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Acknowledgement
This work is a reduced version of a larger work on the history of the
district. Many people gave hours of their time to the author as
research sources, editors and typists. Recognition and thanks must
be extended to Charles Little, Layton Vogel, Thomas Hance, Ronald V.
Smith, Edalyn Everett, William Whitehall, Patricia Karner, Elen Uebbing
and Gerry Haff, among others.
Special recognition must be extended to dr. Harry Beck
of S.U.N.Y Geneseo for his professional help and personal encouragement
throughout the project.
Finally, I must recognize the fine resources of the
Castile Historical Society. Our community is indeed fortunate to
have the resources of Mrs. Barnes and the society at our disposal.
Introduction
With the opening of the Donald F. Lockwood
Elementary School, the physical centralization of the Letchworth Central
School District is complete, a process which spanned thirty-five years.
This is an outline of the events and personalities which have shaped the
district as well as the story of management, commitment and sacrifice
that created a single, viable, progressive system of education where
there once stood thirty-seven distinct common and union free school
districts.
The first school of any kind within the boundaries of
the district was built in 1816 about one mile northeast of the present
village of Castile by the people living around the Whaley Tavern. The
log structure had a single room, a dirt floor, two small windows and a
door. The children sat on a small piece of standing timber and
used a higher piece as a writing surface. Mr. Alonzo B, Rose was
the first teacher.
As more settlers arrived in the area, these small
one-room schoolhouses increased in number. By the time the
Letchworth Central school District was organized in 1946, there were
thirty-two of these common school districts and five union free school
districts. A map of the present district showing the locations of
each of these districts and a list of the district names is included in
appendix A.
In 1812 the state education system was organized based
on local taxation, state aid based on the census and the division of
townships into school districts. Unsalaried county school boards
were created in 1839, but were soon replaced by county deputy
superintendents assisted by town superintendents. It is notable
that A. S. Stevens of Attica, who served as the first Wyoming County
superintendent, should be credited with calling the first county wide
education conference in the history of New York State. Held in
October, 1843 in the village of Wethersfield springs, the conference was
attended by each of the town superintendents and some seventy-five
teachers. The "teacher institute" was hailed as an important
innovation throughout the state. Colonel S. Young, New York State
superintendent of schools, congratulated Stevens on his initiative and
urged other counties to take the lead of Wyoming and establish
institutes of their own.
As population centers within the townships of the
present district began to form, the need for secondary education became
apparent. On November 11, 1854, Miss Mariet Hardy and Miss Cynthia
Eldridge opened the Gainesville Seminary
with an enrollment of one hundred and sixty-four students. The
ladies had the building constructed entirely at their own expense and
were almost ruined when the structure burned in 1861. However, the
townspeople rallied to their aid by contributing half of the rebuilding
cost and the seminary was reopened with a student population of three
hundred, the majority of whom were boarders. In 1892 the seminary
was closed due to declining enrollment, and the community formed the
Gainesville Union Free school District with Silas C. Strivings as
principal. (It is noteworthy that Strivings' grandson, also Silas
Strivings, has just retired after 26 years of teaching service to the
district.) Easily the most eminent product of the Gainesville
system was the scholar David Starr Jordon who later became president of
Stanford University. The beautiful mosaic on the present school's
north side is, in fact, a collection of symbols representing Jordon's
life. Architect John Erlich spent many hours of careful research
in designing this striking feature of the 1966 addition.
Other villages progressed at varying rates.
Castile formed the first union free school district in the present
district in 1864, and was later recognized as the eighty-first public
high school in New York State. On May 6, 1925, the community
approved a twenty-five thousand dollar expenditure for the building of
the present Castile school. In 1936, eighty-five thousand dollars
were expended to provide a new wing to that building.
The people of Bliss organized their union free district
in 1917. Classes were held in the local Grange Hall until the
present building was opened in 1921. Harold J. Harrison was
engaged as the school's first principal. Mr. Harrison taught a
full schedule of classes, acted as principal and coached all the
athletic teams. In the years to come, H. J. Harrison was to become
the primary personality behind the centralization of the Letchworth
Central School District. Meanwhile, the people of Silver Springs
had organized their union free district and on January 4, 1928 voted to
build their present building at a cost not to exceed ninety-five
thousand dollars.
Perhaps the key school district in terms of
centralization was Pike. In the early nineteenth century Pike was
a promising new community located in the tiny Wiscoy Valley. In
1856 the Genesee conference of Methodist Churches founded the Pike
Seminary. With state aid of thirty-four hundred dollars, a large
wooden school building was erected. The first academic year, under
the direction of Reverend Zenus Hurd, saw two hundred and forty-eight
students enrolled an five teachers employed.
Unfortunately, the railroads bypased Pike, and while
other communities grew, Pike became smaller. The number of
qualified Methodists to serve on the school board decreased rapidly and
on July 23, 1859 control of the school passed to a group of Free will
Baptists. Despite continued declines in enrollment, the Pike
Seminary survived by serving as a normal school for teacher training.
However financial difficulties eventually became overwhelming and in
1903 the Pike seminary transferred all funds to the Pike District #8
school and became the Pike Seminary Union Free School under Principal
John T. McGurren. It should be noted that McGurren later served as
a Wyoming County superintendent of schools. On December 4, 1904
the seminary building burned, but by a determined community effort, was
replaced in exactly a year and a day.
For the next forty-two years, the arrangement in Pike,
Castile, Bliss, Silver Springs and Gainesville was about the same.
Elementary age children who lived in the countryside were educated in
small common school districts, while those who lived in the village
proper received their elementary education in the Union Free Schools.
Those who wanted to continue their education into high school did so
through the five Union Free Schools.
The Centralization Process
By 1945, the Board of Regents was strongly
advocating central education in rural areas. The Rapp Commission
had proposed district boundaries and a state aid formula highly
advantageous to central districts. H. J. Harrison, who had been
appointed by the State Education Department as a county superintendent
had apparently recognized the inevitability of centralization long
before the Rapp Commission had concluded its study. Throughout the
war, and especially immediately after the war, Harrison conducted what
appears to be a systematic crusade to create public opinion favorable to
centralization. Displaying a special ability to recognize
influence, Harrison engaged individuals, who he perceived as community
leaders, in frequent conversations concerning the merits of
centralization. These were all conducted in an informal and casual
manner. Using these individual conversations as a basis of
support, Harrison then moved to address church and civic groups on an
informational basis, and by the end of 1945, he had held such meetings
with each of the union free school boards.
Of course Harrison's background was one of solid
commitment to rural area education. Born in Springville, New York on
Christmas day in 1892, he was himself a product of a small rural school
system. Upon graduation from normal school, hebegan a career as a rural
school teacher which eventually brought him to Bliss as principal and
ultimately a Wyoming County Superintendency. As superintendent, Harrison
displayed an uncommon devotion to duty, taking an active role in the
affairs of every school house in his district. Indeed, his
contemporaries agree that there was not a single teacher in the entire
district whose work was not familiar to H. J. Harrison. Throughout his
tenure as superintendent, he made it a regular practice to attend as
many union free and even common school board meetings as possible. He
was popular with the various board members, and his mastery of facts and
reputation for honesty and frankness made him a man of considerable
influence. By the end of 1945, Harrison had utilized that influence to
develop strong public sentiment for centralization.
On January 3, 1946, an unofficial meeting of all board
members and principals was held at Pike. The purpose of the meeting was
two-fold; to instruct local boards as to the mechanics of centralization
and to settle still existing fears, especially from Bliss and Pike
residents. A number of "gentlemen's agreements" arose from the latter
function that had a far reaching effect on the district. The local board
members privately agreed that each of the villages should be represented
on the central board, that village elementary schools should remain open
and that the future site for a junior-senior high school would not
benefit Castile and Silver Springs.
Two weeks later, the Castile Union Free School District
held the first formal centralization meeting. Chaired by local board
president A. F. McTarnaghan and Castile Principal Layton Vogel, the
meeting was notably uncontroversial, a tribute to the groundwork laid by
Harrison. After receiving the proposed area of the new district and
listening to Harrison's convincing presentation the sixty citizens at
the meeting unanimously passed the following resolutions:
"We the people of Castile Union Free School District,
present, hereby wish to give our approval to the area included withing
(sic) the lines drawn on the Rapp Commission Map for the future use of
the said area if and when they desire a centralized school district. We
also direct our Board of Education to cooperate with the trustees and
Boards of Education of this area to that end."
The people also unanimously passed resolutions
promising not to enter into private agreements for a site selection with
any other district and to keep the union free buildings open for
elementary purposes. The three resolutions were sent with a cover letter
to local assemblyman Harold C. Ostertag and Chairman Herbert A, Rapp.
The cover letter accompanying the documents ended with the following
statement: "We are expressing our desire for immediate centralization."
The second and third resolutions offered by Castile
that evening were actually an expression of the most obvious problem of
the Letchworth Central School District and two of that problem's
components. Before centralization, the various schools of the district
were not cooperative entities, but bitter rivals. The most important
athletic contests of the season were those that pitted the local schools
against each other. There was a special fear among the more rural and
western areas of Pike and Bliss that Castile and Silver Springs, which
were more populous than the rest of the district would cooperate on the
site selection. A site between Castile and Silver Springs would be as
much as fifteen miles from the outlying parts of Bliss and as much as
twelve miles from the outer fringes of Pike.
The third resolution was a more common concern among
all of the union free boards. Although they were willing to send their
older children on a bus ride to a centralized school, they were not
inclined to see their little ones transported out of the village. This
was especially true of the people of Bliss whose isolated position
within the new district destined them to be at least ten miles from the
central school.
Despite their problems, the communities of Bliss and
Pike had a great deal to gain from centralization. Bliss was overcrowded
with kindergarten classes held in the basement. Indeed, music teacher
Fred Pearce found himself conducting lessons under the stairwell! The
real catalyst to centralization, though, did not come from the
initiative of Castile nor the needs of Bliss. On February 19, 1946 the
Pike Seminary High School burned to the ground. No one could expect the
people of Pike to build a new school when centralization seemed
inevitable.
One should not assume, however, that the people of the
Letchworth Central School District consented to centralization because
they had tc. The vast majority of the people made their decision, not
merely on physical and financial considerations, but in order to provide
for the educational needs of the students of the district. Obviously the
fire at pike quelled some opposition, but the people of the district
should net be indicted as a group grudgingly led to progress by a quirk
of fate.
On June 28, 1946, after due notice, a meeting of the
voters was held at the Gainesville town hall. John Hickey, who was
president of the Gainesville Board of Education, was elected chairman of
the meeting. The following resolution was presented to the voters of the
district for their consideration:
"Resolved: That Central School District #1 of the towns of
Castile, Eagle, Gainesville, Pike, Wethersfield, Genesee Falls and
Warsaw, Wyoming County, Centerville and Hume, Allegany County and Mount
Morris, Livingston County as described in the order of the Commission of
Education now before this meeting, be organized and a central school for
instruction in elementary or elementary and high school subjects be
established."
By the resounding vote of five hundred and twenty-nine
for and eighty-five against with two spoiled ballots, the people
approved the resolution. The expenditure of $186,121.92 was approved as
an operating budget and in accord with the gentlemen's agreement worked
out at Pike in January, the first organizational meeting of the school
board was held. John Mickey was elected president by a vote of six to
five. Charles Little, Principal at Bliss and later to become the key
figure at Letchworth Central School for two decades, was appointed
acting clerk. Other principals included George Brown from Silver
Springs, who would later become Superintendent of Schools for the city
of Gary, Indiana, Layton Vogel from Castile, Helena Bannister from
Gainesville and Earle Wadsworth from Bliss. The initial board consisted
of Thomas C. Hance and Floyd Lindsay from Castile, Merritt Broughton
from Silver Springs, Leon Wilcox and Germaine Van Slyke from Pike, Dr.
Floyd James and Kenneth Roberts from Bliss and David Mote from
Gainesville. H. J. Harrison, the architect of the entire scheme, was
also present.
Mrs. Fred Barnes was asked to head a committee to
select a name for the new district. At the first annual district
meeting, oh August 27, 1946, the name Letchworth Central School, in
honor of the local philanthropist and conservationist William Pryor
Letchworth was chosen as the official district name, with 87 votes.
Other names considered were Wiscoy Valley Central, Memorial Central,
Mary Jemison Central, Gainesville Central, Genesee Valle Central,
Forward Central and Wyoming Valley Central.
The Site
On February 17, 1947, the board voted to
invite a representative of the State Education Department Building and
Grounds Department to meet with the board. This initiated a process in
which sectionalism was to become the dominant issue. None of the
buildings available in 1946 was nearly large enough to serve as a
central school in itself. The village school buildings therefore
remained in operation for grades kindergarten thru twelve with
additional school houses being maintained at Lament and Hermitage. The
former Kingsley school house in Castile was utilized as a central office
and a meeting place for the Board of Education. H. J. Harrison
maintained his office within this building as well. The situation was an
administrative and educational nightmare demanding a building program.
In response to a request of the board. The State
Education Depart ment assigned Mr. Carl Payne who, beginning on April
14, 1947, became the advisor to the building project. The State
Education Department had devised a measuring instrument known as the
"School Site Scorecard." It allowed the board to consider such variables
as drainage, student .population center, site preparation and other
important factors in evaluating prospective sites. Payne instructed the
board as to the use of the "School Site Scorecard" and the board was
very adamant in its application. It was in this selection process that
the leadership of Thomas C. Hance was paramount.
T. C. Hance is a man of varied experience, still alive
and functioning as of this writing, at eighty-six years of age. Hance
first became interested in local school affairs when he replaced Dr. W.
B. Bartlett on the Castile Board of Education in 19 35. By that time,
Hance, at 39 years of age, was a man of confidence and accomplishment.
He had served in France and Germany in World War I, graduated as a civil
engineer from Union College, and worked in the wilds of the state of
Wyoming. in 1929 he was hired by the State of New York as an engineer at
Letchworth State Park. He later became the General Superintendent of the
Civilian Conservation Corps at both Letchworth and Hamlin State Parks.
Hance was a man of integrity and persuasion. He had
been involved in centralization from the beginning and had long ago
agreed that the building site should favor no single village and should
be as close to the center of student population as possible. He also saw
the special role of agricultural education in the district and was
particularly insistent that the proposed site be conducive to that
end. Of course, T. C. Hance was not a man to wait for a site fitting
this criteria to be proposed. Hance went out and found his own site, He
drew a two mile radius around the center of student population and began
looking for a site that was beyond the walking distance of any single
village, large enough to conduct extensive agricultural education
programs and suitable enough to score highly on the "School Site
Scorecard." He finally settled on the one hundred and seventy-two acre
Burton Smith Farm. (See map in appendix A)
On May 3, 1948 the board voted to buy options on four
sites at fifty dollars each. Each of the sites would be subjected to the
criteria of measurement established by the "School Site Scorecard" under
the supervision of Building and Grounds architect Frank C. Gilsen.
However there were those who felt that the options were not wide enough.
Seven days later, the board read a letter from the Silver Springs Civics
Club, an organization of leading Silver Springs resident: committed to
the future of their village. The Civics Club wished to suggest its own
site - the John Blaszak farm. The Blaszak farm, they argued, was merely
a mile from the Smith site, but directly accessible to village water and
generally a better site. Hance immediately saw this proposition as an
attempt by Silver Springs to establish itself in a position of dominance
within the district. The Blaszak site was less than a mile from the
village limits, allowing some Silver Springs children to walk to school.
Furthermore, he could see the eventuality of homeowners closing that gap
by building between the school and the village makinq the school an
extension of the village. The site would further compound the problems
of sectionalism by alienating residents of Pike and Bliss. He was
convinced that the future of the district lay in the selection of a
geographically central site and devoted a great deal of his efforts over
the next two months to that end.
Hance faced two formidable obstacles. The first was
that the board members themselves had differing views as to the best
site location. John Hickey favored a site only one-half of a mile from
Gainesville. There were two sites proposed in Lamont. The Smith site,
though the largest, was, at twenty thousand dollars, twice as expensive
as any other sites being formally considered by the board and five
thousand more than the Blaszak site. But as an engineer, Hance had not
carelessly chosen his site. He had a working understanding of the
"School Site Scorecard" and realized that the only competitive site on
that basis was the Gainesville site proposed by Hickey. As that site
gave special advantage to Gainesville, it was easily defeated. The
Blaszak site, though, presented special problems. Almost unanimously
supported in Silver Springs, the site was also popular in Castile, as it
was two miles closer than the Smith site. The Silver Springs Civics Club
was well organized and fully determined to prevail.
Hance recognized that the greatest engineering weakness
of the Blaszak site was that it was located on a hill, thus incurring
high development costs. To that end, he had the board request a
professional estimate on site development. The board secured the
services of a professional engineer, Mr. George Wellmore, to document
what Hance already knew, that Blaszak hill would be an expensive site to
develop.
On July 29, 1948 two separate documents were published
in the Letchworth Central School District. The first was entitled
"Selection of a Site for Letchworth Central School" and it was
distributed by the Board of Education. It contained the rationale and
defense of the Smith site and the resolution which the voters would
consider. The second document was of a notably less objective nature and
it was published, by the Silver Springs Civics Club. It was entitled "Is
This America or Red Russia?" In addition to condemning the Smith site
and expounding the virtues of the Blaszak farm, the Civics Club
contended that:
"The Cat is out of the Bag! We are soon to be asked to close these
(local) Buildings and send all the children to a single school located
on the potato flats of the East Koy!"
These two documents, both well read throughout the
district, served to heighten public interest in the controversy. On
August 20, 1948, 1286 citizens voted on a site for a Letchworth Central
School Building. The polls closed at 9:00 P.M. and a large group of
people waited at the Gainesville Village Hall to hear the results, which
were not tabulated until 10:00 P.M. The results proved crucial to the
future of the building program. Although the site was approved by a vote
of 697-588, 45.7% of the voters were unhappy. A significant number of
these people would not get over their bitterness for years to come, a
bitterness that could be displayed by a negative vote on any proposition
to put a building on the Smith site.
The Junior-Senior High
School
On March 28, 1949, the Board of Education
chose to award the architectural contract for the central school
building to John C. Erlich of Geneva, New York. Erlich was considered to
be a superior architect with an impressive record of central school
designs. The greater task, however, would not be the designing of a
building, but the designing of the conditions which would allow the
passage of the necessary bond issue.
To a great extent, the Board's battle for a central school building had
three distinct fronts. The first was against the bitterness of the
opponents of the Smith site. There was no real organized opposition
against the building, but there was among an alarmingly large number of
people a feeling of alienation from the central district. Those who had
fought the board and lost had acquired an "us and them" attitude toward
the board. It is doubtful that many would vote in favor of any building
program.
The second front was, of course, inflation. When the
board first inquired into building costs, on September 27, 1948, they
received an estimate of $ .725 per cubic foot. By the time Erlich began
his preliminary plans, eight months later, that cost had shot to $ .80
per cubic foot. People were also aware that the inflation which followed
World War I had been temporary, and there was a widespread belief that
if the district were patient, prices would surely drop.
The third front was the staggering size of the
construction cost. The first building proposed would cost $1,675,000.
The Silver Springs Civics Club had criticized the Smith site as a poor
place for putting a building that may cost "upwards of a half a million
dollars!" The idea of $1,675,000 to be spent on anything in the district
was staggering, and eventually unacceptable. The assessed tax value of
the entire district was $7,337,395. People simply could not imagine
spending almost twenty-three per cent of their total tax value on a
school house!
To complicate matters, a simple majority vote would not
pass the issue. New York law required a two-third plurality any time a
bond issue exceeded ten per cent of the tax base. If the task of getting
such a large bond issue through seems insurmountable in retrospect, it
may not have seemed so at the time. School budget votes were passed
almost unanimously through 1951. The Board of Education, whose members
represented every section of the district, demonstrated a tremendous
sense of unity on matters concerning both the building program and the
dissolution of old common school houses. It should be noted that the
engineer of this unity was President John Hickey. Adopting Henry Clay as
a personal hero, Hickey saw his role as that of compromiser. His quiet,
personal leadership was largely responsible for the board's ability to
consistently see above local issues and adopt a district wide viewpoint.
Mr. Ray Whitter was hired as Supervising Principal on
July 29, 1949 and given the difficult task of unifying the large central
district and rallying it around the building project. H. J. Harrison,
though still county Superintendent of Schools, was not to play the key
role of compromiser and persuader that he had in the centralization
process, Now approaching sixty, Harrison was experiencing continually
failing health, a condition his contemporaries agree was the result of
the unceasing effort he gave to his profession. Whitter's strength lay
in his charismatic leadership qualities and superior speaking and
writing skills. He prepared an elaborate brochure outlining the proposed
building, defending its need, and arguing for its financial soundness.
The building itself was one of the most educationally and technically
advanced being considered in Western New York at that time. It was a
stainless steel and masonry structure containing all of the facilities a
large central school should have -There was a large auditorium and gym,
fully equipped agricultural and industrial area, eight elementary
classrooms in addition to junior-senior high school rooms, and a central
kitchen serving separate elementary and secondary cafeterias. The
building contained a recording area, team locker rooms, ample office
space, an outdoor paved area for dances and concerts, complete
homemaking, art and music facilities and a large library. Future areas
were designated for additional elementary rooms and an elementary
library, two bowling alleys and a pool. In short, it was the answer to
the total centralization process of Letchworth Central School.
Certainly the board could expect passage. There was no
organized opposition and the board felt that it was presenting a find
building sorely needed by the district. As T. C. Hance emerged from the
voting booth on December 4, 1950, he was confident. He told Edalyn
Everett, who was to later serve as elementary principal, that this day
would mark the completion of the centralization of the district. He was
wrong. The voters voted 792-688 against the building. The issue was
crushed, almost three hundred short of the 986 votes it would need to
constitute a two-thirds majority.
Reasons for voter rejection are numerous and varied and
require analysis. Though the overall cost was a factor, it does not seem
to be the only reason for the building's failure Due to a very favorable
state aid plan and some savings in shared costs, assessment levels had
dropped sharply at the time of centralization from an average of about
S19 per thousand to just over $10 per thousand. The building would have
resulted in an average assessment of about $17 per thousand, still $2
below pre-centralization levels. Contemporaries agree that the cost
factor alone cannot be viewed as the cause of the bond rejection.
There were still many unwilling to accept the Smith s
ite as the location for the central district and this was probably the
most critical factor in the resolution's defeat. Other voters were
unhappy with the notion of bussing elementary children out of the
villages. Still others were skeptical concerning the building design.
Many questioned the decision to build a single story structure while
wondering about the wisdom of using stainless steel as an outdoor
construction material.
Whatever combination of factors defeated the building,
the board felt compelled to offer the voters another bond issue as soon
as possible. They ordered Erlich to prepare another design eliminating
the auditorium and the elementary area. They also had him use brick and
masonry instead of stainless steel. However, if cost was the key, the
board was almost without hope. Inflation was one of the great national
issues of 1951 and was especially high in construction. The result was
that the board was forced to ask the voters to approve a smaller, more
poorly equipped building for a price substantially above the one they
had turned down. On June 29, 1951, the voters rejected a second bond
issue of $1,900,000
The following year the board voted not to offer
Supervising Principal Witter tenure at Letchworth Central School. To
some small degree, this may have been a result of the district's stalled
building program. Most board members, however, insisted that Witter did
not offer the central district the varied administrative background that
the board felt was needed to lead the district into the 50 's. Whatever
the cause of Ray Witter's forced resignation, his contributions were
significant and far-reaching. He must be given credit, along with
Coaches Smith and Lockwood, for building Letch-worth's interscholastic
sports program despite the overwhelming transportation problems. Of
course, this was a pleasurable task for Ray Witter. He was a standout as
a collegiate football player and later was a member of the old Pittsburg
Steelers. In 1950, using some discarded equipment from Alfred
University, he brought football to Letchworth.
Witter should also be credited with the breakdown of
many of the sectional barriers which existed within the district. Such
things as a common class ring, district wide assembly programs and, of
course, interscholastic sports did much to create a feeling of unity
among the once bitter rural villages.
In Castile, where Witter lived, his departure was
loudly protested by parents and students alike. On May 28, 1952, over
two hundred people staged a demonstration march in downtown Castile in
support of Witter and gym teacher John Clark, who was also refused
tenure. Witter himself was not happy with his forced resignation and
delivered a stinging address at the 1952 commencement exercises.
By the fall of 1952, the Letchworth Central School
District was not in a promising state of affairs. The building needs of
the district remained abundantly clear, yet they continued to be
hampered by animosity over the site selection and endangered by the
continuous inflation plaguing the construction industry. The Board of
Education was now facing discontent in Castile, having forced the
resignation of a popular supervising principal. A citizens' committee,
set up by Witter after the second defeat of the bond issue, decided its
first business would be to investigate the possibilities of
decentralization.
However, the district eventually went on to maturity.
Educational opportunity at Letchworth Central School District progressed
to parity with other districts not burdened by Letchworth's critical
sectional problems. To be sure, a loyal faculty, able board members and
committed citizens are all to be congratulated. But the force most
notable in establishing order and progression was the personal
leadership of the district's new supervising principal, Mr. Charles
Little, a 1936 graduate of Michigan State University. After nine years
of teaching science at Arcade High School, he accepted the principalship
of the Bliss Branch of Letchworth Central School. During his six years
at Bliss, Little demonstrated a remarkable blend of ability and
unceasing effort. He is credited with supervising an effective,
progressive educational system in often inadequate facilities.
Of course the most pressing problem facing the new
supervising principal was the need for a junior-senior high school
building. Bliss was so overcrowded that space had to be rented to house
some pupils. Programs in agriculture, industrial arts and homemaking
were severely hampered by the general lack of cohesion and in some
instances these programs were non-existent. On August 17, 1951, at the
annual district meeting, a citizens' committee was formed to advise the
Board of Education. It was to act as a liaison between the community and
the board and especially collect input concerning the building program.
Mr. Avery DeGolyer of Castile was elected the committee's chairman.
Obviously the committee's task was formidable. As
pointed out earlier, the committee's first action was to investigate
decentralization, an option they rejected when they learned that any
area withdrawing from a central district was liable to the district for
any money spent in that area since centralization. Both Little and
DeGolyer, however, recognized the potential influence of a united,
working citizens' committee. The members of the committee were community
leaders of some influence. More significantly, some were individuals who
had traditionally voiced opposition to the building projects.
The committee's first positive action was to collect
information through a district wide questionnaire. To no one's surprise,
they found that the single critical issue remained the site selection.
Of 1601 questionnaires returned, 684 voiced a continued opposition to
the site. However, opponents must have taken note that a solid 917
re-affirmed their support for the site. Certainly this contributed to
the acceptance of the Smith site.
The involvement of the citizens' committee was not the
only force now acting upon the building program. On March 19, 1951,
Harry Gilson, Associate Commissioner of Education, directed all junior
high schools to provide satisfactory programs in science, music, art,
homemaking and industrial arts by September 1, 1956, or lose state aid
for the junior high school pupils, By the end of 1952, the threat posed
by this directive was beginning to be perceived as increasingly serious
by some members of the school community.
Throughout the fall of 1952, Little, the board and the
citizens' committee prepared for another bond vote. John Hickey, who
resigned from the board presidency during the summer of 1953, was
succeeded by Paul Shaffner, a Bliss resident who owned a commercial
printing company in Buffalo. Shaffner quickly became a driving force for
progressive programs in the Letchworth District. Articulate and
aggressive , Shaffner ordinarily stayed in Buffalo during the week and
came home to Bliss only on weekends. As President, Shaffner commuted to
countless meetings, often in inclement weather, to perform his duties.
On January 31, 1953, the voters were asked to vote on a
$1,680,000 bond issue for the construction of a new building and some
improvements to existing facilities. The building reflected the desires
of the community as surmised by the citizens' committee. It was to be a
two story structure of standard brick and masonry construction, housing
only grades seven through twelve. It included all of the standard
features of a junior-senior high school, including a six hundred seat
auditorium. To the dismay of all who had worked so hard, the bond issue
was narrowly defeated. Needing 820 of the 1,245 votes cast to reach the
two-thirds margin required by law, the issue fell short by 57 votes.
However, the board saw potential for victory. It decided to intensify
its public relations efforts and resubmit the issue to the voters on
February 28, 1953. Unfortunately the issue was defeated on this date by
a slightly larger margin.
On March 9, 1953, the board took the decisive action
that would result in a junior-senior high school building. They
instructed Charles Little to inquire of the State Education Department
the maximum bond issue the voters of the district could pass with a
simple majority vote. When that information was furnished, Erlich was
instructed to plan a building that would fall within the SI-3 million
bond issue as outlined by the State Education Department.
The arguments supporting Erlich's new design were
overwhelming. The bond issue called for a tax increase of only two
dollars per thousand, more than fifty per cent less than the four
dollars and twenty-five cents called for in the previous design. In
addition, the Gilsen directive, if not met, would cost local taxpayers
almost one dollar and fifty cents per thousand in lost state aid. The
building, compared to the original proposal, was spartan. Only the
perceived basic requirements of junior-senior high school were included
in the plan. The auditorium was eliminated, and other construction costs
were cut producing a bond issue of $1,270,000; S410,000 less than its
predecessor. It should be noted that $100,000 of that earlier bond
issue, which had been slated for improvements to existing schools, was
not included in the later issue. Given the strength of the arguments
supporting the building, the voters passed the bond issue be a vote of
886-479.
The Letchworth Central School, junior-senior high
school, remains a tribute to the superior architectural skills of John
Erlich. Despite limited funds, the lobby boasts the richness of marble
on both the floors and walls. All of the original corridor floors are
marble as well. Physical education, shop and agriculture classes are set
well apart from the academic areas, creating an ideal educational
setting.
It is unfortunate that the auditorium in the original
design was never to be. The board re-submitted it to the voters with the
site development plans, but it was easily defeated.
It is especially sad that Harold J. Harrison did not live to see the
completion of the building. He died on March 8, 1954 of heart failure.
His had been the most critical contributions in the birth of the
district. In recognition of his lifetime of dedication, the board
approved an expenditure of seven hundred dollars for a bronze plaque
bearing his likeness and the district's words of tribute. It still hangs
in the junior-senior high school library. From the perspective of the
historian, it is clear that Harold J. Harrison was the father of the
district.
The Addition
Throughout the late 1950's and early 1960's
the district progressed without unusual incident. Charles Little proved
to be a highly capable and effective administrator. His devotion to duty
may be illustrated by a friendly battle he waged with the Board of
Education. On June 8, 19 56, the board voted Little a raise and inserted
into the motion the following: "it is desirous of the board that Mr.
Little take a two week vacation." Apparently the board was not
satisfied with Little's response to this request and on Apri1 14, 1958,
when the board gave him his annual raise they required him to take a two
week vacation. Now Little was always known to carry out board policy,
but in this regard he may have been guilty of insubordination, for on
April 24, 1961, the board voted Little a $400 raise with the stipulation
that $200 be refunded back to the district if he did not take a two week
vacation. Though he maintains that he took at least that man days off
throughout the year, T. C. Hance doubts if Little took that many days
off throughout his twenty-five years.
The fact is that Little gave most of his working life
to Letchworth Central School. He built his home across the street from
the junior-senior high school. On snowy days he would be out at 5:00
A.M. to personally inspect road conditions throughout the district. He
was always at his desk by 8:00 A.M. and never left before 5:00 P.M. He
made it his business to attend every official function of the school,
whether it be a school board meeting, a high school dance, or a sporting
event. An amateur photographer of some ability, he even took the
yearbook pictures.
Little's intense devotion and formidable abilities
produced an era of good feeling within the school and the community. The
sectionalism which had threatened the district earlier was greatly
diminished. The faculty sensed his genuine commitment to education and
looked to him as a leader instead of a threat.
Curriculum development especially flourished under
Little's leadership. With the exceptional administrative assistance of
High School Principal Layton Vogel, Elementary Supervisor Edalyn Everett
and a dedicated faculty, Letchworth progressed from a chaotic collection
of village school houses to a system that offered a progressive, quality
educational experience to its students.
If Little is to be remembered for any single
accomplishment, however, it is for devising a sorely needed building
program that left the district in a state of considerable wealth. By 196
3, the student population of Letchworth Central School had risen
sharply. The junior-senior high school, which housed 476 students in
1955 was accommodating 672 regular students and 711 students when the
children of migrant farmworkers were in attendance. The capacity of the
building was 585. Elementary education at Gainesville, Lamont, Hermitage
and Pike had long been impractical due to poor facilities and limited
enrollment. Little was always aware that the 1954 building was
inadequate to meet the district's needs. It was, however, abundantly
clear that the voters were not anxious to commit themselves to lengthy
debt service. Little, therefore, suggested to the board to build a large
fund balance into the budget each year beginning in 1956. It is a
tribute to both the board and the community that they could exercise
such farsightedness and accept Little's controversial proposal. 3y 1963,
this fund was in excess of $237,000.
In the fall of 1964, John Erlich began preliminary sketch of an addition
to the junior-senior high school. The final plans called for classrooms
capable of housing all of the Gainesville, Hermitage, Pike and Lamont
elementary children, all of the district's sixth grade, additional
secondary classrooms , a large cafeteria, a lecture room and a pool.
Given the history of the building program, the chances of the district
supporting a luxury addition costing almost as much as the entire
junior-senior high school may have seemed remote. However, on January
18, 1964, the bond issue was passed by a wide margin.
Little's success was in his unique approach to the
financing of the building. He was aware that the state would aid
building programs at 77% of the cost with aid payment occurring the year
following expenditure. With this in mind, he proposed funding the
building through one-year capital notes instead of through a multi-year
bond issue. Basically the plan had three components:
1) Pay all preliminary fees, about
552,000, with funds from the building fund balance.
2) Borrow the rest of the
construction costs, $1,098,000 on capital notes
in the school year 1964-1965.
3) Repay the notes in the school year
1965-1966 as follows:
a) state aid of 77%
on the notes and interest $872,363
b) state aid of 75%
on preliminary fees........ 39,000
c) remaining
balance of building fund.........
185,000
d) interest earned
on building fund............
10,000
e) local tax
levy..............................
25,825
Total 1,132,940
Therefore Little and the Board were able to offer the
community a first rate building with an almost negligible tax increase
that would be completely paid for in a single year, saving thousands in
interest. But the good news was just beginning.
The 1966 session of the state legislature passed a
state aid formula with a very special advantage to Letchworth Central
School. Frequently the legislature inserts a "save harmless" clause into
the state aid package insuring that no school district will receive less
aid than they did the previous year. In the history of New York State,
Letchworth was the first central district to ever pay for a large
building program in a single year, thus receiving all of the state aid
the following year. But the legislature did not take this into account
when devising their state aid package. The result was that there was no
special provision covering the $908,333 additional aid paid on the
building program. Thus that amount was again paid to the district during
1966-1967. By 1967, Letchworth Central School had a fund balance in
excess of one million dollars!
Little himself sees this as "more the result of good
luck than good management." However, the facts clearly show that it was
Little's good management and a progressive, farsighted Board of
Education that put the district in the position to reap the good luck.
As his personal specialty was school law, Little realized the potential
for double payment well before the bond issue was approved. As soon as
the Governor signed the 1966 school aid package again containing the
"save-harmless" feature, he went to work to make sure the letter of the
law was followed allowing Letchworth to receive the double payment.
Throughout this process, Little enjoyed the strong
support of the Board of Education. Paul Shaffner's driving leadership
gave way to the quietly effective Howard Sattler. An electrical
engineer, Sattler was influential in rallying the board around the large
building fund which Little sought to put into the budget. Sattler was
succeeded by Urlin Broughton, a Lamont area farmer whose special ability
to draw out the best efforts of those under him, further united the
board.
And so the district was left with the enviable problem
of what to do with an extra million dollars! Actually there were few
options open to the district as to how the money could be spent. The
State Department of Education would not permit the district to maintain
so large a fund balance. Though the money could have been used to
continue the building program and construct an auditorium and expand the
elementary area, there was very little support for any further building.
The final decision was to fiIter the money into the budget over a period
of years, maintaining a relatively steady tax rate and offsetting
additional costs with the reserve fund. Although this option was
technically unacceptable to the State Education Department, the feeling
was that the taxpayer complaints needed to invoke state action would not
materialize as long as taxes were kept down. It was this option that
Little and the board chose. From 1967-1971, tax increases were held to
10% in the Letchworth School District. As the accompanying chart shows,
however, the reserve fund contribution usually was larger than the tax
contribution. Though the district had by far the lowest school taxes in
the area, the tax increases necessitated at the end of the reserve fund
and by the eventual building program would be alarmingly large.
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In 1971, Little retired, leaving a very healthy balance
of $146,504.64. Throughout the seven preceeding years, educational costs
had shot up at a shocking rate, yet the district had been shielded from
all but a very small portion of those costs. The era of good feelings,
which had been fostered by Charles Little's superb leadership and
insured by incredibly low taxes, was about to end.
The Genereux Years
On May 28, 1971, the Board of Education
chose Calvin Genereux to succeed Charles Little as the school's Chief
District Administrator. Genereux was a World War II Navy veteran, having
seen action as a Lieutenant Senior Grade in both the Pacific and
European Theaters of Operation. After the war, he entered and graduated
from Ithaca College as a physical education teacher. He began his
administrative career at Huntington Station/ New York as Assistant
Director of Athletics and Assistant Elementary Principal. From that
post, he was appointed successively as supervising principal at Genoa,
deRuyter, Warrensburg and finally Letchworth.
To be sure, Genereux was not coming into an enviable
situation. He was replacing a man whose popularity was unparalleled
throughout the district. Through good management, Charles Little had
been able to Keep taxes well below those of neighboring communities.
This was traditionally true, not only after the unexpectedly large fund
balance had materialized, but throughout the fifties and sixties as
well. Although Genereux found a very large fund balance of $146,503.64
when he made up his first Letchworth budget, he was not able to expend
$373,949 in reserve funds as Charles Little had in his final budget. For
the 1971-72 school year, Little submitted a budget of $2,308,895 calling
for a tax levy of $380,000.
In Generaux's first year, he was forced to ask the
voters to approve a budget of $2,386,701, showing a very small increase
of less than $80,000. However, the tax levy shot up an unprecedented 67%
to $633,625. For the first time in the history of the district, a budget
was not approved, the vote being tied one twenty-eight to one
twenty-eight. Genereux finally did get a budget of $2,350,730 approved
with a reduction in the tax levy to $566,604.
Of course, Calvin Genereux faced other problems through
out his administration that Charles Little never had to deal with. The
New York State United Teachers were expounding increasingly militant
ideas to the once dormant Letchworth Central Teachers' Association. In
1972, the teachers utilized a professional negotiator for the first
time. In 1973, both the board and the teachers utilized professional
negotiators resulting in an impasse in negotiations that lasted until
October, 1974. it is noteworthy that only when the professional
negotiators were dismissed were negotiations settled quickly and
amiably.
Charles Little led his district into a building program under the best
of circumstances. He offered the people a popular program financed over
a one year period which, in essence, was the product of seven years
planning. Genereux had no such luxury. By 1977, physical facilities at
the Bliss school were so inferior to state mandated requirements that
its renovation costs were close to what the district's share would be cf
a new building. The septic system at Castile was a public health
problem, and had the district not taken steps to build a new school, the
building would have been condemned. This leads to the most lasting
contribution of Genereux's administration to the school district, the
Donald F. Lockwood Elementary School. Although the name suggests that
Genereux was not the key individual in the development of the building
program, he certainly was an important factor.
After the addition to the building opened in 1966, all
of the Gainesville, Lamont, Pike and Hermitage elementary children
attended the central building. By February of 1975, enrollment had
declined enough at Silver Springs and Castile to permit all of the
kindergarten thru fourth grade children attending the central building
to be bussed to Silver Springs and Castile, while bussing all the
district's fifth grades to the central building. In other words, Silver
Springs and Castile gained the central school' s kindergarten thru
fourth population while losing their fifth grade. Bliss lost its fifth
grade and gained nothing. The people of Bliss were convinced that this
was a preliminary step to the closing of their building. Almost
immediately petitions were circulated demanding that the school be kept
open. The Eagle Town Board, which contains the village of Bliss, also
passed a resolution demanding that the school remain open. In response
to this outcry, the board held a public meeting at Bliss. It was at this
meeting that Elementary Principal Donald F. Lockwood emerged as the
spokesman for what would become the successful campaign to build a new
elementary complex.
Donald F. Lockwood came to Letchworth Central School in
1949 as a physical education teacher and head basketball coach.
Throughout the fifties and sixties, Lockwood and Ron Smith were the
mainstays of the Letchworth coaching staff. Lockwood' decision to leave
physical education and enter administration in December of 1966 was
largely affected by his rather poor health, stemming from a critical
World War II wound, Lockwood was assigned as part of the Marine
detachment to plant the flag at the top of Suribachi hill at Iwo Jima.
However, he was hit by a snipers bullet that barely missed his heart.
The wound severely affected the rest of Lockwood's life. Indeed, those
closest to him believe that he was in almost constant pain throughout
his life.
Lockwood's particular strength as an administrator was
his ability to transmit a feeling of sincerity and genuine concern to
all those with whom he came in contact. This resulted in an intense
loyalty and deep devotion from his teachers and the unshakable trust and
admiration of the community. When explaining why she was so in favor of
naming the new elementary school after Lockwood, Audrey Sylor, then
President of the Letchworth Central Teachers' Association, commented,
"Don was more than just a good administrator. Don loved our school, and
we loved him." Of course, Lockwood's personality alone did not make him
an able administrator. Since 1967, serving as principal at Bliss
and Silver Springs, Lockwood had demonstrated a high level of
efficiency, organization and innovation. Thus when he spoke at the Bliss
open Board of Education meeting, he spoke from a position of trust and
respect.
The Bliss meeting was tense. There were numerous
accusations that the board was trying to covertly close the Bliss
school. The board partially soothed the animosity of the crowd by
passing a resolution that no school building would be closed without a
popular vote. Lockwood, who had made the recommendation to move the
fifth graders to the central campus, answered most of the people's
questions , easily defending the move on educational and financial
grounds. He concluded his presentation by expressing a genuine affection
for the village elementary school arrangement. It was clear to many,
however, that the same arguments used to justify moving the fifth
graders to the central campus were convincing arguments for moving the
entire educational operation to a central campus.
By 1977, the board had sufficient motivation to
investigate those possibilities. Rapidly rising energy costs and
declining enrollment diverted an increasingly disproportionate amount of
school funds to the elementary schools, especially Bliss. As mentioned
earlier, Castile could have been closed by the Board of Health at any
time, and all of the elementary buildings were seriously so deficient by
the state building codes that some state aid could have been withheld.
By the spring of 1977, the board had engaged the architectural firm of
Sargent, Webster, Crenshaw and Folley to make long term recommendations
concerning the district's building needs.
Lockwood realized that the architects would have to
recommend that the village buildings be closed and all elementary
education be consolidated in the central campus. He had seen four
unsuccessful bond votes, and was keenly aware of the elements required
for a successful vote. These included an aggressive public relations
effort to convince the voters that the bond issue was the most
financially sound solution to the needs of the district. He was also
well aware of the role an active, independent citizens committee could
play in the critical areas of public relations and voter education. He
recognized the DeGolyer committee of the 1950' s as one of the keys in
the eventual passage of the bond issue as well as the latent function of
allowing potential opposition leaders to arrive at their own conclusions
after an intensive review of the facts. To this end, Lockwood asked and
received permission from the board to form a citizens long-range
planning committee, He included in it several highly respected defenders
of the village schools. The committee was never presented as a building
committee, but as a fact finding and advisory committee set up to
investigate the problems posed by the elementary situation and the
district's options in dealing with those problems. To be sure, Lockwood
felt confident that the committee would reach the conclusion that the
continuance of the village schools was not feasible. However, he made
certain that all options were introduced and studied, resulting in an
entirely objective recommendation.
The committee was to go about its task judiciously.
Though Don Lockwood should be credited with the organization of the
group, Edalyn Everett may be looked upon as the administrator of the
group. in a low-keyed fashion, Miss Everett gave the group a sense of
direction, and in that sense played a role equal to Lockwood's.
Albert Marsh, a Bliss dairy farmer, served as chairman
of the committee. Marsh had a reputation of frugality and had sometimes
appeared as an outspoken critic of the school. The fact that he served
as chairman, and eventually advised to build a new addition, gave the
group significant credibility in Bliss.
Every community was represented on the committee by at
least two well respected citizens. Some played especially important
roles in the affairs of the group. Bill Reed of Bliss, who possessed
engineering skills, furnished the group with an abundance of technical
information. Bob Kirsch of Hermitage, Anna Mae Balmas of Castile, Don
Tallman of Silver Springs, Frank Gillette of Pike and Bob Stoddard of
the Letchworth faculty each made important contributions of time and
expertise. Of course, the group did reach the same conclusions
that the architects did, and en February 7, 1973 recommended to the
board a new elementary addition. Between March 14 and April 25, 1978,
seven local meetings v/ere held to explain the building to the people.
In addition, Lockwood and several members of the committee spoke to
numerous community groups and the Teachers' Association. The result of
this comprehensive public relations effort was a three to one voter
approval on April 21, 1978 for a $2.5 million bond.
Into the 80's
Calvin Genereux retired at mid-semester of
the 1978-79 school year. Many felt that Genereux had been treated
unfairly by public opinion and that the Genereux years actually were
years of significant accomplishment. After all, Genereux left the
district with a successful bond vote on the new elementary addition.
Contract negotiations with the teachers were done on a personal basis
and a three-year agreement had been worked out, eliminating the need for
yearly negotiations. He had apparently mastered cost control and was
able to submit a budget for 1978-79 calling for no tax increases. There
was a line of thinking at his retirement dinner that, although Genereux
was not an inspirational leader, he was the kind of leader the district
had needed through the seventies.
On November 27, 1978, the Board of Education hired Dr.
William E. Whitehall as the new Superintendent of Schools. Whitehill
possessed a strong combination of academic and practical experience with
exceptional knowledge in the area of school law and finance. A 196 2
graduate of The State University College at Oneonta, he taught in
elementary, high school and college, served as the director of a federal
education project, earned his doctorate in educational administration
from Washington State University and served for six years as Chief
District Administrator of Charlotte Valley Central School. Whitehill was
anxious to come to Letchworth, for he viewed it as a district with a
commitment to its ultimate building program, and without financial
difficulties. He saw Letchworth as an opportunity to utilize the skills
he had developed in curriculum development without being constantly
bogged down by budgeting considerations. He was to be disappointed.
Two days after Whitehill assumed his post at
Letchworth, the bids for construction on the elementary addition were
opened. To the shock of all involved, they were $627,340 over the bond
issue. Of course, the shock should not have been too great. The bids
were opened on January 11, 1979, almost nine full months after the
proposition had been approved by the voters. Inflation had been raging
at an incredible rate, especially in the construction industry. The
architects were apparently low in their estimates and somewhat slow in
sending out the bids. On February 19, 1979, Whitehall recommended that
the board reject all bids and resubmit the proposition to the voters.
This reinstituted the process of public meetings which were held almost
at the same time a year earlier. With the continued support of the
citizens committee and the Board of Education, Whitehill Lockwood and
Everett crusaded for a $2.8 million dollar bond to construct a no frills
facility. The original bond issue of $2.5 million had included $200,000
for energy-saving renovations to the main building. This amount was not
included in the second proposition.
Considering the history of the area regarding building
votes, the size of the bond and unhappiness with the bid rejection, few
felt overly confident about the possibilities of passage. However on
April 25, 19 79, two days before the anniversary of the first
proposition's passage, the voters passed the new issue by a better than
three to two margin.
There was a singular and obvious reason for the success
of the proposition. The committee work and meeting presentations clearly
pointed out the financial advantages of construction. It must be assumed
that the organization and effort of all involved, especially Lockwood
and Everett, succeeded in educating the community. Letchworth parents
always had shown that once they were convinced that a proposition
represented the best possible educational step for the least possible
cost, they would support it.
Some made extra certain not only to vote, but to turn out as large a
majority as possible, in tribute to their friend Don Lockwood. On Easter
Sunday, April 15, Don Lockwood died in his sleep. It is especially
unfortunate that such a fine human being was denied the satisfaction of
seeing the fruits of his splendid leadership.
By this time, one would expect that some of the intense
pressures working on the new Superintendent of Schools would begin to
ease. However, Whitehall had already realized that he would have to
again go to the voters and ask them to sacrifice for their school
district. Two critical mistakes were made in preparing the 1978-79
budget. It was estimated that a fund balance of about $70,000 was
available to be entered into the budget. However, this amount was
actually only $21,607. Thus almost $50,000 was appropriated which simply
did not exist. In addition, the budget was based on state aid figures
proposed by the Governor, which are traditionally lower than those
actually later passed by the legislature. For 1978-79 however, the
legislature's final aid plan was well below the Governor's figures,
resulting in state aid of almost $100,000 less than the budget presumed.
Thus Letchworth Central School, which had started the decade with a fund
balance of almost one million dollars, finished the seventies with a
deficit of $80,015.12. it is illegal for any school district to carry a
deficit fund balance. Whitehill was forced to design a budget that would
make up the entire gap in a single year and begin to rebuild the fund
balance.
Dr. Whitehill approached the budget in the same manner
that he approached the building program. Local meetings were held
throughout the district in which the budget was presented to the people
as the most spartan possible. A foreign language position, an English
position, the audio-visual specialist and two elementary positions were
cut. In addition, driver-education and inter-scholastic sports were
presented as separate propositions. Yet, the budget and the two
propositions together would still mean a twenty-four per cent increase
in taxes. For most homeowners, that meant an excess of twenty dollars
per thousand.
Whitehill impressed' his new community with his businesslike
attitude, frankness and mastery of fact. In turn, he was impressed when
his new community accepted this costly budget by a three to two majority
and passed the two accompanying propositions, though by a narrower
margin.
Epilogue
And so, Letchworth Central started the 80's
with new challenges and new circumstances. The raging inflation pushed
taxes up again in 80-81 and again the district supported its school.
Kindergarten enrollment tumbled in the last years of the seventies and
reached an all-time low of 87 in 1980. Though many expect this trend to
reverse itself, it is a clear indication that the growth which was so
prevalent in the 1950 ' s and 60's is over.
The 1970 's continued to witness excellent Boards of
Education serving the Letchworth District. Burdett Randall and Edna
Mehlenbacher both gave the board steady, competent leadership as
presidents. James Lonsberry became the district' second high school
principal in 1972, upon the retirement of Layton Vogel. Vogel, who had
been principal at Castile, gave an entire life of consistently capable
leadership to the district.
Edalyn Everett, who is the last active teacher in the
district who taught at Castile before centralization will retire after
1981. In tribute to her fine leadership, the Board of Education has
dedicated the elementary library in her honor. Equally fitting is the
board's dedication of the elementary wing to Donald Lockwood, who worked
so hard to make it a reality.
Letchworth Central has been the recipient of many fine
professional lives. Numerous excellent faculty members, administrators,
board members and support personnel have given much more than could be
expected to the Letchworth District. The result is a system which has
matured, despite extraordinary circumstances, to an educational level
equal to any in its area. Letchworth's future will be a product of the
commitment of those that support the district with their tax dollars and
those that serve the district with their skills. As of this writing,
that commitment seems as strong as it was on June 28, 1946, when the
district was born.
Appendix
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