SCHOOLS OF YESTERYEAR
McMillan School
Paris No. 2, Part 3
by Janis Stein

Join in the continuation and learn about the frustration of teachers in the 1920s whose students struggled with learning the basics because they had yet to master the English language.

Paris No. 2, also known as McMillan School was located in Section 21, Paris Township, Huron County. Paris No. 2 stood on the north side of Atwater Road, 10 rods east of MacDonald Road.

Comments written by Mr. Gracey in the 1921-1922 attendance records and grade book included “many students notified by truant officer.” Behind 10-year-old student Nettie Mazure’s name, Mr. Gracey wrote, “bright little girl,” and for seven-year-old Henry Mazure, he wrote, “good boy – doing fine.” Other written notes ranged from “poor English” to “very irregular in attendance.” Some parents transferred their children to St. Mary’s Catholic School in Parisville, and behind those students’ names, Mr. Gracey wrote, “left to attend Polish school.” Other family names documented in the attendance book included: Gornowitz, O’Parka, Lamka, Grifka, Parteka, Danielski, Kubotski, Pintkowski, Wruble, Musialowski, Peruski, Abraham, Lamenski, Briolat and Rutkowski. Teacher T.W. Gracey also wrote the Parteka and Danielski families “live nearly 3 miles from school.”

Mr. T.W. Gracey returned to teach during the 1922-1923 school year, and attendance continued to be an issue. Three children from the Danielski family, ages seven, eight and nine, missed all classes in January and February. According to Mr. Gracey’s attendance notes, the Danielski children did not make it to school because they were “too small and weather too cold to come so far.” New students during the school year came from the following families: Gatza, Gwisdalla, Glaza, Gordzinski and O’Borski. Reasons for missing school documented by Mr. Gracey varied from “small pox” to “their mother being sick,” and Gertrude O’Parka “missed some days when she stepped on a nail.”

Attendance varied from month to month with cold winter weather and the older boys needed on the farm both cited as contributing factors. Following is a listing, by month, of the number of students enrolled and the percentage of students in attendance at McMillan School during the 1922-1923 school year: September, 27 students, 70 percent; October, 49 students, 82 percent; November, 49 students, 98 percent; December, 55 students, 91 percent; January, 52 students, 61 percent; February, 55 students, 74 percent; March, 57 students, 72 percent; April, 57 students, 56 percent; and May, 58 students, 70 percent.

The McMillan school board ensured the children of the district had a clean place to learn the three R’s as well as the necessary supplies to do so. The Treasurer’s receipts show $5 was paid to Lucy Peruski on January 10, 1922, for washing the schoolhouse. The following year, Casimer Peruski earned $10 for painting the schoolhouse, and on March 5, 1923, the board approved payment of $119.39 to Sears Roebuck & Company for new desks and the freight charges incurred to ship them. Likely Mr. Gracey rejoiced at the new maps totaling $35 that the school purchased in March of 1923 from Modern School Supply.

School board minutes dated July 9, 1923, detailed the discussion on the options available for heating the schoolhouse and whether a system upgrade was in order. After discussing varying opinions, “it was voted to buy a new stove for the time being and to delay buying a furnace until the schoolhouse is rebuilt.” (In retrospect, the decision to buy a new stove was a good one, because the schoolhouse was never rebuilt.)

Mr. T.W. Gracey started the 1923-1924 school year with 46 pupils. The Heleski family moved into the district from the Rapson area, and also new to the district was the Ignash family. In his year-end notes, Mr. Gracey stated that 16-year-old Lucy Pieruski graduated and was a “good student.” Other notes not so encouraging about six students ranging in age between 13 and 15 included, “did not attend until threatened by law.” Another note behind one student’s name read, “Don’t know much English.” Frustrated, Mr. Gracey wrote another note next to one girl’s name; she was 11 years old and in the third grade, and the teacher’s note stated, “Didn’t know enough English to write exam. Poor English – parents are mean about sending her.”

Mr. Gracey returned for another two years, earning $130 per month. At the July 14, 1924, board meeting, the officers approved the motion to remove the chimney top and build a new one. On August 11, 1924, John N. Kubacki earned $5.75 for completing the chimney work. In the spring of the new year, payment was made to Bukoski Bros. in the amount of $4.50 for repairing the pump, and the board approved a payment of $4.50 to Reed Drug Store for books and chalk.

At the end of the school year, the teacher made his recommendation as to whether a child should be promoted, but again, Mr. Gracey showed frustration with a note to the school board about one child when he wrote, “English is lacking. Suit yourself where you place her.” And while one of the teacher’s comments about a 12-year-old girl was positive, “best student in school,” another about a 12-year-old boy showed a bit more frustration, “English is deplorable – writing is same. Didn’t pass.”

Mr. Gracey did not recommend a promotion just to pass his students through the system; McMillan students earned their promotions. This is evidenced by the range of age of students in the second grade during the mid-1920s. According to the teacher’s records, second graders were ages seven, 10, 11, 13, and 15.

Language barriers continued to hamper education at McMillan School; if a student couldn’t write in English, he couldn’t take the exam to get promoted. Life’s circumstances also pressured students at an early age. Mr. Gracey wrote, “Mayme Perusky, age 15, did not come back for spring term. Sister died, had to care for infant.” Still another comment about a 13-year-old second grader read, “Good in Arithmetic. Suit yourself where you put him. Took no exam cause didn’t finish spring term. Father in jail. No one to look after home.”

Be sure to look for the continuation next month to learn about the repairs made to the schoolhouse, along with other 1920s expenditures.

For more information about Huron County’s one-room schoolhouses, visit my Web site at www.steinexpressions.com.

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