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Located across from the Glen Lyon National Bank building on East Main Street in Newport Township stood the Roosevelt Elementary School.
				A gasoline service station is located on the spot today.
				The Roosevelt building was one of four schools of the Newport Township Board of Education that became the Newport-Conyngham Joint Board of Education in 1958.
				Like many municipalities that had their own schools, the Newport-Conyngham education board faded away due to state mandates and aging school buildings, eventually forced a merge with the formation of the Greater Nanticoke Area School District.
				The Roosevelt school building was dedicated May 30, 1921, with a parade and banquet that followed.
				&ldquo;A handsome new school building was dedicated in the thriving little town of Glen Lyon this afternoon with very impressive ceremonies and was witnessed by thousands of people. The ceremonies opened with a mammoth parade of the principal streets of the borough starting at 3 o&rsquo;clock. The Glen Lyon fire gong was sounded as the time for the parade to start,&rdquo; reported the Evening News newspaper on May 30, 1921.
				Seven years after completion of the school, the roof began to leak causing interior damage to plaster that fell onto desks on the upper floor, reported the Evening News March 20, 1928.
				On Jan. 18, 1950, rain pipes leaked at the Roosevelt school building causing plaster to fall in the auditorium.
				Repairs were made throughout the years to the school building, which hosted hundreds of school plays and concerts during the decades.
				Parents complained to the school board in December 1959 to allow their children eat lunches inside the school instead of having them walk home for lunch, the Evening News reported.
				The state Department of Labor and Industry began visiting school districts in Luzerne County during the late 1950s looking at school buildings and safety.
				A 1959 report of the school buildings in Newport Township mandated fireproofing before students returned to school in September 1960.
				Board members sent its solicitor to Harrisburg in an attempt to get a one-year extension.
				&ldquo;The school board will attempt to get a one-year extension of its September 1960 deadline for repairs. Should the request be denied, the upper floors of four school buildings will have to be closed and will cause a classroom shortage in the district,&rdquo; the Wilkes-Barre Record reported April 30, 1960.
				As the solicitor was unsuccessful in getting the one-year extension, a referendum to allow the board to increase its debt of $50,000 to pay for fireproofing was defeated by voters 639-480 in the April primary election, the Record reported April 27, 1960.
				&ldquo;The increase debt was needed for alterations of school buildings pursuant to orders of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry,&rdquo; reported the Record.
				With no funds to fireproof the schools, the board of education was forced to close the Roosevelt school along with the Pulaski Junior High School and Kosciuszko school, all in Glen Lyon. Only the Newport Township High School on Center Street in Wanamie remained open.
				Several years after the state report, a fire destroyed the high school on Dec. 17, 1963.
				&ldquo;Newport Township police reported fire departments from surrounding communities were summoned by Newport Township fire companies to help battle the blaze,&rdquo; the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Dec. 17, 1963.
				Flames were first noticed at 12:30 a.m. and shot 30 feet in the air. Thirty-minutes later, the entire two-story brick building, built in 1910, was enveloped in fire destroying everything inside, the Record reported.
				&ldquo;An electrical circuit definitely was overloaded in an area where fire, which razed Newport Township High School, early Tuesday morning, was first observed,&rdquo; reported the Evening News on Dec. 20, 1963.
				With the formation of the Greater Nanticoke Area School District resulted in the Newport Township moniker, &ldquo;the Nutcrackers,&rdquo; being retired.

Look Back: Newport Township forced to close school buildings in 1960