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The closing of the one-room schools in the Cherrier and North Fairfax districts has made Fairfax schools one hundred per cent consolidated. At present the arrangement seems to be working splendidly. With decreased enrollment in all the schools this was an ideal time to try out the plan. School enrollment has decreased in many places in Vermont because families have moved to centers where war work has sprung up. It is felt that after the war is over, there will be a tendency for families to come back to their original home towns and other families will be seeking farms in Vermont. Time will only tell what the conditions will be later. It is hoped that the present legislature will continue to reimburse towns for one-room schools that were closed because of war conditions.
PERSONAL NOTE:
There was a tremendous teacher shortage during the war years and it was necessary to discontinue a number of classes for this reason. War Emergency certificates were issued to those who formerly taught, but did not meet all the educational requirements. In addition, in the local area, students attending Johnson Normal School were allowed to teach in many of the one room schools. In a conversation with Ruth (Leach) Ellsworth before she died, she told me stories of her early teaching years where she started teaching in this manner. She also mentioned that Barbara (Booth) King, also a long time teacher in Fairfax started teaching in the same manner. These teachers taught mainly in the one room schools in this area. Superintendents Reports for BFA did not acknowledge the fact that they had anyone who was not a fully qualified teacher in this time frame. Homer E. Hunt did state that they had to discontinue many subjects in the commercial course because of their inability to secure a commercial teacher. He stated that the government had taken, or war work had taken, nearly everyone who was eligible to teach commercial subjects, mathematics and science. There was also a great shortage in home economics teachers.
Henry A. Raymond