Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PMSS Publications (Published by the School)
DEAR FRIEND Letters 1957 April and December
TAGS: Dear Friend letters 1957,flood,minimum foundation law,Burton Rogers,library reading room,parents’ organization,A Christmas Carol production,Ford Foundation grant,sketches by Mary Rogers,medical services,fundraising,changes at PMSS,forestry,farm activities
CONTENTS: Dear Friend Letter April 1957
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky“
Sketch by Mary Rogers: Children heading for the school bus against a mountain background.
“April, 1957“
“As we near the end of the 8th year of the consolidated school at Pine Mountain, we want to share with you some of its progress . . . as well as its problems.” Director Burton Rogers describes the damage done by a flood and expense and effort to make repairs.
“Because of the new minimum foundation law in Kentucky, which provides for fewer pupils per teacher, we were able, with our slightly increased enrollment of 218, to qualify for an additional teacher.” Rogers describes the alterations and expenditures for a new classroom, enabling class size of 28 to 30 pupils instead of 40 or more.
Rogers reports on additional progress, including a library reading room for the ninth and tenth grades across the hall from the younger children’s library; the activities of the parents’ organization which raised money for playground equipment; the production of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” acted by almost 40 parents, children and teachers; medical staff’s around-the-clock services to the community; a Ford Foundation grant used to install a fire alarm system and other safety features; the births of over 100 lambs; and the harvest of ripe timber from “the steep side of Pine Mountain” for PMSS use and for sale to local mills.
Rogers ends with an appeal for donations before PMSS’s books close June 30.
“Gratefully,
[signed] Burton Rogers, Director“
GALLERY
CONTENTS: Dear Friend Letter December 1957
Header: “Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky“
Sketch: A star
“December, 1957“
“At this season we send greetings to our friends whose part in building and developing Pine Mountain has been as important as our who work here.”
Rogers writes about changes at PMSS: Improved roads; replacement of the boarding high school with a new elementary day school (and later addition of the first two years of high school); better housing for teachers; additions of other resources; and maintenance of a hospital and clinic. He describes the change from unprofitable dairying and poultry to sheep and forestry to find the most suitable farm activities for the area.
“Our task is to explore the most urgent and effective form or forms of future service. The school plant must be utilized as effectively as possible, while stimulating and not thwarting the initiative which the country and local community should increasingly exercise.” Rogers describes how the medical service must change and the farm activities must continue. “Other new areas of need must be carefully examined and our responsibility for these weighed. This fresh study and approach are obligatory upon us, as a formerly isolated area emerges rapidly into today’s world and tomorrow’s.”
Rogers ends with an appeal for help, thanks those who have already given; refers to the Pine Mountain Calendar apparently enclosed.
“Gratefully,
Burton Rogers, Director”
Sketch: Two fir trees with mountain background.
GALLERY
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