Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this page!
One Room School Memories
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From Darrell
"Norm" Rodabaugh: I attended the one room school house at
Sullivanville until1949
when I then went to Horseheads. My sisters Eudine & Donna also went there. I started
school at
age 7 in 1943 - my mother kept most us kids at home until then. I wore wool
stockings
and knickers to school until my grandmother bought me a pair of Levi's (blue jeans).The teacher was Mrs. Jettie T. Bell. I
attended the Annex in Horseheads for 5th & 6th grade, then the High school for 7th through 11th but quit school in my junior year.
When we went to Horse-heads our first bus driver was Mr. Forsythe, then Ivan Kiser and Jim Dann. The Sullivanville school had a big
coal furnace that set to the right as you walked in. This was the same area where everyone hung their coats and kept
their boots, etc. On the left were shelves for the lunches and a water container with cups. The bathrooms
were out back of the school - boys on the left, girls on the right. They were really outhouses. In front
of the schoolhouse was the well and the pump. The flagpole was right in front of the school. There
was a small one car garage
to the left of the school, if the teacher had a car. Mrs. Bell was brought to school and picked up by someone each day.
Her desk sat up on the stage to the left of the door for the coal bin. The coal bin set out back attached to the school between
the school and the toilets. Therewere 8 rows of 12 desks each. The black board was behind the
teachers desk. The Americanflag stood to the right of the teachers desk and was saluted every morning. School
was 8 am to4:30
pm Monday through Friday. There were 8 or 9 pupils in each grade. As you advanced youwere moved to the right.
The 3 R's were all we learned! Some of the kids I went to school with were: Phyllis Allington, Walter Carpenter, John Sterling.
Marilee Ball, Richard Widrow, Irene Gardner, Jim Bush, Joe Jago & Geraldine Husted. Games we played during recess were:Prisoners Base, Jumprope, Baseball,
Tag, Hide-n-Seek. We had swings and a slide to playon out front.
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From Gary
Little: He remembers it was a lot of fun. He learned
a lot faster because he could hearwhat the older kids were learning right along with his own work. Sue Rodabaugh went there
too.She
said Gary was just a nice little boy and so cute! (Gary attended Sullivanville #7)
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From Marlene (Mitstifer) Little: she remembers
her father (Walter Mitstifer) used to go down and start the fire to get the school warmed up before the kids got there. This was the school
house out past the VanDuzer cemetery
on the East Sullivanville Road. The teacher at that time wasMinerva (Miller) Roe. Marlene's mother thinks that scholl
didn't start until 9:00 a.m. (This was Sullivanville
#8)
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From Mata (Ball) Wilkins: I did go to the one room
schoolhouse in Sullivanville, my husband Al
did not though. I have many happy memories of my time at Sullivanville. Our teacher
was Mrs. Bell. She
did a remarkable job teaching all 6 grades at the same time. My first 4 grades, there were 3 of us in the grade. Actually the other
2 were your relatives - Kay & Brent Rodabaugh. They were also my best friends at the time. I skipped 5th grade and then completed
6th grade in Sullivanville.
The next year the school district was centralized. Kay & Brent went to Ridge Road School for their 6th grade and I went on to 7th.
It was a real shock to go to a "big" school like Horsheads Junior High school and actually ride a bus to school. It was easy
to skip a grade back then as everyone
heard all lessons being given in the same room. The lower grades usually had their lessons first thing in the morning and then would retire to side
tables and complete theirhomework
or work on lessons. At the end of the school year, if you took a test for the highergrades and passed the test, you could skip a grade
and go directly to the higher grade. We didn't have music lessons in elementary. We did put musical skits on at Christmas and atEaster, but that was about the extent of our musical
education. We did have a woman come ona regular basis, but I don't recall how often. She used to bring easels and
art supplies, etc. We
always looked forward to this as it was different than our everyday 3 R's education. We had a coal fired stove on the side of the one room
school that heated it in the Winter. Mornings were sometimes quite chilly until the stove got the room heated up. The ceiling in
theschool was very high, so the
heat always rose and your feet were pretty cold. The building hadan addition on back that was the coal bin. It was also
used as the "time out" room at times forparticularly unruly ones. We always had at least one recess during the day and went outsideto play, no matter the weather. I
can't remember that we ever minded the cold or the heat as long as we could all get outside. We did have one swing set but that was the
only playgroundequipment we had.
All the kids seemed to get along very well and I don't remember any bullying like we have in schools today. Of couse, back then
the teacher could reprimand students
who not comply with her rules - and she had a lot of rules. But Mrs. Bell was a very
fair and very well loved teacher. (Mata attended Sullivanville #7)
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From Marilee (Ball) Rodabaugh: Thought I would write
a little about Sullivanville One-Room School. I would have started school there in fall of 1944. School had six
grades, no kindergarten. There was approximately 4 to 6 students in each grade, taught by one teacher. A Helen
Moore was my first grade teacher. Jettie Bell came in my second year and was there until the school closed. School
was one-room with a small addition for storage {coal bin} on back. There was 4 or 5 desk sizes, the small on one side, large
on other. The room front had blackboards completely across. Bathrooms were 2 outhouses behind the school.
When I first started, I believe, water was gotten from a pitcher pump alongside the school, but eventually was brought into
the school.
Mrs. Bell had complete control, each grade was given assignments to work on, and she would then work independently with one
grade at a time. Little chairs were arranged in a circle for younger grades reading lessons. Reading, Writing,
Spelling, Arithmetic, Sciences, and Social Studies were all taught. The bookmobile came every few weeks, so we
had a library and could borrow books.
The school was heated by a coal stove. A janitor came early and started the fire and the teacher took care of it during
the day. He also cleaned the school, shoveled the snow, and mowed the lawn. The American flag was raised every
morning, unless weather was really bad, and brought down at the end of day. Children who lived nearby went home for
lunch, those who lived further stayed. Mrs. Bell made hot soup, cocoa, etc. on a two-burner hotplate, for a small fee,
so everyone that didn't bring their lunch could have a hot meal.
We did not have transportation, most everyone walked to and from school. I
walked a mile, one way, everyday from the time I was 5. The students came from the town line on Rt. 13 to Terry Hill
Rd., Veteran Hill town line to Johnson Rd., all of back (west) Sullivanville Rd., part of East Sullivanville Rd. and Vargo
Rd. to town line. Each one-room school did not draw from a large area as I remember several in Sullivanville area.
( Parrott Rd., other end of East Sullivanville, point of Veteran Hill and Terry Hill, Veteran Hill at end of Sutton
Rd.)
While I really believe
we got a good education in the one-room school, things did happen. There wasn't any supervision if the teacher was late
getting to school, or the student was early. My brother lost an eye from a dart that was thrown by another boy and missed
its target. Another time, a boy was locked in the coalbin room as punishment and forgotten. The teacher went home
and when the family started calling around, they found that the last anyone knew he was locked in the coalbin.
Can you imagine these things happening today!
Students today probably cannot picture education in a one-room, six grade school, but I have only good memories.
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From
Walt Samson: I attended District #9. I think 43-44 was the last
year, then we went to HHDS Central. My teachers were Miss Tenny. A new
graduate teacher, Miss Goetles came next but did not last long. My Mother, Helen Samson filled up the gap. We got Gov. food surplus. I can still smell the #10 cans of kidney beans. Once a year a lady visited and had a case that looked like a Victrola. Earphones plugged into
it, and we had our hearing checked. The well was bad. Two of us would take
a bucket and walk down to Jake Fisher's, later Vic Smith's. The bucket was emptied into a crock with a push button faucet.
Periodic slide shows were a treat. The projector was big and hot. At first the dust burned off the bulb and the smell
was distinctive. Veteran #9 was a typical one room school with a big ole
furnace in the rear and a bell on the teacher's desk up front. Across the top of the blackboard were the letters of the alphabet,
upper and lower case, in the Palmer style. The school kind of ran
out of students. David Conklin and I. The Shope girls and a couple welfare kids from Roy Hilton's, later the Pelow place.
The boy was David Burdick and his sister, perhaps she was Patricia. I also remember a Frank and Walter Deming and perhaps
the Bumps were there part of the time. My Grandmother taught there
in the fall of 1905.
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From Linda (Lyon) Sipe: The only names I can remember after all these years are: Linda Gardner,
Danny Ball, Lloyd Higgins, Brent Rodabaugh, Terry Pratt, and Peggy Lyon. They, of course, are of various ages due to
their being 6 grades in one room. I guess every little bit counts. Thanks for your research on this.
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