Friday, August 8, 2008

Hathaway school

In 1914, four acres of land were purchased from George Hathaway and Claude Lambe for $50 to build a school house and consolidate Raymond school and Nubbin Ridge school. The minutes of the School Board read:

BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of Directors of the Public Schools of the Parish of Jefferson Davis, That a school house be built on the South-east corner of the 16th section in Ward three same to be a graded school and this school shall accommodate all the children that belong to the Nubbin Ridge school and all the children above the fifth grade from Raymond and Hathaway Schools.

Raymond school was kept open for children in the 5th Grade and below. Before Hathaway school was created, parents in Raymond had protested the consolidation on the grounds that there were plenty of children needing an education in the Raymond school district and crossing the Grand Marais twice a day was not in the best interest of their children's education. The School Board compromised and allowed the younger children to go to school closer to their homes. The concept of keeping younger children closer to their homes was also the motivation behind the creation of Crochet school in Panchoville, circa 1915.

In 1922, a motion was made before the School Board to study whether a temporary high school at Hathaway was feasible. There were not enough junior high school-age children in the area to keep the school open and high school age children in the area who wanted to continue their education would have to travel to Jennings daily or board in town.

In 1937, all area one-room and two-room school houses would be moved to the current location of Hathaway school.

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