Does ffie l/n/7 

 D/s/r/c/ M^ori^? 



(Continued from page 17) 



S395.56. The Blake school district is 

 now part of the new Paxton unit dis- 

 trict. 



But with the union of grade and 

 high school under one admistration, 

 more high school programs can be ex- 

 tended downward with very little juris- 

 dictional trouble. The transition, there- 

 fore, from grade to high school will be 

 much smoother for the pupil than it 

 has been in the past. The nurse ex- 

 amines both grade school and high 

 school pupils alike. She visits the out- 

 lying rural grade schools regularly. The 

 physical education instructor does like- 

 wise and helps organize sports pro- 

 grams in the lower grades that were 

 not possible before. Grade school pupils 

 take part in the band work that was 

 formerly limited to high school students. 



To show how the lower grade satellite 

 schools in the country benefit, each has 

 had a remodeling and redecorating job. 

 All have indoor lavatories and tele- 

 phones. If a child takes sick, a call to. 

 the school office in Paxton will bring 

 the school nurse with little loss of time. 

 With a school car she can drive the 

 sick child home in a few minutes. 



By consolidating the school system, 

 these one-room satellite schools also 

 benefit from the fact that a janitor-bus 

 driver can be shared. The Paxton unit 

 is fortunate in having a dependable 

 driver-janitor. Floyd Shunk. who works 

 full time. Out in the country he makes 

 visits to the schools, makes minor re- 

 pairs to schoolhouse and playground 

 equipment, paints, moves furniture, and 

 cleans and polishes floors. In cold 

 weather he banks school fires on Sun- 

 day nights so the schoolroom will be 

 warm for teacher and children on Mon- 

 day morning. Shunk also does light 

 maintenance on school buses. 



You don't have to be an expert on 



left: On* of tho obondonacf one-room schools In the Paxton unit district. Klghts The 

 Half school, one of the one -room schools in the district being used by the first four grodes. 



It has been modernized. 



IROQUOl/s COUNT/ 



LX)Dfl 



CLARENCE 



H"9 



-D— 



FORD COUNT/ 



@ HALL 



COUNT y 



BBEft WITHIN PAXTOM UNIT 

 DISTRICT BUT UNOE* PWTtST 



OOTTW lINtS ml BOROEWNO 

 COUNT y UNLS 



schools to see the improvements. Many 

 in the village of Clarence were opposed 

 to the idea at first of consolidating with 

 the neighboring school districts. They 

 were skeptical about the proposed ad- 

 vantages. When the advantages be- 

 came obvious to the parents of Clarence 

 schoolchildren, they insisted that their 

 children be included too. 



Under the unit district system at Pax- 

 ton farmers have much to say about 

 school policy. Five of the seven school 

 board members are farmers and two 

 others who live in Paxton are owners of 

 farms. 



MS'hat can we conclude from the Pax- 

 ton experiment thus far? In the first 

 place it has the warm endorsement of 

 both students and teachers. Second, it 

 is superior to the former system because 

 it offers, to rural children in particular, 

 a wide range of modern school subjects 



and outside activities. It gives them a 

 better chance to develop character, 

 sportsmanship, and sociability through 

 wider contacts with children of their 

 own age. And it gives the handicapped 

 child a better opportunity to adjust 

 his handicaps and attitudes to everyday 

 life with his classmates. 



Finally, through efficient use of time, 

 teachers, materials, and the school plant, 

 the 12-grade unit at Paxton is able to 

 offer much more at about the same cost. 

 To a tax-conscious public this last point 

 is by no means the least. 



These three points are certain to carry 

 a great deal of weight in the develop- 

 ment of the 12-grade unit district 

 throughout Illinois. Enough, we might 

 say, to predict the eventual elimination 

 of the dual system (grade and high 

 schools separate) of school administra- 

 tion throughout most of the state. 



34 



L A. A. RECORD 



