History from the 1937-38 and 1938-39 yearbooks               

 

History of the School

Fiske Community located seven and one-half miles west of Oak Grove, West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, is a typical rural section. Five years ago there were only three farm homes within a radius of two and one-half miles from the present site of the school. There were no roads and no bridges over the bayous which were deep enough to swim a horse in winter. All transportation had to be done by mule or horse drawn wages and this very dangerous.

The land in this community was owned by big land holders. Most of the valuable timber had been sold and the owners offered the land for sale through a plan which seemed simple. No down payment was necessary and the buyer was allowed ten years in which to pay for the land. Building materials were even furnished by the landowners and the cost added to the land.

Two years later there were found enough families to begin a one room school. Mr. D. B. Fiske, a business man of Oak Grove, who owned a big track of this land , donated three acres of land on a suitable high ridge for a school building and playground. The citizens cut logs, hauled them to a very small saw mill six miles away, had them sawed on halves and then hauled the lumber back. The Superintendent of schools, Mr. 0. E. Huey, secured help to clean a site and erect a crude one room structure. He also furnished sheet iron roofing nails, windows, and doors and dressed pine lumber for ceiling and floors. The building was finished in time to begin school in the session of 1933-34. There was only one teacher to take care of the thirty three pupils in six grades.

By the close of this session, school officials and citizens found necessary to add a second room. The enrollment had leaped to sixty-five pupils. With two teachers they managed for another year but the third year of the school, we found another room and the third teacher being added. The seventh grade was also added. The enrollment had increased to ninety-eight.

When the third teacher was added, a married man was secured. The next problem was -- where would he live? Several days was spent in trying to find a place until all hope was given up. A permit was granted by the superintendent of schools and the school board for him to build on the school property. Two weeks later a place had been cleared and a two roomed house of rough pine was ready for use.

At the beginning of the year 1935-36 a cake walk was given for the school out of which $32.53 was realized. Many things had to be bought with this. The school board would match up to five dollars per teacher for library books, so we added $30.00 worth of books to our library. One pencil sharpener, burlap for bulletin boards, jump ropes, two softballs, an Aladdin lamp, victrola, and curtains for closets were purchased.

About this time, a church was built directly behind the school. Heretofore, an harbor built of brush had been used. The lumber for this was secured in the same fashion as that for the school. The members of the church made boards of oak to cover the building. All of the windows have not been put in the building and the places for them are open. There are no heating facilities; therefore it is impossible to hold services during the winter months. Until August 1936 the only seats were made by using blocks of wood with rough pine plank nailed across the tops. During August the ladies of the community gathered chickens and eggs, carried them to market and sold them for enough to buy dressed lumber to build seats. The men set aside certain days to gather at the church and build these seats. The site for them was also donated by Mr. Fiske.

A great thing happened in the winter of 1935. The state appropriated money for a gravel road connecting this community with an asphalt road leading into Oak Grove. This would mean much to the people and the school. However, it was not graveled until May the last month of school.

On the 22nd day of May was the great event of the year--graduation! The church was secured in which to hold the exercises and decorated with natural leaves and flowers. It made a very spectacular affair. The graduates, all from farm homes, had crisp organdy and lace dresses in pastel shades. Then, there was to be a speaker, the Supervisor of Elementary Schools of West Carroll Parish, Miss Rosa Veal, had been chosen to give the address. The school board member of this ward, Mr. Lucian Castleman, gave the diplomas. This was something new for a rural school. The church having a seating capacity of three hundred would not seat the people. The school victrola furnished music for the march.

For the session of 1936-37 the same principal was employed with two new helpers. Another cake walk was given which netted $27.77. With this money basketball equipment, volleyball and net, two pencil sharpeners, a flag and the necessary ropes and pulley for hoisting were purchased. Pictures were taken of the school children and our commission from the sale of these was used to purchase six framed pictures.

During the Christmas holidays of 1936-1937, Mr. Huey, through the aid of the W.P.A. and W.P.A. worker, ceiled the three rooms of the school building, added new windows, built in additional cloak rooms, painted the inside a buff color, and stained the outside green with white doors and window facings. This made a wonderful change. When Mr. Hopper, State Supervisor of Elementary Schools, visited our school he seemed very pleased and added Fiske School to the approved list Since that time an aerial has been purchased and the principal's radio will be used in the class room.

At present, the N.Y.A. has placed a worker on our campus. Another great change taking place without cost to the school. The children have brought all kinds of flowers which have been planted around the school yard. Redbud trees have been transplanted across the back of the school yard and wisteria around the outhouses. Small stumps on the playground and the fence has been repaired to keep away the outside stock. Plans are being made everyday by which we might add beauty to our playground.

 

History Continued of 1937-38 Session

During the summer of 1937 the fourth room was added to the Fiske School. And when the term opened in September there was an enrollment of 188 pupils with four teachers. This made an average of forty-seven pupils per teacher and seven grades. According to state law this is too many pupils per teacher. Some kind of change had to be made to help the overcrowded condition. There was no money in Ward Three that could be used to build another room onto the Fiske School. There was a vacant room at the Oak Grove School so an extra teacher was hired and the entire sixth grade and enough out of the third grade to make a total of twenty-five pupils that was transferred to Oak Grove School. Mr. Huey promised the people that their children would be returned to their community after the 1937-38 school session.

At the end of the first six weeks after this change was made the first and second grade teacher's had one grade each with over forty pupils per grade. The third and fourth grade teacher had fifty-six pupils and the fifth and seventh grade teacher over forty pupils.

The Fiske School engaged in several activities this year to raise money for athletic equipment and other necessary school supplies. At the close of the second week of school a cake walk was given and money made from this amounted to $33.20. A few weeks later, we were proud to have with us Don Carlos, a famous monkey trainer, who gave a show and we received as our commission $1.85. Later, we held an egg contest which brought us $4.69. $5.63 was made by the third and fourth grades raffling off an angel food cake. Not long afterwards a Stunt Night was given and we made $11.27. Two weeks later, the F.F.A. gave a cake walk at the school and $2.50 was the commission received. $4.10 was received as a commission from pictures sold of the school children. This made a total of $63.20 the Fiske School has made this year.

The money made was spent to buy playground equipment and other useful school improvements. The major things bought were: swings, bulletin boards, 2 basketballs, I volleyball, 6 softballs, I set of basketball goals, I pencil sharpener, curtains for rooms, 3 bats, paint for flower boxes, scrapbook for school, pictures for rooms and magazines.

During this time through the assistance of Miss Willis and N.Y.A. boys the Fiske School playground was cleaned up and redbud trees set out on the yard. This change was valuable to the pupils in that it provided necessary playground space. Both girls and boys had a basketball and softball court We also think it necessary to mention the fact that both the girls and boys basketball and softball teams have made a showing in the parish

this year. The boys were not defeated in any basketball game and only once in softball. This being the first of the softball games. They won first place in both softball and basketball in the Rural Elementary School Ralley held in Oak Grove.

The enrollment has increased each month until the end of the ninth month there was 230 pupils due to come to the Fiske School.

There is a move under way now to consolidate the Fiske and Union School in some desirable location in Ward Four. The Parish Superintendent and School Board have met and a committee has been appointed to decide on the location for the school. However, no conclusion has yet been reached.

 

History of the School Year 1938-1939

Location

In June, 1938, a committee of twelve men from the Union and Fiske communities met to agree on a very decisive question for the pupils and the patrons of the Union and Fiske vicinities. They were to choose a site for the new school as designated by the school board at a central location between the two old schools. The committee found, upon visiting the exact central location, that the land was too low and wet for a school site. The agreed upon the nearest elevation near the old Fiske school, just at the end of the gravel road. The school board purchased this land from E. E. Braswell, procuring enough land to have adequate space for the pupils of the new school.

Funds

From a building fund appropriated in Ward Four by floating bonds the necessary funds for the prospective building were obtained. The State Superintendent of the N.Y.A. gave 10,000 feet of salvage lumber from the CCC Camp near Marion, Louisiana. With this the structure of the building was begun. Since the building would not be completed by September, the lumber was given with the agreement that the useable lumber from the two old buildings be used in the N.Y.A. workshop in this parish.

Work Begun

In the latter part of July work was begun on the building, labor being secured from the local N.Y.A. There have been from sixty-five to seventy men in two shifts working alternately on the building. Mr Floyd Lawton was N.Y.A. Instructor and Foreman. The plans for the new school were drawn by a Mr. Smith, a Monroe architect

Building and Equipment

The blueprint of the proposed building called for a two hundred and forty foot hall with principal's office, a teachers' lounge, two bookrooms, twelve classrooms, and an auditorium-gymnasium combined. A Delco system was to be installed to furnish light and a gasoline pump for the water supply.

Name of School

The school board and Mr. Huey, at a meeting for that purpose, had named the new school Fiske-Union as the two Fiske and Union schools had consolidated.

School Opens

When school opened on September 12, the new building was well under way but in no way completed sufficiently to justify moving into it The pupils gathered at the Fiske and Union schools with wondering eyes that seemed to say, 'Just what are they going to do with us?" In the Fiske school there was an unusually crowded condition with each teacher having two grades and fifty or more pupils to each room. There were ninety children in the first grade -- two teachers working in one room. The enrollment totalled ? In Union School the condition was similar, the enrollment being ninety-one at the opening of school. Both pupils and teachers worked hard under the overcrowded condition, but at Thanksgiving they moved into the big new building. Though the school was not finished there were enough classrooms complete to relieve the overcrowded situation in both schools. When the children walked into their new home, their faces beamed with joy. The seventh grade held classes in the teachers' lounge until their room was finished some time later.

Visitors

On Friday, December 9, 1939, Dr. J. W. Broulette, assistant State Supervisor of Elementary Schools visited the Fiske-Union School. Later on Tuesday, April 25, 1939, Mr. Hopper, the State Supervisor of Elementary Education, while in the parish, visited and observed the classroom teaching in the school. With him were Mr. 0. E. Huey, Superintendent of Schools, West Carroll Parish, Mr. H. M. Thomas, Parish Classroom Supervisor, and the five high principals -- Mr. McBride, Oak Grove, Mr. Willis, Kilbourne, Mr. Almared. Forest, Mr. Brown, Pioneer; and Mr. Gilmore, Epps. All seemed well pleased with the type work seen in the school.

Completion of Building

Finally on May 12, 1939 the building was completed and ready for use. A piano had been purchased for the school with a $30.00 payment to be met On the right of May 22, the pupils were presented in an operetta and stunt program, realizing $15.76 from the small admission fee asked. $23.00 had been raised by selling adds for the programs used. This made a total of $38.76.

First Graduation

On Wednesday night May 24, 1939, the first graduation exercises were held at the Fiske-Union School with Seventh Grade graduates. In the very colorful program the fifth and sixth grades assisted by children from the lower grades gave the graduates a fine "send-off" to their high school careers. After the usual Honor Students had presented their addresses, the new building was dedicated by Mr. A J. Sarri, State N.Y.A. Director, assisted by Supt. 0. E. Huey. Several other N.Y.A. officials were present for the dedication ceremony.

Close of School

On Friday, May 26, this joyous and eventful school year come to a close with an enrollment of 370 pupils. In December the pupils numbered 365; in January and February there were 371; March, 370; April, 361; and had climbed back to 370 in May at the close of school.

Pupils, Patrons, and teachers of this new school hope for a bigger better school year in 1939-1940.