Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
NOTES 1956
April
Sheep at pasture. 03d [64_life_work_general_farm_grounds_sorghum_003d.jpg]
NOTES – 1956 “Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
1953 April
GALLERY
… [T]wo solemn youngsters handed Mrs. Rogers a dime and three pennies. She thought there was some mistake, but they assured her they wanted her to have these, “because you tell stories so good.” This was a real reward after several years as hard working coordinator of the library volunteers….
Community raised $112.00 as part of the cost of dentist visits for the community and the school children.
[Revised mission after consolidation.]
Pine Mountain Settlement School is in a narrow valley in southeastern Kentucky. It is a private organization Christian in motivation, but non-sectarian, which cooperates with the Harlan County Board of Education to bring more than 200 children from seven one-room school districts to a consolidated school, grades one through ten, on the Pine Mountain grounds. The county pays six well-qualified teachers and supplies buses and drivers. [Burton Rogers, Director]
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- NOTES – 1956 April, page 1. [PMSS_notes_1956_apr_001.jpg]
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- NOTES – 1956 April, page 2. [PMSS_notes_1956_apr_002.jpg]
TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1956 April
P. 1
NOTES FROM THE
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL
PINE MOUNTAIN * HARLAN COUNTY * KENTUCKY
April, 1956
This fall as we began the seventh year of our consolidation, we have behind us six years of foundations on which to build. We were fortunate to have all six of last year’s teaching staff with an added person to teach an added grade. Dexter Byrd, a recent Berea graduate, is teaching our newly authorized tenth grade. This means we now have the first two years of high school.
It would be difficult to describe what the children would have had in some of the one-room schools which were closed in order to send them here. In most of these schools, too far from highways or town to attract and hold qualified teachers, schoolhouses had suffered indifference, neglect, and vandalism. They lacked sanitary water supplies and electricity. Virtually no teaching materials besides the text books were in evidence. Play space was rough and inadequate and, saddest of all, in too many instances, was the lack of the enthusiasm and joy which come only from a trained and inspired teacher.
In sharp contrast is the program which has been built by a staff of devoted and well-trained teachers. Besides the lively classroom studies and activities, apparent whenever you step inside the door, many extra opportunities are here.
In October we found the first of the two people we sought to teach vocational subjects and lead recreation, both as part of the school day and in after-school and vacation time. Alvin Boggs, who grew up at nearby Big Laurel and attended Pine…
[Photograph: “A one-room school, replaced by consolidation.”]
[Photograph: “Woodwork shop. Audio-visual room, and four classrooms are in the Draper Building.”
…Mountain School, is a graduate of Huntington College and an ordained minister. He has a strong desire to serve in this valley and is equipped for such service in various ways. He started woodwork for the older boys and opens the shop to adults two nights a week. He has singing with the younger children and various projects in dramatics, as well as playground supervision.
Several women of the staff have taught the older girls basic sewing. Even without the second person, whom we are still seeking, this new field of service is growing.
Volunteers continue to operate the children’s reading room, accessioning and mending books and supervising library periods. After a recent weekly story hour, two solemn youngsters handed Mrs. [Mary] Rogers a dime and three pennies. She thought there was some mistake, but they assured her they wanted her to have these, “because you tell stories so good”! This was a real reward after seven years as hard-working coordinator of the library’s volunteers.
The two high school grades are getting their own reading room ready. Boys are making shelves in the woodwork shop and the girls are helping to paint them. Books retained from our old high school library form the nucleus of the collection.
P. 2
These warm spring days our fields present a peaceful, pastoral appearance where our flock of 93 ewes and their lambs are grazing. The flock, new last spring, is an experiment in suitable projects for a mountain farm but it is hard to look on a baby lamb as a dollars and cents investment. Soon they will be off to market, but now, with their wobbly legs and high-pitched blat, they are both picturesque and entertaining.
In December we were fortunate to have two weeks’ service of a dentist who came with a State Board of Health trailer. Young Dr. Meader worked busily with the children in his improvised office in the Burkham Building and so won them that there was very little reluctance after they got to know him. He was able to do only a small part of the dental work we needed, since poor teeth are our most serious medical problem. It was necessary for the school to pay part of the cost of his coming, so the parents took over and raised $112.00 for this service.
The hospital reaches out to serve an even larger area than our school district. People from a widely scattered rural population avail themselves of its various services. The school children have routine examinations and immunizations as well as service in school-day accidents and emergencies.
Last fall a 27-year-old mother had her ninth child at the Pine Mountain Hospital. Her husband is a hemophiliac and bleeds badly, even from a small cut. Since companies he worked for had to…
[Photograph: “Dr. Scudder examining a school child”]
…pay hospital bills on small injuries, he can no longer [find] employment. They have a small income from state aid.
The young mother was in the second year of high school when she married. Neither she nor her husband finished their education. But their children go to school! The family lived up-creek, far away from a school, but the father, feeling he might have been able to do something besides heavy manual labor, had he had more schooling, traded some things for a small piece of land right opposite their nearest one-room school and built a house on it. He still holds his land up the creek to put in a garden to feed his family.
A REMINDER
Perhaps you remembered the work of Pine Mountain with a gift during the past year. If so, we want to express our gratitude and bring you this account of what your money is doing.
If you have neglected to send your gift, won’t you do so right now? Our needs far exceed our income, especially at this season. You will help to further many important projects with your gift.
_______________________________
Pine Mountain Settlement School is in a narrow valley in southeastern Kentucky. It is a private organization, Christian in motivation, but non-sectarian, which cooperates with the Harlan County Board of Education to bring more than 200 children from 7 one-room school districts to a consolidated school, grades one through ten, on the Pine Mountain grounds. The county pays six well-qualified teachers and supplies buses and drivers.
BURTON ROGERS, Director
Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky
See Also:
ARCHIVE Library Report 1955-1956
EDUCATION Community Cooperative School
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NOTES Index
