Lorraine High School - Yearbook (Lorraine, KS)

Page 16 text:

SCHOOL UNIFI CATI ON The school unification act of 1963 was passed by the legislature after an earlier bill, similar in nature, was declared uncon- stitutional by the courts. County planning boards were set up to work out districts. A two-district plan was approved by a narrow margin by the patrons of the county in Sep- tember, 19611-. Effective July l, 1966, Rural High School District No. l will, by law, be- come disorganized and will become a part of Unified School District No. 328. In the fall of 1963 Kellye Hart became principal of the high school and held that position until the close of school in 1966. The following is an account COctober 3, 19653 of the way James Barr Fugate, area editor for the Great Bend Tribune, saw the high school's last year of operation, To walk the halls of this oldest consoli- dated school in the state, hereinthe little town of Lorraine, is like walking in a dream. Here is a modern high-school building, erected in 1951, complete with every conveni- ence, every device necessary to prepare a hundred or more young people for college and the entire student body consists of only eleven youngsters: five freshmen, two sopho- mores, three juniors, and one senior-four girls and seven boys. Yet, surprisingly enough, in this unusu- ally quiet atmosphere, there are tremendous advantages one would never expect to find. Principal Kellye Hart, conducting a tour of the building that will know no more high school classes after next spring, paused before the glass in each classroom door to explain, This is our advanced mathematics class. CThere were two students listening to a teacher solving a problem at the chalk- board.D Our Spanish I class here. CAgain only two students, but both were reading in- tently a conversation from a book.5 Here is our chemistry class. COne pupil listened to a lecturing teacher.J The feeling of be- ing in a dream world is very strong. The tour continued? home economics, Ctwo complete kitchens and four sewing machines in two large, airy classroomsl, the typing room, Cwith excellent equipmentj the library and study hall. Here is a machine geared for much greater numbers. Yet paradoxically, Lorraine is of- fering 23 units, or classes, this year and it is staffed by seven full-time teachers and a part-time music instructor and a part- time counselor. And five of these 23 classes have only one student in attendance! In reply to a question about too few stu- dents, Hart said, Oddly enough, we've found some unexpected advantages-the obvious one is individual instruction for the student, of course, and in some instances it amounts to an actual tutorship. One hears a greatt deal about individual help for students, but until he sees its effect in an exaggerated situation such as ours, he can't believe the difference it can make. But the most surprising thing of all, Hart continued, is the attitude of the stu- dents. Before the parents met and discussed the situation, it was thought by some that a school for only eleven students would not work. Contrary to that notion, it is work- ing better than ever, the students seem to have the attitude, 'This is funl' Without the conflicting currents found in a larger group, the students seem to be able to con- centrate easily and more effectively. And their attitude seems to be that of a special, even privileged set. Some of our classes are working on material well in advance of what they would study if the class were of the usual size. An old fact is being made very clear: the fewer pupils per teacher, the more attention each pupil receives. And attention is the best guarantee for learning. Actually, these eleven students may be luck- ier than they know. Hart pointed out that it was going to be Business As Usual this last year of their existence. They plan to participate in the league music clinics and in the speech and drama festivals and to enter the district and state functions as always. They also plan to enter the State Scholarship Contest in which the school placed fourth last year and third the year before. Asked about the plans of the seven teach- ers for the next year, Hart said, We feel it is too early to think of that. It may be that some of them will continue in the new unified district. But for the present, we work just as hard as we ever did. Preparing a lesson for a class of one is just as painstaking an effort as it is for a class of twenty-one. In fact, it can be even more so. Lorraine High School has a long history of accomplishment. Many of its graduates have done very well in the world. We, the teach- ers of its last year, intend to maintain to the end that same standard of accomplish- ment. And, watching the birth of school unifi- cation and the end of the era of- the small rural high school, it is the feeling of many townspeople that Kellye Hart and his fellow teachers, will give their children the best.

Page 15 text:

BOYS' BASKETBALL TROPHIES OF LHS -H r-G Q 5' GJ .3 S .. SDE 5. I3 .3 8 m cu: m m w m GJ Q1 O Qi -u-I W 4-1 w ,AH A Q m m 1962 3rd lst 1959 2nd 2nd 1958 lst lst lst 2nd 1957 2nd lst lst lst 2nd 1956 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 1954 2nd 1953 lst 2nd lst 1952 lst lst lst lst 1951 3rd 2nd 1950 lst lst 2nd 1948 lst lst lst 1947 lst lst 3rd 1946 3rd 3rd 1945 3rd lst lst lst 2ndf 1944 lst lst lst 1941 2nd lst 2nd 1940 lst 3rd 1939 2nd 1936 received a 2nd place KSHSAA trophy 1935 received a 2nd place Rice Co. trophy 1931 received a 2nd place KSHSAA trophy 1930 received a 2nd place Rice Co. trophy WSemi-finals Block 6 of the Groth estate school site. Construction way, and after some delays, completed in early 1951. as a part of the soon got under the building was Since basketball had triggered the build- ing project, it seemed only fitting that the first event held in the new high school should be a basketball game. When the doors were opened to the public on February 16, 1951, Lorraine High School played Bushton. The following evening, the town team played Sterling, completing the initiation of the new gymnasium. Basketball continued to be the dominate sport, and Lorraine was honored to have been represented in the state basketball tourna- ment in 1952 and again in 1957. The size of the playing court plus the seating capacity of the gymnasium made it possible to hold many school events in the building, including basketball tournaments and band clinics. But the biggest event ever held in the building was on June 1, 1963, when E, D. Meacham, who, after forty years as superintendent of schools, was honored. The account that follows was taken in part from the Ellsworth Messenger: HA crowd, estimated at 700 people, which filled the gymnasium of the Lorraine High School and included LHS alumni, present and former teachers, and friends of the E. D. Meacham family, came to pay their respects touProfH and Mrs. Meacham, Saturday evening, saluting Supt. Meacham on retirement after forty years as head of the Lorraine schools. Ult was homecoming for Lorraine, and all during the day class reunions were held and old friendships renewed. UThe evening program was worked out along the lines of the television program, This ls Your Life, with Ron Rolfs in charge as mast ter of ceremonies. First to come forth were the five Meacham children, followed by their husbands and wives and allthe grandchildren. . . . Ruth Flanders, . . . next to come on stage, . . . was a member of the faculty during Mr. Meacham's first years of teaching point the memory through the years, highlighted against and community. . . in Lorraine. From that parade continued down with the Meacham career the background of school nClimax of the 'Life' tations made by Mrs. Opal Weinhold, co urmt y superintendent, and Rep. Randle Rolfs, an alumnus. Mrs. Weinhold, representing the teachers of the county, presented the Mea- chams a bronze book plaque, appropriately inscribed. Rep. Rolfs handed Supt. Meacham a check for 51200, a gift from the alumni and community. . . program was presen- HA sack of letters from alumni who were unable to attend was presented by Emcee Rolfs, and each letter was a warm expression of appreciation to a teacher who had come to mean more and more . . . fto themj through the years. . . 'You have truly been an in- spiring example to many of us,' were the words of one alumnus, which summed the mes- sages expressed by all.H PROF MEACHAM - THIS IS YOUR LIFE 7

Page 17 text:

Did You that on the southeast corner of the pres- ent grade school building there is, at the first-story level, the inscription First Consolidated School in Kansas,June 8, 1898? that W. S. Bean, the school's first prin- cipal, was paid S55 per month for the school year 1898-99? that the high school's first year of opera- tion began on October 1, 1900, and closed on April 26, 1901? that in 1912 a number of the county's schools introduced sewing for the girls and whittling for the boys as an exercise once a week? that in 1919 authorization was given by the board to install a telephone in the school? that the Session Laws of 1919 stated that S5 per teacher employed must be expended annually for the purchase of library books? -that a motion to employ three high school teachers for the 1921-22 school year was defeated? --that the Kansas Rural-School Bulletin of 1922 states on page 39, Since 1897 the statutes of Kansas have provided for the consolidation of rural schools. . . The first consolidated school in the state was organized in Ellsworth County in 1898? -that Mr. Gahnstrom directed the first high school orchestra in the 1922-23 school year. that on April 10, 1924, at a board meeting the motion, That the Bible be used in High Schoo1 was amended to read That the Biblebe read every morning inl-ligh School ? -that on April 6, 1925, the high school paid 352.25 for cobs and kindling? LAST STUDENT BODY OF LORRAINE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL BACK ROW: Principal Kellye Hart, Cynthia Dobrinski, Lois Kratzer, Janice Splitter, Elaine Peters FRONT ROW: Michael Jimison Ray Browning, Kenneth Dobrinski, Dennis Myers, Dale Dobrinski, Gregory Smith, Donald Mehl Know that in 1927 the assessed valuation of Rural High School District No. 1 was 53,036,360 and that five years later the valuation had dropped almost a million dollars and that in 1966 it had risen to almost nine million dollars? that on October 1, 1927, the grade and high schools jointly purchased a Packard piano for 5395? that in the fall of 1930 typewriting was first offered in the high school and that Remington Rand typewriters were used? that caps and gowns were first worn by the graduating class of 1930? that in 1933 there were seventy-five or- ganized school d i s t r i c t s in Ellsworth County and that in 1941+ fifty-two of these districts were still operating and that in 1966 the number had been reduced to two? that a motion was made, seconded, and car- ried on April 9, 1943, that a request be sent to the State Historical Society, from District No. 26, that due recognition be given the fact that this was the first consolidated school district to be organ- ized west of the Mississippi River? that on April 7, 1949, Rural High School District No. 1 went on record as opposing Federal Aid to Education and the secretary was instructed to send a letter of protest to the senator and representative from this area? that Edw. B. Staeber served as a member of the board of education longer than anyone else--a total of twenty-six continuous years, 19140-66? -that Dale Dobrinski Cclass of 19661 became the 525th and last graduate of Lorraine High School?