Windber High School - Stylus Yearbook (Windber, PA)

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f 'ifima -5 ' Barr ' E X : V if HHH ggs '5i stilff . .. Wi .. . e. llDITt1AT101-I .fe -A1-- ln:-.a Iii ,, ll ' 1 P ' , l ' , Elerie 1 I SHEEE HEEB PPUGFIFS IN iiw s al I c ,ll l.-. .. L,-ef. , ---1' 'r r'l+'f-sf.. THE FREE PUBLIC SCHOOL ACT The so-called upauperi' schools, es- tablished by the Act of lSO9, which provided free schooling for 'Gall chil- dren between five and twelve years of age, and whose parents were unable to pay, continued until 1834 in Penn- sylvania when the people, tired of this upauperismv in education, demanded a change in the law. Governor George Wolf said in his message to the General Assembly of 1833-34: alt is time, fellow citizens, that the character of our State be re- deemed from the state of supineness and indifference under which its most important interest, the education of its citizens, has so long been languishingf' The legislature of that year passed the new school law. The opposition, however, to free Schools, especially from the religious sorts who had their own schools, grew GOVERNOR GEORGE WOLF so rapidly' that the majority of men During whose term Pennsylvania elected to the legislature of 1834 35 established Free Schools went to undo the legislation of the pre- ceeding term. The fight for free schools was very bitter in both the Senate and the House. All seemed to be lost when Thad- deus Stevens made his remarkable speech in defense of free schools. This turned the tide, for it rang out with facts which could not be disputed. Free pub- lic education was saved. The following is an abstract of his speech: 'Alf an elective public is to endure for any great length of time, every elector Enust have sufficient information not onlv to accumulate wealth and take care of his pe- tunitrx concerns but to direct wisely the Legislature, the Ambassadors, and the lxetutne of the Nation' for some part of all these things, some agency in ap- proxinf., Ol disapproving of them, falls to every freeman. lf then the pelmctnency of our government depends upon such knowledge it is the -te'- dutv of the Covernment to see that the means of information he diffused to every citizen. This is sufficient answer to those J X who deem education a private and not a public duty- who argue they are willing to educate their own children and not their neighhor's children. 'I we-ll, Dept. of Pnlslie Instruction, Ilarrisburg -ill alma I ' Q' .ui K -J 7 I 1 2'I'5IVlll2'4 for this section-courtesy. Tl. M. Cross- E ' Tl-n nl tg! ' . 1

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r 5 4 1834-1934 Knowledge is the only foundation on which Republics can stand. -Stevens THE PAST

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. -v-vymuw--71511 'rf-vp!-r'11wl1r 6f' - , V , W ill E' HH: lr fl' ,HA PPDGBIZSS IN lf 5.Qf 1 - ,,,. IPUCATTQN HISTORY OF WINDBER HIGH SCHOOL Windber High School, with its present enrollment of 1358 has had a meteoric rise in the last three de- cades. In common with all other phases of Windber's community life the high school has developed so that it has be- come one of the best in the state, offer- ing a varied curricula to meet the demands of modern complex living. Wi'ndber was organized into a borough in 1900. Consequently, the first school board of the town was elected at that time. It was composed of the following members: Dr. O. J. Shank, president, J. C. Begley, sec- retary, A. C. Bantley, treasurer, Dr. H. L. Carlisle, C. E. Davis, and J. W. A. Roley. However, the teachers for the town schools for the term of 1900- Timnmsus STEVENS NVho was instrumental in passing , Free School Act of 1834- board. There were eight teachers on V 1901 were elected by the township the faculty that year, namely, J. J. Shaffer, principal, L. G. Shaffer, George F. Vg vw, Ickes, Lula Schultz, Katharine Reeser, Ida E. Berkey, Milly Shaffner, and Alice Shaffner. Although the board, when elected, could not take charge of the schools until the following year, they began to make extensive provisions for increasing the , educational facilities so as to meet the needs of the community which had 4, in four years increased from 50 to 8,000 inhabitants. When the borough board took charge of the schools, they elected ' X W Williarn Scott, of Johnstown, supervising principal. The first . Q I important step was the establishing of the first high school -if ' ' V fllfifl J and adopting a new course of study embracing thirteen years. Thus Windber High came into being in the fall of 1901. , S in biz 5, -. ' ' A -w HW ur g ljz