Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1911-08-10
THE COUNTRY SCHOOL



T. the Editor 81 Lincoln County Times
Ia yieE Il ti8e position ilse -chl.ol boar,i
hzs taken upon the question q establish
Ing country schools AMI in view Of tie
Position The opponents oi country schools
found themselves IL a. the lasl Fridays
meeting. and teing one Il 1hose who
took active pan IN tie opposition. de-
s-re, through tie columns q your paper.
% make al explanation.
Tie drst pzrr Of lzs1 week when
understood The school board Wzs eonrem-
plating establishing two country schools,
o-ls north and one northeast oi jerome.
went 10 ~ some u the members Of
This boari 10 ascertain their reasons for
taking al action - ont Of harmony with
Tie progressive spirit Of this tract, and.
= believed. . contrary 70 the wishes Of
the greAt majority Of the farmers them
seives
They told NE that il Ras too lar ior
children 70 ride in covered wagons III the
winter % the jerome school. and that il
vs. TOO lar ior the drivers. and was Al
together Too expensive 70 BE- practical:
that the farmers were al the time CON-
planning about the wagons. q the hand
ship Oh the children riding - lar. and
that the farmers themselves ven asking
for the schools. elc.
T relrained from making an expression
upon the financial phase u il. but in re-
4 Ply q their assertions that the farmers
/ wanted country schools and we're disSar-
isiied with the present system. told
them that on this point they might pos
slbly te mistaken: that was one Of the
earliest pioneers, and my children had
/ rode 70 jerome in the school wagon Tor
TWO years and that had never com
/ planned, and that this was the first time
l had talked 70 them or 10 any one else
on school matters, and that | ielt sure
the great majority OF the farmers felt a.
l cld upon this matter. The chairman
Of the board stated that they had reti-
tions from some Of the farmers asking
the board 10 establish schools north OF
jerome, and they had IL consider these
petitions and a. long a. there were no
counrer-petitions or protests they took il
for granted that these petitions represent
ed the WISHES Of the people.
l asked the chairman Of the board II (.
an expression from those who were Oh
posed 10 country schools was desired. 1
and would be considered by the board
and he replied that they desired to ascer-
tain the sentiment Of all the farmers up
on this question. 50 took il upon my /
sell 70 write protest and circulate il as
lar a. the time at my disposal would per-
nit This protest was started at the end I
Of the school route six miles STRAIGHT
north Of Jerome. and at the corner
where it had been decided to locate one
Of the school houses, and it was present
ed to practically every person residing on
that school route, and every person who
could be seen and had chance TO ex-
press themselves upon this matter, from
the end Of the route six miles north down
to the Gould acreage tract in town signed
the protest.
Two or three OF those who had signed
the petition asking for u school, after
deliberating, Withdrew from the petitjnn
they had first signed and entered their
NAMES on the protest. some OF these
had small children Of school age, and re-
sided at the end Of the school route and
near the corner where the intended school
house was to be located.
This protest was also circulated north
east OF jerome where it was planned 10
build one OF the school houses, and 4
large majority OF the farmers in that To-
callty signed the protest Then the
school route northwest Of jerome was
covered and every person on that route
that had the opportunity, signed the
protest.
There were somewhere in the neigh
borhood OF sixty or seventy signers to
the protest, and if more time and effort
had been made, it was evident thar
practically ninety per cent OF the farmers
would have signed the protest had they
had the opportunity. An effort was
made 10 get an expression from not only
those who were directly interested and
located III the immediate neighborhood
where school houses had been planned,
but also to get the sentiments of the
farmers where no plans had yet been /
formulated for establishing country .
schools.
When this protest was filed with the
school board at their meeting last Friday l
evening, and large delegation showed
their interest by being personally present !.
it was soon evident that is was displeas- :
ing to the board. Practically every I
member, instead Of being impartial, par :
ticipated in the discussion, and advanced a
arguments why they preferred country I
schools. They had passed judgement be-
fore the trial, and the chairman was en-
phauic in his declaration that the board
had absolute power to establish schools
anywhere within the district without ask
ing the consent OF anyone if they so de-
sired. The legal authority THAT presides '
over the board took the protest, signed :
DIV some flfty spypnfy-fiya T..