and increase war production. Funding authorization came through the 1941 Defense Public Works Law (Title II of the 1940 National Defense Housing Act), popularly known as the Lanham Act. The law was designed to assist communities with water, sewer, housing, schools, and other local facilities' needs related to war industry and growth. The federal government granted 52 million dollars for child care under this Act from August 1943 through February 1946. Communities, mostly through user fees, contributed an additional 26 million dollars. At its July 1944 peak, 3,102 federally subsidized child care centers, with 130,000 children enrolled, were located in all but one state and in the District of Columbia.
In 1960, U.S. District Court Judge Walter E. Hoffman approved a pupil placement plan submitted by the Newport News Public School District and dismissed a suit challenging it (Sharon Adkinson, et al v. the School Board of the City of Newport News, et al), in 1962. In 1965 Newport News voluntarily submitted a freedom-of-choice plan to the U.S. Commission of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The Department accepted the plan as meeting all of its requirements for compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During the summer of 1970, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed a suit in Federal district court on behalf of black plaintiffs alleging that Newport News was operating a dual school system. In August 1971 Judge Hoffman ordered a new assignment plan for both students and faculty that created attendance zones to which they would be assigned. The Federal district court approved a reorganization plan for the 1971-1972 year.
From the guide to the Newport News (Va.) School Board Records, 1896-1973 (bulk 1950-1970), (The Library of Virginia)
