Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1919 — RENSSELAER PUBLIC SCHOOLS [ARTICLE]

RENSSELAER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

THEIR FACULTY RESPONSIBLE FOR ADVANCEMENT. ■ —From The Rensselaerien. What helps make a school a success? A good faculty. No matter what its other advantages may be or how numerous, a school lacking a good force of teachers is a failure. It turns out graduates, (or undergraduates) that are unprepared for the step of life; it fails to attract (and particularly high school) faculstudents. Members of public school, ties must be men and women who put their interest Jn the life of the school and make--its attainments or ambitions their own. v When asked where we attend school, are we ever backward or hesitant in saying, “Down in Rensselaer”? Of course, we are not, ’but why? Because our jteachers reach and even exceed the standard. When school opened in September this year, a number of strange faces appeared in the high school faculty, though a sufficient number of “standbys” were present to make us feel at home among them. Mr. Dean, Superintendent of Public Schools, is with us again this year; his general popularity is surely proven by his lengthy stay. -Miss Grace Norris simply cannot give up her Latifi classes, and even Miss Younger’s now smiling, now serious face, again appears in the History class-room. Miss Jessie Merry seems to still be able to endure the constant click-clack of' typewriter keys, and has decided to work with the Commercial Geography class in addition to her other commercial-work. Her sister, Miss Blanche Merry, with whom the upper classmen were not well acquainted last year, since she stayed upstairs in the Botany rooms all day, has descended to take Miss Fleming’s place in Room 5, and we find her just as nice at a “close up” as from the distance.

Among those previously mentioned “strange faces” is that of Mr. A. A. Shepler, who has taken Mr. Kratli’s place as principal and backbone of the school. He also makes his daily appearance in the Physics and Chemistry class-rooms. Here were . found many puzzled faces the first few days of school, but Mr. Shepler is rapidly untangling questions, not only in Science,* but also general ones, for the benefit of R. H. S. students. He is assisted by Miss Blanche Merry; , Miss Isabelle Johnson has charge of the Botany and Zoology work; Mr. R. H. Schaupp, the Mathematics. (And while we think of it, Mr. Shaupp has found —just the right school, his initials being R. H. S.). Miss Shedd, while missed greatly by all, has been succeeded'by "Mr. Hadley, who is proving to be quite an agreeable French teacher, as well as foot-ball coach. Miss Ocle Helvie, a jolly young lady, td say the least, is patiently laboring with Ereshmen Algebra and English classes. She has a daily diversion, however, in a Sophomore English section..

But one change has been made in the three special teachers (those who teach subjects to ‘both' high and intermediate grades). Miss Geraldine Wallace has taken up the Music and Art work, and is “going at it” in a business-like way that meets the approval of the majority. Mr.' F. *H. Woerner is doing just as good work as ever in his lines of Industrial Training, Manual and Agriculture. During the year we will often be reminded of his presence in the basement by an incessant sound of hammering. (It has been said that his pupils are a

rather well behaved lot) x Miss Mabel Atwood is far too valuable to the schools to lose, and so she still bandages burnt fingers in the Cooking Department, and watches her pupils patiently (?) rip out a long seam that is not “just so.” The combined Cooking and sewing class offered last year hhs 'been discontinued, and succeeded by two classes, one all sewing and the other all cooking. Mr. D. S. NaveJsagain Principal of the Interm ediate*Grades. In addition he teaches Arithmetic, History, and Agriculture to the Eighth Grade and waiting to both the Seventh and Eighth Grades. Miss Ora Sage teaches Language and Reading to the Eighth, History to the Seventh, and History, Reading and Spelling to the Sixth Graders, besides having charge of the Girl s Athletics and Scout work. Miss Ethel English teaches Seventh and Eighth Grade Physiology, Seventh Grade Geography, and Sixth Grade Writing, Arithmetic, and English. Miss Mary Miles teaches Arithmetic, Grammar, and Reading to the Seventh Grade, Spelling to the Seventh and Eighth, and Geography, Physiology, and Nature Study to the Sixth Graders. Miss Minnie Hemphill is Principal lof the Primary Building, and also, has charge of the Second Grade * room. Miss Alice Jennings and Miss Helen Lamson look after the First Graders. Dufing Miss Jennings’ absence, Mrs. 'A. A. Shepler took charge. Miss Josephine Odell has the “mixed room,” both Second and

Third; Miss Berth J. Bostick, the Third; Miss Tillie Malchow, the Fourth; Miss Cecile .Jordan, both Fourth and Fifth, and Miss Vera Woods, the Fifth. It is Miss Woods who prepares the Fifth Graders for their trip across the street to the Intermediate Building. Do you not conclude from this lengthy list of A-l teachers of the Rensselaer Public Schools that Rensselaer is quite a desirable place in which to attend school? _ u -