Tensas High School is the public secondary school which services all of Tensas Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Tensas High School, a term coined in 2006, was formerly known as Joseph Moore Davidson High School. It is located in the parish seat of St. Joseph. Pupils in grades 7-12 from throughout the parish may enroll. This includes those who previously attended the defunct Newellton High School in Newellton and Waterproof High School in Waterproof. The current enrollment is 237.[1]
Davidson High School was named for Joseph Moore Davidson (1894-1918),[2] a United States Army soldier from St. Joseph who died shortly before the signing of the armistice in World War I. Tensas High School is operated by the elected seven-member Tensas Parish School Board. Pupils in pre-kindergarten through grade 8 still attend Newellton Elementary School, located on the former Newellton High School campus. Tensas Elementary School in St. Joseph hosts grades pre-K-6. Because of population decline, there is no longer any public school in Waterproof.
Two months after the consolidation of Tensas High School, violence broke out at the campus on November 2, 2006, when fourteen male students were arrested by the office of Sheriff Rickey Jones.[3]
In May 2010, three whites and thirty-seven black students graduated from Tensas High School. Ten whites graduated from the private, Tensas Academy, and four whites from a second private school, the Newellton Christian Academy.[4]
The principal of Tensas High School in the 2010-2011 year is LaKeyshure Washington-Marzell. Don Barton is the assistant principal.[5]The school sports teams are known as the Panthers.