FIVE DISTRICTS MERGED SUCCESSFULLY INTO ONE 



Pupils arrive by bus at the LaHogue Com- 

 munity Consolidated District No. 260 



school house in Iroquois county, 

 district was organized in 1942. 



The 



RURAL SCHOOL lle<x^<faHifatio*t TELLS STORY 



11' YOU RE looking for an interesting 

 story of rural school reorganization, 

 you'll find it in the LaHogue Commu- 

 nity Consolidated District No. 260 in 

 Iroquois county. 



This is the way W. O. Sayler of the 

 LaHogue community tells about it. His 

 is more than a casual interest because 

 he has spent more than 26 years teach- 

 ing school, with all but one year in 

 Iroquois county. He has also farmed 

 so he knows the farmer's viewpoint. 



Before the spring of 1942, there 

 were five grade school districts serving 

 a territory consisting of 17 sections, 16 

 in a square, with two half sections 

 joining on the south side of the area. 

 One of the schools — the LaHogue 

 school — was located exactly in the 

 center of the area. One of the other 

 schools was joined to the LaHogue 

 structure and today it is serving as the 

 school building for the newly reor- 

 ganized district. 



Two reasons are given for the move 

 toward reorganization. Several of the 

 school buildings in the districts were 

 old and attendance also was down. 

 Willow Twig school had 14 pupils, 

 Plainview 2, Haubach 7, Fulton 7, and 

 LaHogue 7, or a total of 37. 



Some of the folks started talking 

 about reorganizing into one district. 

 The first step taken was to canvass the 

 territory. The assessed valuation of 

 each district and the assessed valuation 

 of the proposed district was considered, 

 as well as the two year levy of each 

 district. From these figures an approx- 

 imate budget for the proposed new dis- 

 trict was made which showed that it 

 could be run at a rate of from 6'5 to 75 

 cents on the SlOO valuation in normal 

 times. 



These facts were presented to the 

 parents of school children, and as there 

 seemed to be little opposition, an elec- 

 tion was held. About 80 per cent voted 

 for the new district. Some did not 

 vote for one reason or another. After 

 reorganization was voted, one of the 

 old districts sought to withdraw be- 

 cause it had a fair school attendance. 

 However, the district did not with- 

 draw as less than two-thirds voted for 

 such action. 



Because of wartime restrictions, the 

 new district did not erect a new build- 

 ing. Instead, the Haubach school build- 

 ing was moved and joined to the La- 

 Hogue school. The other three school 

 buildings of the old districts, land and 



equipment were sold for about SI 300. 

 It cost about $600 to move the one 

 building, join it on, build a foundation 

 and put in new floors. While this 

 arrangement was satisfactory under ex- 

 isting conditions, Sayler says it would 

 have been better if a new modern 

 building could have been erected. At 

 any rate the district has a large building 

 fund and it does not levy for building 

 fund. 



Attendance in the new district is 47, 

 and two teachers are employed, each 

 taking care of four grades. 



The transportation service has been 

 more than satisfactory. In three years, 

 Sayler reports, the pupils were deliv- 

 ered 10 minutes late only once. The 

 school bus collects the pupils in the 

 south half of the district and brings 

 them to school. Then the bus picks up 

 those living in the north half. This 

 arrangement is alternated each month 

 so that no pupil is on the bus more 

 than 45 minutes. 



These satisfactory transportation serv- 

 ices must be credited to the principal, 

 Wendell Keefe, who is bus driver as 

 well as teacher. 



12 



I. A. A. RECORD 



