Jasper County Community Unit School District 1 is a unified school district based in Jasper County's county seat of Newton, Illinois; it is the only school district in the county and is, consequently, the main educational body in all of Jasper County, although it serves portions of Effingham County and Cumberland County as well. This school district is composed of six schools in total; four elementary schools, one junior high school, and one high school. There is also a prekindergarten program run at the high school of the district should parents wish to enroll their children early. Willow Hill Elementary School, which is located in the village of its namesake, serves only kindergarteners; its proximity to the county seat and central position in the county allows its students to dawn from all parts of the county and still have easy access to the elementary school they will attend. The principal of Willow Hill is Dave Parker. Grove Elementary School is located in Island Grove, Illinois, the highest point of elevation in the county. Grove Elementary School educates students from kindergarten to grade six, and it runs a prekindergarten program as well. Craig Carr is the principal of this school. Ste. Marie Elementary School is located in the southern Jasper County village of Ste. Marie, and serves students in grades one through six. The principal of Ste. Marie is David Parker, the principal of Willow Hill Elementary School. Newton Elementary School is located in the county seat of Newton, and serves most of west Jasper County's first through sixth graders under principal Travis Wyatt. The latter three elementary schools feed into Jasper County Junior High School and are taught in the facility during seventh and eighth grade while being supervised by Newton Elementary School principal Travis Wyatt before graduating into Newton Community High School. Students in grades nine through twelve spend their last leg of precollegiate education at this school; their principal is Ruth Kerner. The district superintendent is Ron Alburtus, and the district's mascot is the eagle. The main sport at the high school is football. The team has made it to the playoffs eight times in the last eleven years. In 2005 they made it to the state championship placing 2nd. Up until this past season the Eagles had made it to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons. During that span they won 38 games, while only losing 8. The current football coach is Jason Fulton who replaced Hall of Fame Coach Bob Horst. The other sports are boys basketball coached by Doug Mammoser, Girls basketball coached by Bradley Dale Harris, Volleyball coached by Jill Kistner, Cross Country coached by Josh Rushbrook, Girls Tennis coached by Jeanette Hickox, Boys tennis coached by Blake Davidson, Boys track coached by Todd Short, Girls track coached by Jackie Schackmann, Baseball also coached by Jason Fulton, Softball coached by Sara Beam, and Scholastic bowl coached by Douglas K. Finkbiner. Also the high school sports a large and extremely successful, competitive marching band, consisting of over 33% of the student body. The 130+ Newton Marching Eagles are directed by Brian Ridlen and Jeffrey Finley. Junior high electives include classes in environmental conservation, building newspapers, economics, art, and fitness. Jasper County Junior High School also runs a chorus program directed by Jeffrey Finley and a large band program, directed by Jeffrey Finley and Brian Ridlen, involving over 50% of the junior high.
